A recent article in The New York Times (“At Your Fingers, an Oxford Don,” Sept. 13, 2009) highlighted a trend we at Apangea Learning know all about: the growth and advantages of online education.

The Times noted that the availability of online, one-to-one tutoring – which we helped pioneer – is something of a throwback to an earlier age, when Oxford and Cambridge began assigning tutors to guide students through their academic work.

“Today … 21^st-century technology carries the potential to nudge mainstream education back toward the 16^th-century vision of one-to-one tutoring,” the newspaper reported.

Our math and writing supplemental learning programs combine real-time, one-to-one tutoring with built-in automated teaching tools designed to engage and motivate students to succeed.

According to the Times, educators and policy makers increasingly recognize that students can actually learn better in an online environment. A study done for the Federal Education Department, for example, concluded, as the Times reported, “On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.”

At Apangea, we do not ever foresee a day in which traditional classrooms go away.

And we take a great deal of pride in our collaboration with individual teachers at the school we serve to develop individualized learning pathways for each and every student.

Clearly, though, online learning is going to play a more important role in how America prepares its young people for the adult lives that await them.    And we expect to continue being an innovator as that future unfolds.

Need For Understanding Role of  Differentiated Learning

The call to arms is compelling, concise – and urgent.

“The United States must mobilize for excellence in mathematics and science education … so that all students … achieve much higher levels of math and science learning,” says the opening lines of a new report from the Carnegie Corporation’s Advanced Study Commission on Mathematics and Science Education.

We couldn’t agree more.

The report, titled “The Opportunity Equation: Transforming Mathematics and Science Education for Citizenship and the Global Economy,” details a list of specific actions steps  to make fluency in math and science common among students at all levels of their academic careers.  (Read the full report here: http://www.opportunityequation.org/report/executive-summary/.)

The Carnegie Corporation’s to-do list is deep and broad.  The report calls for a national mobilization – bringing together government at all levels, educators, administrators, unions, businesses and others – to create momentum. And the individual action steps range from how school systems are structured to teacher preparation and the need to adopt common (and higher) standards.

At stake is not just where we rank competitively in terms of academic performance against China, India and other emerging economic powers, but just what kind of society we want to be in the very near future. We all know that high-value, stable jobs — the underpinning of our economy and prosperity – are increasingly dependent on workers with skills and talents that, alas, are just not being learned by too many students.

We like to think that we’re already making a contribution to the very real need to put math and science education front and center.

Indeed, one of the Carnegie study’s detailed prescriptions calls for steps to engage teachers in data analysis and identification of students’ differentiated learning needs.

Differentiated learning is at the core of what we offer through our online, on-one-one tutoring services. We work with classroom teachers in the schools we serve to develop individualized leaning pathways, and then give each student the tools and support they need to make progress at his or her own speed. And we provide detailed reporting back to teachers and their schools so each student’s progress can be tracked closely.

We know from standardized test scores and, equally important, anecdotal evidence from tens of thousands of administrators, teachers and students that the approach works.

We are changing lives and helping young people be better prepared for the lives that await them – one student at a time.

What do you think about the Carnegie Corporation’s call to arms? We’d like to hear from you.

If enthusiasm is infectious, it’s no wonder that Sue Szelc’s students have the fever – Apangea fever.

Szelc, an eighth grade math teacher in the Frazier School District in Perryopolis, Pennsylvania (about 30 miles outside of Pittsburgh), says she is “absolutely wild” about Apangea Math and that her 90 students share her fervor.  During the school year now ending, they did more than 16,000 problems through the service.

With an imaginative approach to integrating Apangea Math into her classroom – including positive reinforce for the students who devote at-home hours to working on the system — Szelc is the first place winner of  Apangea Learning’s First Annual Teacher Innovator of the Year Contest.

Second place goes to Shannon Kenyon of Orchards Elementary of Lewistown, Idaho, and Joan Meidl of Watertown School District in Wisconsin, captures third.

Our congratulations to the winners and a big shout thanks to all the teachers from across the country who submitted their stories. We’re grateful for the feedback.

First-place winner Szelc, a ten-year veteran in the classroom, says Apangea brings excitement to learning math. “My students enjoy working on Apangea Math. They like the contests, the points and the prizes. I try to keep the enthusiasm going by highlighting their successes in the classroom,” she says. “I want them to feel good about doing well.”

Szelc organized an Apangea Day at her school, with the students wearing blue and green face paint and clothes.  “It was great fun. Everyone got involved,” she says. “We had a lot of laughs.”

Another of her motivational techniques, Szelc says, is to keep a running tally posted in the classroom of how many problems each student solves in a week. Those who do 25 or more after school hours receive extra bonus points toward math mementos, such as school supplies. Plus, each Monday morning Szelc reads out the names of the hardest-working students and the class gives them a round of applause. She calls them her “Apangea All-Stars.”

