Edio contains more interactive components and makes it easier for teachers to customize lessons.
As we prepare for the start of the 2018-19 school year, excitement continues to build around edio, CCA’s new learning management system. CCA teachers and administrators have been sharing their thoughts on how the new platform will impact our cyber school. This week, we interviewed Jeanne McCarthy, Director of Elementary Curriculum at CCA, to get her thoughts on edio.
- WATCH NOW: Get to know edio with Jeanne McCarthy
What is your role with edio, the new learning management system?
As director of elementary curriculum, my role is to work with teachers to select curriculum and design courses for elementary students.
What new features should students and families be excited about in edio?
Specifically talking about the learning design, I think they will enjoy the layout. It is a modern layout and different from anything they’ve experienced before. The images are bright and beautiful, and have interactive components. Overall, I think the experience will create more opportunities for students to see what other students in their class are doing. Everything used to be individualized. Now, there will be discussion boards and new opportunities for students to work together.
Will there be new language courses?
There will be five options for languages: Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, German and Arabic.
Will any of the existing courses be taken away?
Next year, art and music will be part of the students’ core required elementary course load. We still have physical education, but we redesigned it. It is much more interactive (i.e., not just logging activities). They will have a skills for success course, which is like a guidance course that includes social, emotional and life skills. Everything will look different than it did previously. We won’t be offering a sign language course anymore because we weren’t able to reproduce it.
Why is the curriculum changing?
You couldn’t create what was in (our previous LMS) in edio. This new LMS is designed to work the way students learn and interact with media and content. Students now have heightened interactions with online experiences. The new LMS not only influences the design of the course but the selection of content and curriculum. We selected math and ELA content that was independently rated at a high level.
How does this further the students’ learning experience?
One thing we did that is really special is incorporate live instruction into the course itself. We have a much more integrated live classroom than before. It is not duplicating what they experience at home. It is much more asynchronous. It is a blended learning experience, not a repetition.
Are teachers able to personalize lessons?
Teachers have to take ownership over the course now and can personalize it for their students and their teaching style. Now, teachers are authorizing live experiences themselves, and they can adapt the lessons for the students, too.
