Ambassador Education Solutions today launched its next generation Course Materials Platform, RODA, transforming digital content and all course materials for students, schools and publishers. Unlike any other technology on the market, RODA provides seamless access to print and digital materials, publisher and platform integrations, support services, analytics, financial controls, and compliance — all through one flexible and easy-to-use platform.
“Education is being reimagined. At Ambassador we’re not looking back; we’re focused on what’s next,” said Steven M. Blicht, CEO of Ambassador. “More than a year ago, we set out to develop a Course Materials Platform that would combat the fragmented approach to content and be all things for all stakeholders — one platform for everyone. Fast forward to today, RODA is more important than ever to address new learning models, especially in this increasingly digital world.”
Course materials have become more complex for everyone, and this is being amplified as schools evolve their online, on-campus and hybrid programs. Students are being forced to figure out how to access content and navigate multiple platforms, which can be both time intensive and confusing. At the same time, schools don’t have the bandwidth or necessary controls to handle an ever increasing number of publisher and platform integrations, and they don’t want to put the burden on their IT teams to manage various technologies, analyze analytics, and verify usage and costs. Schools also are facing increased pressure to comply with applicable Department of Education regulations, including Inclusive Access and opt-out requirements. Finally, publishers need greater transparency into how and how often their materials are being used so they can protect their content and reconcile fees. Publishers also need peace-of-mind that schools and students have the necessary support when using their content.…Read More
4 common barriers to accessible content for all students
This summer, many faculty will work on developing or revising curricular content for their courses. One of the keys in developing new digital materials is verifying that those materials offer accessible content for all students.
Today, most learning management systems (LMS) and software programs offer some level of accessibility compliance checking. However, they are not always thorough or error-free.
Ensuring accessible content for all students
This summer, many faculty will work on developing or revising curricular content for their courses. One of the keys in developing new digital materials is verifying that those materials offer accessible content for all students.
Today, most learning management systems (LMS) and software programs offer some level of accessibility compliance checking. However, they are not always thorough or error-free.
How to find, curate, and assess OER
As schools and districts try to reduce textbook costs and digitize instructional resources, one of the struggles many teachers have is finding good repositories of open education resources (OER). The first step is to know how to access OER resources. However, access itself isn’t enough and the sheer volume of materials can be overwhelming. The second challenge is knowing how to curate or organize the materials you find into useful groups. The term curate comes from the museum world where for eons, curators gathered artifacts and arranged them to tell a compelling story or to otherwise educate.
Recent scholarship further hints that teachers are not embracing digital resources in ways to make an impactful difference, even though we know that digital materials engage students and help improve student time on task. It is imperative that schools and districts work to make the process as simple as possible so teachers can experience success with digital resources.
Accessing OER
The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) recently released a Guide to Quality Instructional Materials to support the move from print to digital materials. The U.S. Department of Education has its #GoOpen District Launch Packet, and Open Learning has a free online course (about 15 hours) on how to develop OER content. You can take the course online or download it to study offline. In total, Open Learning has more than 800 professional development courses to support teacher development.…Read More
Digital natives still clamor for print materials
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