The Iowa Department of Education has asked the school district to share with you a survey related to Iowa e-Learning Central (ILC). The survey is open until May 21, 2021, and a link to the survey may be found at the bottom of this post.
What is Iowa e-Learning Central?
Iowa e-Learning Central is an online exchange for Iowa educators, students, and families that houses high-quality courses and units, supports content creation and collaboration, and expands statewide access to Iowa Standards-aligned courses and units across all grade levels. It has three primary components:
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Resources and Supports for Educators, Families, and Students. Provides a place for educators, families, and students to access resources and supports developed by experts in the field. This component also serves as a mechanism for these groups to provide ongoing feedback. New for the 2021-22 school year.
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Course Repository. Serves as a repository to access high-quality course and unit content developed by Iowa-licensed educators for use in classrooms. Course content will expand across all grade levels and disciplines, can be used online or in the classroom, can be adapted to meet local needs or taught as is, and is available to any school across the state: public, nonpublic, or homeschool.
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Student/Course Exchange. Facilitates sharing of online courses so schools can offer their open seats to students in other schools or find seats needed for their students. New for the 2021-22 school year.
How Does Iowa e-Learning Central Help Students, Educators, and Families?
Iowa e-Learning Central addresses two statewide needs vital to the success of our students, educators, and families. The first is a newly identified need that was brought to light with the COVID-19 pandemic: the need for accessible, evidence-based supports and resources not only for students to be successful in their studies (whether that’s in-person or online), but for educators and families to support their students in their learning. The second identified need is access to high-quality content, regardless of a student’s location in the state.
With that, Iowa e-Learning Central:
- Expands access to high-quality course content that aligns with Iowa’s academic standards, giving schools the flexibility to use, modify, and incorporate the content to best meet the needs of their students, families, and communities.
- Allows schools to download the content they need from the exchange, as they need it, to design interactive and collaborative in-person or online courses for use in their classrooms.
- Includes content designed to be led and facilitated by educators locally (whether that’s an online or in-person classroom).
The big-picture vision is to offer educators richer content to bring into their classrooms and to expand opportunities and supports for Iowa students and families.
LINK TO Spring Iowa e-LEARNING CENTRAL SURVEY