Elearning - June/July 2008 - (Page 46) casestudyprofessionaltraining ProSites was just being launched. It enables instructors to quickly and easily create and deliver courses in a branded portal environment that can easily be expanded to a fullscale solution. K.I.D.S., Inc., became its first commercial user in 2007. “The full enterprise version of Blackboard was well beyond our budget,” Miller now notes. “ProSites is a great vehicle for small companies and entrepreneurs and has actually been a fun, easy and intuitive program to use.” ENHANCING EXPERIENCES Several key features have proven to be extremely beneficial to both K.I.D.S., Inc.’s students and instructors. >> Centrally organized structure. For each learning module, Miller creates a syllabus detailing the learning objectives and available resources. Laid out near announcements, links and the toolbar, everything students need is consolidated in one location. “They’d be overwhelmed without this kind of organization. This gives them small chunks of information that are much Challenge Provide an affordable, easy-to-use platform for this education training company. Solution Selected a system that enables instructors to quickly and easily create and deliver courses in a branded portal environment that can easily be expanded to a full-scale solution. and keeps them on track between on-site, in-person class meetings. >> Networking opportunities. Because students physically meet only once a month, discussion threads allow them to network no matter where they are. This is true for instructors as well. “We can interact with one another and find out how different instructional elements work for other teachers,” Lowther says. “It helps me feel less isolated even though we are all teaching in different places all across the country.” GROWTH AND EXPANSION According to Miller’s projections, incorporating ProSites will have helped K.I.D.S., Inc. increase its reach nearly 200 percent by 2010 and grow from a $100,000 per year company to close to $1 million per year in five years. A new hybrid training curriculum is also in development to take advantage of ProSites’ distance-learning capabilities. This will allow expansion to international students as well as those in the U.S. who are not able to reach one of the on-site training centers each month to complete their certification. K.I.D.S., Inc. has also added a School Neuropsychology Alumni that lets school psychologists who have obtained their neuropsychology certification network with others, stay up to date with the most current developments, and complete annual continuing education units required for maintaining their certification. —To learn more about Blackboard ProSites, visit the Website www.blackboardprosites. com or call (888) 719-6123. Laid out near announcements, links and the toolbar, everything students need is consolidated in one location. more manageable and easier to digest,” Miller says. >> Ease of use. Navigation, operation and maintenance has been easy for students and faculty. Dr. Jodi Lowther, a K.I.D.S., Inc. 46 June/July 2008 Elearning! instructor and licensed specialist in school psychology for the Fort Worth Independent School District, says, “It takes much longer to figure out how to phrase my discus- sion questions than the two minutes it takes to set them up in Blackboard.” >> Content and review quizzes. Immediate feedback on quiz performance allows students to focus on problem areas http://www.blackboardprosites.com http://www.blackboardprosites.com
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