“The students love to monitor their progress and encourage each other,” she says. “Apangea works for us on so many levels. It helps students when and how they need the extra math help, enabling them to work at their own pace. And it’s a focus in the classroom around which we build a team effort.”

While we’re grateful to Sue Szelc and all of the classroom teachers who help us make Apangea Math the powerful learning tool that it is, the real winners are the students who are lucky enough to have teachers like Szelc.

Attention teachers: Do you have a story to share with other teachers around the country about how you’re incorporating our online supplemental learning program into your classroom?

We’ve been on the prowl to find the “Apangea Learning Teacher Innovator of the Year” and right now we’re busy reviewing submissions from your peers in school districts nationwide. They’re telling us all the imaginative ways they’re putting our online supplemental learning program to work in their classrooms and how they’re getting their students pumped to work hard.

Got a story to tell? We want to hear it. But you’ll have to hurry – the deadline is Saturday, May 9^th.  Please submit ideas to lwise@apangea.com.

We’ll be issuing a news release after we’ve picked the winner and runner-ups.

Stay tuned … big news ahead.

It’s been said that today’s young people are a self-oriented group, more interested in texting and FaceBooking each other than they are in contributing back to society.

We beg to differ.

Students across the country working on the Apangea system earn points for their work. As those points accumulate, they can win goodies for themselves such as backpacks and t-shirts, as well awards and recognition for their schools.

Or they can chose to donate a portion of their points as cash contributions to charities.

Apangea Learning donates $1,000 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation on behalf of Apangea students.

More than 1,000 Apangea students decided to convert a portion of their points into a donation to the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Apangea Learning CEO Mark DeSantis this morning presented a $1,000 check to well-known nonprofit that arranges to fulfill the dreams of seriously ill children.

Said DeSantis, “We are of course pleased to be able to make a donation to this important group. But what makes it so special is that it all started with the young people. They wanted to do something meaningful for others facing difficult situations in their lives. We are just the intermediaries. It’s the students that made this happen.”

Today’s kids are selfish? That’s not what we see at Apangea.

Students within Western Pennsylvania and across the country love their pets DOGgone-it and are putting their money where their heart is. Today, the Western PA Humane Society will be awarded a check for almost $800 dollars from donations given by middle and high school students across the country, including those in the Pittsburgh region.

These students are part of a unique economic rewards-based incentive program designed by Pittsburgh-based Apangea Learning to motivate students to want to learn math. As students learn math through Apangea Learning’s supplemental math program, they accrue points for their efforts. Many students redeem these points for gift cards to their favorite retailer, BUT these students chose an altruistic option: donate the dollar value of their points towards a cause they believe in: The Humane Society.

“We are thrilled to accept this generous donation from these caring students,” says Lee Nesler, Executive Director of the WPA Humane Society.  “The money will be used to care for the thousands of animals that come to the shelter each month.”

According to The Nation’s Report Card, only one-third of the United States’ 8^th grade students and 25 percent of its high school seniors are proficient writers. To help educators combat this crisis, Apangea Learning announced the release of a new solution designed to help students achieve writing proficiency: Apangea Learning Writing.

“This marks an extremely important day for Apangea Learning and for me personally,” stated Louis Piconi, Apangea Learning CEO and Co-Founder. “Finding a way to help students become strong writers has always been a long standing goal for this company. Apangea Learning Writing, like its math counterpart, is the only solution in the industry that combines ‘intelligent’ computer feedback with instruction from live, certified teachers. This approach to tutoring has had tremendous success in raising students’ proficiency levels in math and I am very excited to see the success students will achieve once they use Apangea Learning Writing.”

A supplement to traditional curriculum, Apangea Learning Writing provides students differentiated writing instruction through its six-step writing process that is based on one of the world’s largest bodies of cognitive research. Instruction and feedback is provided through Apangea Learning’s “intelligent” proprietary tutoring technology and live, certified teachers who instruct students online – providing school districts a cost-effective way to tutor students in writing.  

Apangea Learning Writing does the heavy lifting for classroom teachers. It removes the time-consuming burden of initial feedback and guidance off their shoulders, which frees them to focus on value-added activities. Highlights of Apangea Learning Writing include:

Just-in-Time Lessons – Real-time, interactive lessons teach the key steps in the writing process.

Advice from Learning Coaches – Initial advice and guidance is delivered by automated feedback, which is represented by computer-animated learning coaches who emulate tutoring best practices.

Feedback from Live, Online Certified Teachers – Students submit their assignments to Apangea Learning’s live, online tutors at three key points in the writing process: thesis statement, outline and rough draft. Graded on a research-based rubric, this feedback is specific to each student’s individual assignment and includes clear suggestions for improvement where needed. Unlike the normal classroom where feedback is provided the next day or even next week, Apangea Learning Writing tutors provide feedback within minutes.

