D2L Ltd. ("D2L") today announced that the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) has selected Desire2Learn Learning Suite to enable their schools to take advantage of personalized online and blended learning opportunities.
In July 2010, two procurements were issued by the Department, one for an online platform and one for the content component. Fourteen vendors participated in the highly competitive bidding process. After a thorough review, D2L was selected for its experience with large scale implementations, platform design, user experience, configuration flexibility, and ability to implement in a timely manner.
Work was started in January 2011 with implementation of the pilot occurring in 124 schools involving 25,000 students in August in time for the Fall School term. The process will roll out from there, with additional schools using the platform each year. The platforms are being used for credit recovery, advanced placement as well as blended learning. The goal is to facilitate access to a marketplace of top quality content that provides each school within the system with:
•Paths for collaboration
•Provision of choices and options that offer each school the autonomy to make a lot of their own decision making in embedding more curriculums online.
Currently, the primary focus for the Department is centered on innovation activities and there is a group dedicated to concentrate on this particular area. The department is looking at Desire2Learn Learning Suite to expand beyond the current ways of educating and to change the way education is delivered to their students in the classroom.
"The NYC DOE is on the cutting edge with their emphasis on changing the way education is personalized for students; in providing a more engaged learning experience," says John Baker, President, D2L. "Their focus will influence our roadmap around reporting progress on competencies. They are transforming the definition of the learning experience for students and are groundbreaking in their approach. We are proud to be partnering with them in this journey."
