23
Sat, Nov
1 New Articles

IBM and Desire2Learn Introduce New Services and Software Offerings to K-12 and Higher Education

Trends
Typography
  • Smaller Small Medium Big Bigger
  • Default Helvetica Segoe Georgia Times

Companies deliver analytics-based intelligent learning environment.

IBM and Desire2Learn Inc. have announced new consulting services and software offerings that take the power of predictive analytics to improve outcomes in education. The new education platform will address the needs for schools, colleges and universities to improve the quality of education for students, enhance the effectiveness of teachers, and empower administrators to create more personalized learning environments.

To deliver this new platform, IBM is collaborating with Desire2Learn, a learning solutions company that provides the Desire2Learn Learning Environment and related products and technologies to schools, higher education, and organizations around the world. These range from individual schools, to district- and state-wide clients, to some of the world’s largest education entities, such as The New York City Department of Education.

The result is the Smarter Education Solution from IBM, combining Desire2Learn’s engaging, student focused learning environment with IBM’s deep analytics, case management, and workflow to create instructional improvement systems for districts, departments of education, colleges and universities.

The U.S. Department of Education has allocated $5.3 billion for Race to the Top programs that support education transformation. Based on experiences drawn from hundreds of education engagements, IBM has combined innovations developed by its education services practice with leadership in enterprise analytics, content management and collaboration technologies. The Smarter Education solution has been designed to directly meet the needs of Race to the Top state initiatives and projects, while creating a foundation for any educational institution to improve its academic outcomes.

"Working with our user base of over eight million learners, we've gained tremendous insight about the way students learn today," said John Baker, president and CEO, Desire2Learn. "The Smarter Education Solution will offer educational organizations the opportunity to combine that type of data, and the existing capabilities of the Desire2Learn Learning Suite, with IBM's analytics to offer new levels of insight to school administrators, teachers and students alike to develop more personalized and engaging learning paths and ultimately improved outcomes."

IBM will significantly broaden the access to deep analytics and actionable recommendations for educators, extending IBM's leadership in education. The Smarter Education Solution will leverage IBM’s and Desire2Learn’s technologies, enhancing the information educators can collect about their students by anticipating and addressing learners’ needs in a proactive manner.

“Today, technology is redefining learning,” said Michael D. King, vice president, IBM Global Education. “Curriculum can be delivered on a mobile device to follow the student home after school, and intervention strategies can help identify potential problems before they occur. By applying IBM’s advanced analytics technology to the cause of improving education, we hope to help every child succeed.”

Schools are under increased pressure to extract new insights from the explosion of available data to help improve student performance. To address this imperative the Smarter Education Solution, will provide a robust foundation for solutions designed to:

  • Integrate data from multiple sources to provide a single view of student progress and achievement
  • Leverage deep analytics to provide teaching faculty and administrators insights on teaching effectiveness, student outcomes, operational efficiency and effectiveness
  • Create early-warning systems for at-risk students using predictive analytics
  • Build collaborative learning communities with teachers, students, parents, and specialists to work together to identify and implement instructional intervention plans to improve student performance

The new Smarter Education solution combines IBM’s advanced analytics software with the Desire2Learn easy to use learning platform, creating a comprehensive solution that offers both proximity to specific, individual data for students and teachers and the capacity to take a big picture view across an entire district or region. The combined offering will help inform teachers of student performance in real time and to ensure that changes are being driven throughout the learning process. It will accomplish this by applying advanced algorithms to education, providing schools with the ability to predict academic achievement, and prescribe the most appropriate action to prevent at-risk students from failing. This optimizes an educator’s finite resources to drive outcomes such as better grades, better student retention and higher graduation rates.

This kind of improved education insight is used by Hamilton County Schools in Chattanooga, TN who is currently a client of IBM. They have achieved an 8 percent increase in graduation rates (to 80 percent) and a 25 percent reduction in the annual dropout rate. They achieved these results using IBM’s analytics and advanced modeling tools to help teachers, counselors and administrators better understand adverse patterns, how they develop and how to avoid them.

“Now everyone is looking at the data, and the results speak for themselves,” said Dr. Kirk Kelly, director of Testing and Accountability, Hamilton County.

IBM is also introducing a Smarter Education reference architecture that provides educational institutions with a blueprint for implementation, which is built on open, industry standards to enable a multi-provider, interoperable environment. The Smarter Education Solution adds yet another dimension to IBM’s Smarter Cities initiative. With urban populations projected to double by mid-century, IBM is helping cities around the world tackle serious urban issues and improve the quality of life of their citizens.

Desire2Learn Incorporated
Desire2Learn Incorporated is a world-leading provider of enterprise eLearning solutions that enable institutions and other organizations to create teaching and learning environments that reflect their vision, goals, and branding. Desire2Learn and its subsidiaries support more than eight million learners worldwide. For more information, visit: www.Desire2Learn.com

For more information visit ibm.com/education and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfL4zBWSRHA. To learn more about analytics in education visit: http://www.youtube.com/user/ibmbusinessanalytics.

IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider, helping clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM's hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently, and securely. IBM's breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM's legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity, and service.

For more information, visit: www.ibm.com.

