Education
Growth of SAS® Curriculum Pathways® Delivers Free Learning Resources to Resource-Challenged Schools
Fresh redesign, mobile apps, collaborations propel digital curriculum usage by 1.6 million teachers, students
Faced with slashed budgets and too many product options, schools and teachers can struggle to integrate technology into the classroom. One proven answer: SAS® Curriculum Pathways®. Following a bold redesign last year, more than a million teachers and students have registered to use the free, high-quality, online curriculum.
“This is a dynamic time for educators,” said Scott McQuiggan, Director of SAS Curriculum Pathways and co-author of Mobile Learning: A Handbook for Developers, Educators, and Learners. “Technology is helping teachers with popular instructional strategies such as flipping the classroom and blended, personalized or project-based learning. But choosing the right technologies can be overwhelming.”
In addition to the redesign, the rapid growth was pushed by new integrations with learning management systems providers, and more SAS mobile learning apps than ever.
Released last summer, the newest version of SAS Curriculum Pathways supports personalized learning and more effective teaching. Users are applauding improved search, customized home pages, user ratings and comments, and automated resource recommendations.
In addition to searching by subject, grade level, resource type or device type, a new filter bar enables users to sort resources by relevance, recency and user rating. From their homepages, users click through to personal history and favorite resources. Teachers categorize top resources and easily add new content to the categories.
The new ability to post ratings and leave comments on a resource’s interactive landing page means teachers can help each other employ the resource more successfully. Students can also “like” a resource, letting students and teachers around the world know which are most popular. And nearly 80 percent of SAS Curriculum Pathways’ more than 1,500 resources are mobile-friendly, with more on the way.
Powerful SAS Analytics analyzes user activity to recommend other helpful resources.
Popular resources instill mastery in young writers
Launched last year, SAS Writing Navigator helps students become more accomplished writers. They learn to pinpoint their purpose, organize and convey main points, spot missed opportunities, revise their work, and finally document sources and publish a final draft. The app is free at WritingNavigator.com, as well as the SAS Curriculum Pathways site and throughiPad® and Chromebook apps.
Gayle Mathis taught English for 20 years at a Tennessee middle school. A longtime user of SAS Writing Navigator, she now helps students with learning and behavioral issues improve reading and math skills.
“I changed my teaching style when I started using it,” says Mathis. “I lecture less and my students are more engaged. They are comfortable with the material, they control their own learning, and they explore topics on their own.
“Students who use this product will be prepared to write for life.”
Most popular within SAS Writing Navigator is SAS Writing Reviser, which analyzes a student’s work and highlights areas for revision. By learning to spot passive voice, dangling modifiers, weak verbs and wordiness, it helps students determine how to improve their work.
Many teachers have students write assignments in Google Docs so they can easily share their work. Last year, a new add-in for Google Docs enabled students to call up SAS Writing Reviser while they work. Usage of SAS Writing Navigator resources vaulted 169 percent over the past year.
Collaborations push record growth
Collaborations with learning management systems providers enable SAS Curriculum Pathways users to access resources through single sign-on. Recent integrations with Clever, Blackboard and Knovation have helped drive half a million registrations over the past two years. SAS Curriculum Pathways also integrates with SchoolCity, Renaissance Learning, iActive Learning, WHRO, Pearson and Learning.com.
Free apps for teaching and learning fundamentals
Available at no cost, downloads of SAS mobile learning apps are up 144 percent in the past year. Favorites include SAS Flash Cards, SAS Gloss, SAS Data Notebook, SAS Read Aloud, SAS Reading Records, SAS Writing Navigator, Algebra 1, SAS Math Stretch, and the Spanish video library for Apple TV.
Many apps focus on fundamental skills. More than 180,000 books have been read on SAS Read Aloud, which targets early readers. SAS Math Stretch fosters early math literacy, teaching K-5 students to think about numbers in new ways associated with success in higher-order math.
SAS Reading Records lets students practice reading skills in or out of the classroom. It also enables teachers to monitor results from anywhere. Young readers can complete assignments, view their results and monitor their progress from anywhere. And educators can assign, evaluate and analyze reading performance without sitting with the student.
Attendees at next week’s International Society for Technology in Education 2016 Conference and Expo (ISTE 2016) can sign up on the spot by visiting SAS Curriculum Pathways at Booth 300.
About SAS Curriculum Pathways
SAS Curriculum Pathways provides tools, resources and apps in English language arts, mathematics, science, social studies and Spanish. Proven in traditional, virtual and home schools, they’re built for how students learn. SAS Curriculum Pathways increases student learning and teacher effectiveness by targeting higher-order thinking skills. Mapping resources to both individual state and Common Core standards helps educators across the country in their planning.
About SAS
SAS is the leader in analytics. Through innovative analytics, business intelligence and data management software and services, SAS helps customers at more than 80,000 sites make better decisions faster. Since 1976, SAS has been giving customers around the world THE POWER TO KNOW®.
