Expanding the Plus: Introducing eLearning

Perhaps the most extensive addition to Planbook Plus since the initial release, the eLearning feature elevates Planbook Plus from a planning tool to an educational arsenal. With the addition of the Gradebook and Student Access features, the eLearning element positions Planbook Plus in a category all its own. With Master Planners now having access to thousands of online lessons, over 30 standards-aligned curricula, and the ability to track grades from lessons that auto-grade themselves, Planbook Plus is revolutionizing the way that educators approach lesson planning.

Curricula

The new eLearning feature includes over 30 different curricula ranging from first grade to 12th. Teachers of grades 9 through 12 will have access to predesigned core subject courses in the areas of math, science, social studies, and English. The ability to customize, as with all other areas of Planbook Plus, applies to the eLearning element as well. Teachers can pick and choose what lessons they’d like to include in their lesson plans, as well as determine when to make those lessons available to their students. Teachers can utilize these online lessons to supplement instruction, as homework that grades itself, to replace a traditional lesson plan or for additional practice that students can access anywhere at any time.

Lessons Format

Unlike many eLearning lessons, these lessons reach far beyond simple question and answer. Based on the Understanding by Design framework, each lesson was developed with careful consideration as to how to fully meet the objective. Each lesson contains an introduction to the topic, a learning component that teaches students the topic, guided practice to provide feedback, and independent practice to measure student understanding, as well as a reflection to promote connection-building. Aside from extended response questions that appear in some of the lessons, student assignments will be auto-graded upon submission providing both the student and teacher with a grade in real time.

Master Planning

The implications for this new feature reach far and wide in the way of expanding educational options, managing time more effectively, diversifying instruction, and remediating on the go to ensure to close any learning gaps before they turn into deficits. As students complete eLearning lessons, those lessons that are auto-graded appear in the Gradebook. Whether evaluating the success of the class as a whole or each individual student, this allows for teachers to see what topics students grasped versus which they may need a little more practice on. This integrated solution has the ability to truly enhance, not only lesson planning, but overall student success.