Challenge
Based on multiple reports from
the Center for Disease Control stating a potential for widespread outbreak of
H1N1 and other flu viruses, the Department of Education has mandated that
districts develop a plan to maintain continuous learning in their schools
should they need to close or if a significant percentage of the student population
is out due to illness.
Solution
Learn360 is an educational
streaming media website designed to engage students in learning via videos,
speeches, songs, images, encyclopedia articles and activities. Coupled with
teacher-created content and project-based learning activities, full lesson plans
that combine multiple media formats can be developed to enrich both the
teaching and learning experience.
Once the student names are
uploaded into Learn360 and assigned to their various classes or groups,
teachers can easily communicate class assignments and activities, track student
participation and manage discussions via classroom blogs. Learn360 is
accessible to students anywhere they have internet access, making it a
wonderful tool for both in-school activities as well as those that need to be
communicated outside of the school walls.
Using the Assignment & Quiz
Creation Tool, teachers can create multi-media assignments that are easy to
distribute to an entire class or to a single student. Assignments and Quizzes
are automatically graded making this tool valuable to both students and
educators.
To strengthen communication with
students and promote continuous learning outside the classroom, Learn360’s Blog
Creation Tool makes it easy to create an online classroom blog in a secure
environment. Teachers can initiate discussions, share information digitally and
track participation.
Future
In order to improve Learn360 to
continually meet the ever-changing classroom needs of teachers and students, a
number of functionality enhancements have been developed. Many will be rolled
out throughout the Fall of 2009 to immediately address the needs of schools
closing due to H1N1 or any other disruption. These new functionality
enhancements are detailed below.
School
Announcement Section: offers a section on each user’s sign-in page for
school-specific content and information
Mass Distribution Function: provides districts and/or
individual schools the ability to easily disseminate information to all
staff, students, or even user-created groups. Thisalso provides the
ability to send messages, which can contain attachments, and automatically post
them to the My Documents section of the site
Assignment
Wizard: an enhancement to the Quiz Creation feature that will enable users
to add their own content without the requirement of utilizing a template
Timed Assignment/Quiz Tool: allows teachers to create
an assignment, activity or quiz in advance and activate for student use on
a particular date
Progressive Assignment Tool: enforces completion of
one phase of an assignment before additional phases can be accessed
Advanced Reporting Tools: an enhancement to existing
reporting structure, enabling administrators to track assignments
accessed, assignments completed, number of times logged in (via addition
of time stamps), number of posts by user on discussion boards, etc.
Next Steps
Based on The Department of
Education’s request for a comprehensive and immediate plan of action to address
a potential H1N1 outbreak, Learn360 is fully prepared to fulfill this need and
can be implemented quickly and seamlessly. With over 8,000 videos from top
educational publishers and a local hosting option available at no additional
cost, Learn360 is the most affordable Media Streaming Service available. In
addition, Learn360 is backed by a superior Customer Service team and extensive
online Help Center. Customers are always ensured exceptional training and
ongoing, timely technical support.
We hope no schools have to close.
But if they do, we need to make sure that children keep learning.
-Arne
Duncan, Secretary of Education