Ocean City, Maryland (PRWEB) May 08, 2015
21st Century education leaders from across Maryland and the surrounding areas gathered April 30-May 1 at the fifth annual “Common Ground” professional development event held at Ocean City Convention Center. More than 1,500 attendees enjoyed inspiring sessions and demonstrations of the latest technologies, products and services to support 21st Century teaching and learning.
“We were so impressed by how well the conference was run,” said Brian M. Shulman, Founder and CEO of LTS Education Systems. “LTS and Stride Academy™ (Stride) were honored to support this year’s event as a Common Ground 2015 sponsor. We enjoyed meeting the teacher-innovators who are transforming education starting in Maryland’s classrooms.”
Mr. Shulman also joined Matthew Semler, Director of Elementary Education and Early Learning for Washington County Public Schools, and Michael Telemeco, Principal of Fountain Rock Elementary in Washington County, in their presentation of “Gaming with Stride.” The concurrent session explored Washington County’s adoption of the Stride digital game-based learning platform in 2014-15 and demonstrated the impact of a personalized, rewards-driven learning environment on student engagement and motivation.
According to Semler, WCPS uses the Stride program to advance student learning through highly engaging online academic experiences both in school and at home. “Our teachers are beginning to unlock the potential of Stride through data collection and analysis, assessment building, and student contests and incentives. The Common Ground 2015 Conference was an excellent opportunity to share our work and discuss our next steps."
Telemeco agreed, “The most exciting discussions at the conference centered on the advancements to Stride’s adaptive engine and real-time data. The data provided by the program becomes a springboard for transformational learning -- an experience that to date only the Stride program can offer.”
Since their implementation of the program in 2014, Washington County students have embraced Stride so well that 35% of their overall usage takes place after normal school hours, on their own time.
“Remarkable learning is taking place on students’ own accord because they are so engaged by Stride’s digital games and competitions,” said Shulman. “We greatly value our relationship with WCPS as our first partner school district in the state of Maryland.”
Shulman continued to say, “The Common Ground event was a fantastic and rare opportunity for educators and educational service providers like LTS to examine what really works for teaching and learning in the ‘digital age.’ These are the conversations that drive our product design and development at LTS. We appreciate the thoughtful insights from all attendees who joined our ‘Gaming with Stride’ session.”
For more information on the Stride adaptive, game-based learning platform for students in PreK through High School, visit http://www.strideacademy.com.
For more information on Maryland’s annual Common Ground professional development event, visit http://www.commongroundmd.org.
About LTS Education Systems
A 2015 recipient of the Best Educational Software Award and 2014 recipient of the Educational Software Review Award, LTS has spent 14 years engineering innovative, personalized and motivational online educational programming. LTS’ development team strives to enhance the 21st Century student’s learning experience through an adaptive, digital game-based learning methodology that has been recently recognized by Dr. Bill Daggett and the International Center for Leadership in Education as a major trend in successful educational practices to promote college and career readiness. For more information, visit http://www.LTSeducation.com or http://www.strideacademy.com.