BLOG COMMENTS POWERED BY DISQUS

LATEST COMMENTS

Support MC Press Online

$

Book Reviews

Resource Center

  • SB Profound WC 5536 Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application. You can find Part 1 here. In Part 2 of our free Node.js Webinar Series, Brian May teaches you the different tooling options available for writing code, debugging, and using Git for version control. Brian will briefly discuss the different tools available, and demonstrate his preferred setup for Node development on IBM i or any platform. Attend this webinar to learn:

  • SB Profound WP 5539More than ever, there is a demand for IT to deliver innovation. Your IBM i has been an essential part of your business operations for years. However, your organization may struggle to maintain the current system and implement new projects. The thousands of customers we've worked with and surveyed state that expectations regarding the digital footprint and vision of the company are not aligned with the current IT environment.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT Generic IBM announced the E1080 servers using the latest Power10 processor in September 2021. The most powerful processor from IBM to date, Power10 is designed to handle the demands of doing business in today’s high-tech atmosphere, including running cloud applications, supporting big data, and managing AI workloads. But what does Power10 mean for your data center? In this recorded webinar, IBMers Dan Sundt and Dylan Boday join IBM Power Champion Tom Huntington for a discussion on why Power10 technology is the right strategic investment if you run IBM i, AIX, or Linux. In this action-packed hour, Tom will share trends from the IBM i and AIX user communities while Dan and Dylan dive into the tech specs for key hardware, including:

  • Magic MarkTRY the one package that solves all your document design and printing challenges on all your platforms. Produce bar code labels, electronic forms, ad hoc reports, and RFID tags – without programming! MarkMagic is the only document design and print solution that combines report writing, WYSIWYG label and forms design, and conditional printing in one integrated product. Make sure your data survives when catastrophe hits. Request your trial now!  Request Now.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericForms of ransomware has been around for over 30 years, and with more and more organizations suffering attacks each year, it continues to endure. What has made ransomware such a durable threat and what is the best way to combat it? In order to prevent ransomware, organizations must first understand how it works.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericIT security is a top priority for businesses around the world, but most IBM i pros don’t know where to begin—and most cybersecurity experts don’t know IBM i. In this session, Robin Tatam explores the business impact of lax IBM i security, the top vulnerabilities putting IBM i at risk, and the steps you can take to protect your organization. If you’re looking to avoid unexpected downtime or corrupted data, you don’t want to miss this session.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericCan you trust all of your users all of the time? A typical end user receives 16 malicious emails each month, but only 17 percent of these phishing campaigns are reported to IT. Once an attack is underway, most organizations won’t discover the breach until six months later. A staggering amount of damage can occur in that time. Despite these risks, 93 percent of organizations are leaving their IBM i systems vulnerable to cybercrime. In this on-demand webinar, IBM i security experts Robin Tatam and Sandi Moore will reveal:

  • FORTRA Disaster protection is vital to every business. Yet, it often consists of patched together procedures that are prone to error. From automatic backups to data encryption to media management, Robot automates the routine (yet often complex) tasks of iSeries backup and recovery, saving you time and money and making the process safer and more reliable. Automate your backups with the Robot Backup and Recovery Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAManaging messages on your IBM i can be more than a full-time job if you have to do it manually. Messages need a response and resources must be monitored—often over multiple systems and across platforms. How can you be sure you won’t miss important system events? Automate your message center with the Robot Message Management Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAThe thought of printing, distributing, and storing iSeries reports manually may reduce you to tears. Paper and labor costs associated with report generation can spiral out of control. Mountains of paper threaten to swamp your files. Robot automates report bursting, distribution, bundling, and archiving, and offers secure, selective online report viewing. Manage your reports with the Robot Report Management Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAFor over 30 years, Robot has been a leader in systems management for IBM i. With batch job creation and scheduling at its core, the Robot Job Scheduling Solution reduces the opportunity for human error and helps you maintain service levels, automating even the biggest, most complex runbooks. Manage your job schedule with the Robot Job Scheduling Solution. Key features include:

  • LANSA Business users want new applications now. Market and regulatory pressures require faster application updates and delivery into production. Your IBM i developers may be approaching retirement, and you see no sure way to fill their positions with experienced developers. In addition, you may be caught between maintaining your existing applications and the uncertainty of moving to something new.

  • LANSAWhen it comes to creating your business applications, there are hundreds of coding platforms and programming languages to choose from. These options range from very complex traditional programming languages to Low-Code platforms where sometimes no traditional coding experience is needed. Download our whitepaper, The Power of Writing Code in a Low-Code Solution, and:

  • LANSASupply Chain is becoming increasingly complex and unpredictable. From raw materials for manufacturing to food supply chains, the journey from source to production to delivery to consumers is marred with inefficiencies, manual processes, shortages, recalls, counterfeits, and scandals. In this webinar, we discuss how:

  • The MC Resource Centers bring you the widest selection of white papers, trial software, and on-demand webcasts for you to choose from. >> Review the list of White Papers, Trial Software or On-Demand Webcast at the MC Press Resource Center. >> Add the items to yru Cart and complet he checkout process and submit

  • Profound Logic Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application.

  • SB Profound WC 5536Join us for this hour-long webcast that will explore:

  • Fortra IT managers hoping to find new IBM i talent are discovering that the pool of experienced RPG programmers and operators or administrators with intimate knowledge of the operating system and the applications that run on it is small. This begs the question: How will you manage the platform that supports such a big part of your business? This guide offers strategies and software suggestions to help you plan IT staffing and resources and smooth the transition after your AS/400 talent retires. Read on to learn: