Teton Science Schools adoption of Learning relationship management technology enables place-based learning in communities across the country.
Teton Science Schools will be using the Motivis learning relationship management (LRM) platform to enable a new initiative: a program for students in grades 3-8 that blends an online learning experience with a place-based approach. In Teton Science School’s competency-based program, students are taught to inquire into their communities through ecological, social, and economic lenses. Students then design solutions around the challenges they’ve discovered in their communities.
“If you teach people how to understand communities and you teach them a very specific way to solve challenges that they find in those communities, then no matter where they go in the world, they’ll be able to make an impact and thus, help the world become a better place,” explains Nate McClennen, Vice President of Education and Innovation at TSS.
Reaching Students Beyond the Walls of Wyoming
The Motivis learning relationship management platform will enable TSS to bring its program from regional campuses to a global offering while still providing its students a personalized approach to learning.
“Our partnership with Motivis is a way for us to reach a huge number of students who can’t come to our K-12 schools or our week-long education programs,” McClennen continues. “We want to reach far more students and teach far more students how to get out in their communities and complete a curriculum with not only the core information that they need, but also how to really understand how communities and places function. The Motivis technology, a competency-based online delivery system, is a great way to make that happen.”
Beyond the Iron Walls of the Old LMS
McClennen explains that he evaluated several other learning management systems, but he chose Motivis for three main reasons.
He was excited about the benefits of an integrated platform built on a Salesforce foundation: “We, as an institution, are looking for a holistic database, data management, customer management solution, and Salesforce is at the top of our list. So if I can get our online initiatives build on top of Salesforce, that’s a very attractive feature. None of the other technology companies could do this.”
McClennen was also attracted to the agility and flexibility of Motivis technology to grow with his needs. He explains, “Our current system has iron walls around it. It’s extraordinarily hard to make any changes in the system, and it’s overly complicated…everybody is yearning for simplicity and flexibility.”
Finally, McClennen wanted a platform specifically designed to support his competency-based program. “I really like this idea of building for a competency-based system from the ground up, not modifying a traditional system to be competency-based. In the short time I’ve explored Motivis, I’ve been able to see it’s much different than the structure of the learning management system we’re using now. It’s designed with the learner in mind, so it feels simple and very learner-focused.”
“Our whole team here at Motivis has been beyond excited about our partnership with Teton Science Schools,” explains Brian Peddle, Motivis CEO. “We’re very impressed with the way they’re engaging students across geographies by connecting them to their own communities. Place-based learning has a lot of potential and we are thankful to be a part of it’s evolution.”
About Motivis Learning
Born out of the Innovation Lab at Southern New Hampshire University, Motivis Learning is disrupting typical educational technology—and traditional models of education. As a pioneer in Learning Relationship Management, we build the technology that lets you build dynamic relationships with your students. Dynamic relationships lead to positive outcomes—our ultimate mission. To achieve this mission, we’ve developed a fully-integrated suite of learning tools (built on Salesforce) that provide the complete, yet elusive, 360-degree view-of-student through an easy, familiar interface. Think fully integrated LMS, SIS, community engagement…everything you need to surprise, delight and engage students at every point of interaction, from prospect to alumnus. The result? Happier, more successful students. Happier, more successful educators. Happier, more successful everyone. www.motivslearning.com
