Events: Club 33 Lunch & Learn

Posted By Rickey

Last Friday the Thesys team hosted a Lunch & Learn event at Disneyland’s exclusive Club 33. Guests from a host of local schools were invited. The event included a range of attendees from Superintendents to Principals to Curriculum Directors--some of whom came from schools that currently use Thesys and some that are interested in implementing blended learning. Everyone enjoyed an amazing lunch while exchanging stories of their experiences in education technology with their respective schools.

Schools that already use Thesys, such as On Track, Fairmont Prep, Pasadena Unified, and Palos Verdes Unified gave short presentations on why they decided to go with Thesys, the benefits they have experienced thus far, and what they hope to do in the future. Many best practices were discussed and shared, and everyone welcomed the different perspectives with open arms. The educators discussed the concept of the 21st Century Model School and the 21st Century Graduate, including what new skills need to be taught to prepare students of the next generation for success. 

We had an amazing time and are glad that so many educators could join us. We look forward to the next event in October!

Events: CUE Conference

Posted by Rickey

Don’t miss the Thesys team at the CUE Conference in Palm Springs next week, March 14th to the 16th! We are excited to share our ideas on blended learning and technology in education, and to learn new ways in which technology is shaping education.

Visit us at booth #548 to learn what Thesys is developing for the 21st century school. Find out how Thesys is paving the path for blended learning and discover how partnering with Thesys will provide your school with a turnkey blended solution. Tony Rivera and Beverly Dennis will be at the booth to answer any of your questions about Thesys, the 21st century school and blended learning in general. Don’t forget to ask about our Acquired English Proficiency (AEP) Program as well as our Summer Blended Education Pilot Program!

Our Product Architect, Beverly, will be hosting a presentation session titled 21st Century Model School on Saturday at 1:30pm. At Beverly’s presentation you will learn how to implement blended, virtual and flipped learning to be a 21st century school. We welcome those both new and experienced in blended learning—there will be something interesting for everyone.

Click here for more information on the CUE Conference. We look forward to seeing you next week!

Field Notes: Sparking the Student's Interest

Posted by Rickey

Thesys "Field Notes" provide insight into our recent conversations with educators who are trying to address specific needs through Blended Learning.

School Type: Public Alternate Education

Grade Levels: High School
Location: California

Why the school is exploring Blended Learning: Alternate Education schools have students who are unable to attend typical schools. This can be for a variety of reasons and issues. Many of these students do not show up to class, making the teacher’s job that much more difficult. Lack of attendance leads to a host of other problems such as lowered performance by the students and decreased funding to the school.

The school's specific need: This school was looking for a program that can give students a stronger desire to learn in order to increase class attendance and encourage active participation and learning during class.

Thesys Solution: The Thesys platform provides curriculum through interactive content and graphics that is unrivaled. By providing curriculum to students through interactive content, Thesys is able to tap into a student’s desire to learn. Thesys includes interactive graphics that not only allow the students to visualize what they are learning but that also allows the students to immerse themselves in the curriculum without feeling overwhelmed by educational content.

“Thesys sparks an interest in students that brings them into the class.”
                                               -Marg Allen, Alternate Education Teacher

It is this spark of interest that separates the Thesys platform of blended learning from other blended learning programs and other styles of learning.

Field Notes: English Language Learners

Posted by Rickey

Thesys "Field Notes" provide insight into our recent conversations with educators who are trying to address specific needs through Blended Learning.

School Type: All

Grade Levels: High School
Location: California

Why the school is exploring Blended Learning: Schools all over are seeing increased numbers of international and non-English speaking students. Without proper English language acquisition, these students tend to fall behind their English speaking peers in other academic areas and are ill-prepared after graduating high school. This influx has led to a higher demand for programs that are tailored to help English Language Learners develop their English skills while learning other curriculum. 

The school's specific need: Schools are looking for a program that can aid English Language Learns develop English speaking, reading, writing, and listening abilities so that they can succeed in the rest of their academics and are better prepared after high school.

Thesys Solution: Thesys offers an English proficiency program titled Acquired English Proficiency (AEP). This is a unique curriculum that provides limited English students with a beginner and an intermediate course. Reviewers of the program pointed out that using the AEP program, students will develop all four skills in English Language Development with an emphasis on academic vocabulary. The AEP course is designed to help non-English speakers learn English on a level that will allow them to be more successful in the rest of their academics in high school while equipping them with the skills necessary to succeed after graduation.

Field Notes: Working with Traveling Students

Posted by Rickey

Thesys "Field Notes" provide insight into our recent conversations with educators who are trying to address specific needs through Blended Learning.

School Type: Virtual

Grade Levels: High School
Location: California

 Why the school is exploring Blended Learning: The High School has many students who compete in non-school extreme sports such as Motocross and Supercycle. Sports such as these are very demanding and force the students to travel often. This high amount of travel makes it very difficult for these students to attend class and graduate on time.

 The school's specific need: The school is looking for a program that provides customizable curriculum that can fit into the students’ busy schedules and enable them to keep up with their sports.

 Thesys Solution: Thesys’ Blended Education Platform offers a customizable solution that can work for students with a more demanding and busy lifestyle. Thesys provides UC approved curriculum that can supplement the school’s current curriculum and be customized to meet students’ specific needs. This customization allows busy students to attend classes online, preventing drop-outs and ensuring all students complete their high school courses and graduate on time.

 

Field Notes: Teacher's Choice

 Posted by Rickey

 

 

Thesys "Field Notes" provide insight into our recent conversations with educators who are trying to address specific needs through Blended Learning.

School Type: Public

Grade Levels: K-12
Location: California

 

Why these schools are exploring Blended Learning: The School District would like to find a blended solution to support its teachers, who are spending a large percentage of time performing classroom management tasks.

 

The school’s specific need: The School District wants to find a blended learning solution that meets the needs of its teachers. They want a program that the teachers find easy to use and that will make an immediate, positive impact in the classroom. In order to gauge teacher response, the School District sent out a survey to its teachers to evaluate how they felt about Thesys and how we stack up against our competitors in Blended Learning. The survey evaluated areas that prove to be key aspects in aiding teachers such as ease of navigation and quality of curriculum.

 

Thesys Solution: Thesys is clearly the teachers’ choice when being compared to Apex, K12 Online, and Plato Learning. The School District’s survey showed that Thesys consistently provides teachers with helpful tools to better assist them. 80% identified Thesys curriculum to be the most valuable addition to their instructional toolkit. 80% of teachers also chose Thesys as the top platform in ease of navigation.

 “Thesys seemed the most interactive. It was easy to navigate. The others seemed very text based… I especially liked Thesys’ videos and structured content.”

- School District Teacher

Field Notes: Trends at iNACOL 2012

Posted by Rickey 

Thesys "Field Notes" provide insight into our recent conversations with educators who are trying to address specific needs through Blended Learning.

School Type: Public and Private Schools at the 2012 iNACOL Conference

Why these schools are exploring Blended Learning: At the high school level, it is easy to miss the mark with blended learning. The curriculum must meet the demands of this next generation of learners. Schools are looking for blended curriculum that can be customized to allow high school students to be very engaged and allow teachers to have input.

The schools’ needs: Recently at the iNACOL event, the Thesys booth was visited by many teachers and administrators. A common reoccurring comment was that high schools are looking for blended platforms that provide both an LMS and blended curriculum. 

Thesys Solution: Thesys' platform supports schools with both an LMS and customizable curriculum. The Thesys program can interface with the school’s current LMS or Thesys can provide the school access to our LMS. Our courses meet Common Cores Standards, are very interactive, and give students several modalities to access the curriculum.