Learning Impact Virtual Series Diamond Sponsor: VitalSource

• Jan Bottorf, LMS Administrator, Lock Haven University
• Leann de León, Director of Marketing, VitalSource
• Scott Gaspar, Director of Product, VitalSource
• Moderator: Kelly Hoyland, Higher Education Program Manager, 1EdTech 

With the increasing prevalence of online and hybrid course delivery, the LMS plays a much more central role in how students engage with all elements of their learning experience, including course materials. This centralization presents an opportunity to reimagine access to required learning resources, addressing long-standing concerns around course materials access and affordability. Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania is centralizing learning material discovery and access within the LMS to simplify the student experience. Learn about their process and how to implement solutions to improve access to content and course material affordability by utilizing your existing digital ecosystem.

See the key takeaways from this session.

“Before we started doing all of this, I had no idea how many students simply weren't purchasing the book because they couldn't afford to or they were waiting a month into the semester when they saved enough pennies to buy their books. So this just working out so much better for students all the way around.”

Yes, I would like to learn more about VitalSource!

• Rainna Erikson, Product Manager, Bookshelf, VitalSource
• Benny Johnson, Director of Research and Development, Acrobatiq by VitalSource
• Rachel Van Campenhout, Learning Science Specialist in Research and Development, Acrobatiq by VitalSource
• Moderator: Cary Brown, Higher Education Programs Director, 1EdTech Consortium

One of the benefits of the shift to digital to support online learning is the enablement of powerful analytics that can track student engagement and mastery of the content. This data provides valuable insights for faculty, students, and institutions. Research from Carnegie Mellon's Open Learning Initiative has shown that student learning outcomes improve with more practice and engagement; this is called the Doer Effect. Acrobatiq by VitalSource has been able to replicate these findings in recent research. Another study—conducted by VitalSource and an institutional partner—has shown that early engagement plays a role as well. How can you gain these powerful insights? First, you need to be able to access the data. This session is about the important role of interoperability within a digital ecosystem to empower institutions with robust learning data. Hear about the studies' findings and how you can begin to incorporate data into your overall strategy. We also address evolving enhancements that will offer additional data points.

Download the key takeaways from this session and a sample engagement dashboard.

“We are trying to take all of the data that we're generating and put it into some sophisticated learning metrics that we want to be actionable for instructors. We want to make things easier so that instructors can look at real-time student progress and know who is struggling and know what they are struggling on.”

• Jim Corns, Executive Director of Information Technology, Baltimore County Public Schools
• Tara McNulty, Supervisor of Application Implementations and Operations, Baltimore County Public Schools
• Andrew Alfers, Vice President of Product Management, VitalSource
• Moderator: Jeanne Imbriale, Director, Enterprise Applications, Baltimore County Public Schools

Selecting high-quality digital products has become imperative for everyone in K-12 education from the classroom teacher, school principal, curriculum leader, and information technology professional. Ensuring students can quickly, reliably, and safely access core and supplemental content, especially in an online or hybrid learning environment, is vital to providing continuous learning. Flexible digital solutions are more critical than ever for students to learn anytime, anywhere. Growing concerns about student data privacy add to the headaches and hurdles for educators who want to utilize personalized learning tools. Watch/listen to this webinar to understand how interoperability, data privacy, accessibility, and instructional standards help ensure equity, create efficiencies, and increase security to give teachers insight into how students are engaging with content and can intervene and provide remediation when needed.

View the key takeaways from this session.

Use the VitalSource Compliance, Standards, and Affiliations Checklist to ensure you are investing in the most secure and compliant technologies available.

“In short, we just really like to make sure that anything we bring into our digital ecosystem works...Data privacy is something we won't compromise...Our ultimate goal is to get these resources in the hands of teachers and students. That's the real "why" of why we're doing this.”

Yes, I would like to learn more about VitalSource!

• Mike Hale, Ph.D., Vice President of Education for North America, VitalSource

Mike Hale emphasizes the importance of an inclusive access strategy for faculty and students to have immediate online access to the materials they are used to using, allowing institutions to focus on process improvements and change management. VitalSource utilizes 1EdTech standards at scale, including approximately 1 million LTI launches a week and 3.5 billion Caliper data events per year currently worldwide. 1EdTech standards help the VitalSource business run by making it possible to interoperate easily with numerous partners.

"What we know is once students go digital, they don't go back . . . the problem we're trying to solve is just making sure students get the content that is required."