June 27, 2014—(New Hartford, N.Y.) The Oneida-Herkimer-Madison Board of Cooperative Educational Services (OHM BOCES) announces a partnership with Agilix to pilot a customized learning platform based on Agilix Buzz™ to meet the individual instructional needs and learning styles of its staff and students.
Agilix Buzz™ is a flexible, modular, customizable and scalable Personalized Learning Application featuring an age-appropriate user interface for K-12 learners and supports mobile devices including Google Chromebooks, Android tablets and smartphones, and Apple iPads and iPhones.
On June 24, OHM BOCES agreed to pilot the next generation of the personalized learning platform for the 2014-15 school year. The pilot will offer instructional staff professional development and afford students the opportunity to experience customized blended and online learning.
This next generation platform allows students to move at an optimal learning pace and receive credit by demonstrating mastery of clearly defined expectations and standards. Agilix Buzz™ offers students immediate feedback reflecting their understanding, effort and achievement. Through the platform, students submit a daily self-assessment that fills dashboards and a radar map using the BUZZTM Radar. With just a few clicks of the BUZZTM Radar, teachers can easily grant motivational badges and create individualized intervention plans for students who are struggling, or acceleration plans for students who demonstrate mastery. This feedback loop offers teachers a real-time instructional strategy to differentiate learning.
Since 2008, Oneida-Herkimer-Madison BOCES has used Agilix learning management systems and has seen steady growth in the blended and online usage of the BrainHoneyTM platform by students and instructors.
Most recently, OHM BOCES added the Engage NY Common Core content allowing faculty easy access to incorporate the content into their lessons. Local teachers have developed supplementary content to aid teachers in preparation and presentation of the Common Core content and to make it accessible for families at home. OHM BOCES also uses the Agilix BrainHoneyTM platform for professional development, to disseminate elementary science lessons and to enhance secondary learning in science, social studies and mathematics.
“These past several years our teachers and students have enjoyed using BrainHoney,” said Ken Ford, director of Information and Technology at OHM BOCES. “It motivates students to get engaged in their own learning process. We look forward to implementing Agilix BuzzTM because of its increased focus on the student and the real-time access to data needed to differentiate instruction. Its robust library of standards-based resources allows teachers to direct individualized student learning activities. We see potential in Agilix BuzzTM for use with credit recovery, academic intervention services, staff development, and to complement BrainHoneyTM for classroom instruction. Data-driven instruction is the path of the future.”
“Educators are increasingly moving toward platforms, tools and professional development that supports Personalized Learning,” said Curt Allen, CEO of Agilix Labs,” because it motivates students with real time feedback on their progress. It also provides teachers with a radar screen showing their students’ progress and pace, thereby giving them the crucial information that they need in order to prescribe guidance. We are thrilled to help continue our strong relationship with Oneida-Herkimer-Madison BOCES to provide this next generation platform to empower students and give them access to new learning models and increased flexibility in their learning. We also look forward to working with our partner organizations to help their customers deploy scalable and sustainable Personalized Learning solutions with Agilix Buzz, similar to the Oneida BOCES pilot.”
About Oneida-Herkimer-Madison BOCES
Oneida-Herkimer-Madison BOCES is part of a state-wide system of Board of Cooperative Educational Services and was one of the first four established by the New York State Legislature in 1948 under section 1950 of the NYS Education Law. There are currently 37 BOCES in the state of New York. BOCES functions as a link between local schools and the State Education Department. Through cooperative efforts of component school districts, BOCES offers a wide variety of educational and support services to public education agencies throughout the state. Under the leadership of District Superintendent Howard D. Mettelman, OHM BOCES serves 12 School districts in a 549 square-mile area comprising Oneida, Herkimer and Madison counties. The 12 school districts include: Brookfield, Clinton, Holland Patent, New York Mills, New Hartford, Oriskany, Remsen, Sauquoit Valley, Utica, Waterville, Westmoreland and Whitesboro.
Learn more at http://www.oneida-boces.org
About Agilix
Founded in 2001, Agilix enables partner organizations to deliver educational solutions better, faster, and cheaper, by providing both technology and services for rapid design and development. Agilix provides xLi, an eXtensible Learning Infrastructure for Partners; BrainHoney®, a CODiE award-winning Learning Management System for schools and universities; and Agilix BuzzTM, a Personalized Learning System for student-centered, competency based learning programs. Pioneering learning solutions built upon the Agilix eXtensible Learning Infrastructure have been used by millions of learners in more than 60 countries.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Kenneth Ford
Oneida-Herkimer-Madison BOCES
kford@oneida-boces.org
315-793-8503
Mark Tullis
Agilix
mark.tullis@agilix.com
801-800-0049
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