Integrated Reference Resources – Multi-media research resources including Encyclopaedia Britannica have been integrated into each assignment to provide students with the reference and learning resource information they need to work on assignments.

Compelling Rewards – Apangea Learning Writing’s built-in motivation system rewards students with gift cards for consistent effort and achievement.

Multilingual Support – English Language Learning (ELL) students can receive online support in eight languages: English, Spanish, French, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, German, and Portuguese.

Customized Content – Teacher selected assignments provide students engaging content – relevant topics that truly speak to the interests of today’s students. Teachers assign individual learning pathways that are appropriate for each student and each class level — creating true differentiated instruction.

Advanced Reporting and Measurement – Allows educators to monitor and track student progress and pinpoint trouble areas through easy to use, graphically rich reports.

Congratulations to the students at Vista Del Lago High School (Moreno Valley, CA) who won the ALapalooza ALthusiasm award, a national math contest sponsored by Apangea Learning. A special event will recognize these students for their accomplishments at Vista Del Lago High School on Thursday, August 28 beginning at 1 p.m. PST. 

Vista Del Lago High School competed with other summer school programs nationwide in Apangea Learning’s ALapalooza: Summer of Math Tour contest.  Vista Del Lago’s summer school students beat out more than 100 schools across the nation to win the ALapalooza ALthusiasm award, a prize given based on the number of after-school hours spent learning math — hours worked during their personal time that went above and beyond what was required for their summer school requirements!

“Our goal at Apangea Learning is to motivate students to want to learn math.  The students at Vista Del Lago showed amazing determination to succeed academically by working on Apangea Learning Math during their own time – even on nights and weekends.  It’s great when educators can get students fired up about learning!” said Apangea Learning CEO, Louis Piconi.

Today, we release a new version of our flagship math solution (formerly known as SmartHelp). Rebranded as Apangea Learning Math, a number of enhancements have been made to the product. Additionally, this new version is now also available for direct purchase by parents for use at home.  Previously, Apangea Learning Math was sold exclusively to schools/school districts.

Apangea Learning Math provides each student one-student-to-one-teacher differentiated math instruction through a unique integration of “intelligent” computer-animated learning coaches and live, certified teachers who instruct students online. A student’s learning pathway can be individually customized based on state standards, the student’s grade level and his/her proficiency level. New enhancements found in Apangea Learning Math include:

·         The Practice Zone – After completing all of the core problems in a module, students will complete a series of problems in the Practice Zone. This facilitates the transfer of skills learned in Apangea Learning Math to not only classroom exams, but also to high stakes assessment exams. Students can also select the design of their own Practice Zone page (customized skin) further personalizing their learning experience.

·         Altruistic Motivation – In addition to earning gift cards to their favorite retailers, Apangea Learning Math’s motivation system now allows students to donate the monetary value of their earned “ApangeaPoints” to a charitable cause of their choice.

·         Enhanced Page Design – The teacher and student homepages have been redesigned to a three column format to provide easier navigation and access to critical information.

“Launching Apangea Learning Math into both the retail and B2B platforms marks a very important milestone for the company,” explained Apangea Learning CEO, Louis Piconi. “Additionally, the Practice Zone will significantly help students improve their test scores. Many students feel a great deal of anxiety around test taking. To help alleviate this and build academic confidence, Apangea Learning Math’s Practice Zone is designed to teach students how to transfer the skills learned online to their written exams.”

It is a great honor for Apangea Learning to be nominated as one of this year’s Tech 50 Awards finalists in the Information Technology category by the Pittsburgh Technology Council and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP.

Recognized by the Wall Street Journal as one of “The 13 Hottest Regions in North America” for high tech growth, Pittsburgh is no longer just a product of steel mills. Instead, it has positioned itself as a recognized technology hub in all areas of high tech. Home to some of the most dynamic high tech ventures, the Pittsburgh Technology Council’s Tech 50 Awards recognize the very best among southwestern Pennsylvania’s technology sector.

Leveraging technology that utilizes both computer-animated learning coaches and live, online certified teachers to provide students personalized, one-to-one tutoring and supplemental instruction in math and writing, Apangea Learning impressed this year’s judges by not only its accomplishments on a national level, but also the innovative work the company established to further the Pittsburgh region as a world-class technology hub.

“As one representative of a growing educational technology sector in the region that is employing residents and serving students in a very positive manner, it is a great honor to have Apangea Learning recognized as one of the Pittsburgh Technology Council’s Tech 50 Awards finalists,” stated Apangea Learning CEO, Louis Piconi. “When it comes to creating and growing a successful technology company, Pittsburgh is a hidden gem. The city not only provides a very skilled and hard working labor force, but also has a unique intellectual vibrancy that encourages an exchange of ideas and opinions with other professionals and academics in our region.”