As part of its on-going efforts to improve communications, foster collaboration, and bolster student achievement, Nampa School District #131 (Nampa SD) in Nampa, Idaho has become the first school district in the state to implement the itslearning [1] learning management system. With 24 schools, Nampa SD serves 15,000 students in grades preK – 12, and will begin using the itslearning system this fall.
Designed specifically for the K-12 sector, itslearning is a cloud-based digital learning platform that gives teachers, students and parents access to as appropriate course materials, assignments, communities for collaboration, progress reports, and more. According to Dr. Nicole MacTavish, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning at Nampa SD, it was the system’s ability to centralize so many resources, data, and processes – and interact with other district systems – that sold them on itslearning.
“We wanted to provide our teachers with a way to easily access a wide variety of content, as well as the ability to collaborate on best instructional practices. Another priority was to improve parent communication and participation,” said MacTavish. “We know from past experience that adding more or different systems wasn’t the answer. If we are truly going to support teachers, students, and parents we need to streamline processes and eliminate barriers. For over a year our task force researched options and spoke with other districts and concluded that itslearning is the platform that will allow us to taking teaching and learning to the next level and beyond.”
Employing a user-friendly interface and functionality, itslearning provides maximum ease of use for all K-12 education stakeholders. Easy to use dashboards allow administrators to review and analyze student performance data and instantly communicate with parents and staff. For teachers, itslearning automates routine tasks such as grading, reporting, and distributing and collecting assignments, giving them more time to focus on students. It also helps them improve their craft by enabling collaboration and access to resources.
Students enjoy the ability to explore, learn, share and express themselves using the creative digital tools they love. With itslearning they can also chat with teachers, collaborate on projects, reflect on learning with blogs and ePortfolios and show what they know – all in a safe online environment. For parents, itslearning fosters increased participation in their student’s school life, allowing access to behavior, attendance and progress reports, details about upcoming lessons, tests and assignments, class announcements, and more.