Smart Sparrow Named Finalist for Three SIIA Education Technology CODiE Awards

SAN FRANCISCO, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- This week, SIIA named Smart Sparrow as a finalist for multiple categories in the 2017 CODiE Awards, recognizing the learning design pioneer's best-in-class instructional design technology. Smart Sparrow was acknowledged for (1) Best Authoring / Development Tool for Educators, (2) Best Science Instructional Solution, and (3) Best Social-Emotional Development Solution.

"We are thrilled to be honored by the SIIA for our work to bring beautiful, intelligent design to education technology," said Dror Ben-Naim, Ph.D, founding CEO of Smart Sparrow, finalist in the Best Authoring / Development Tool for Educators. "Empowering educators through technology is critical to providing more engaging and effective online learning experiences that lead to improved student outcomes. Our work with forwarding thinking institutions like Arizona State University (ASU) and the Northeast Resiliency Consortium (NRC) reflect our shared commitment to learning innovation, and they have offered wonderful insight into the learning needs of today's students."

BioBeyond, an exploration-based course for non-science majors first launched in 2015, is a finalist in the Best Science Instructional Solution category. The online course was built on Smart Sparrow's authoring platform, and teaches introductory biology as an exploration of the unknown, instead of just mastery of the known. It moves postsecondary students away from pure fact memorization, getting them excited to form a deeper understanding of scientific reasoning, develop problem solving skills, and understand modern science. The course was created in partnership with ASU and the Inspark Teaching Network, a collaborative community of science educators working to change the way science is taught.

The Dot Resiliency Series, also built on Smart Sparrow's platform, is a finalist in the Best Social-Emotional Development Solution category. The series, created in partnership with NRC, reveals learners' innate abilities to think and act resiliently. Students are guided through metacognitive exercises to consider their experiences, think about their strengths and weaknesses, and practice new skills. Lessons use adaptive learning to provide a personalized learning experience for each student that builds upon their prior knowledge. It begins with a capstone game to assess current resiliency, then providing suggestions on which resiliency topics the student should focus on next.

"I am impressed by the level of innovation and creativity demonstrated by the 2017 CODiE award finalists. These products are opening doors for learners of all ages by combining new technologies with research about how people learn in order to respond to student and educator needs," said Bridget Foster, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of the Education Technology Industry Network (ETIN), a division of SIIA.

The SIIA CODiE Awards are the industry's only peer-reviewed awards program. Educators and administrators serve as judges and conduct the first-round review of all education nominees. Their scores determine the SIIA CODiE Award finalists, and SIIA members then vote on the finalist products. The scores from both rounds are tabulated to select the winners. Winners will be announced during a CODiE Award Winner Ceremony in San Francisco on July 26 at the Education Impact Symposium, hosted by the Education Technology Industry Network (ETIN), a division of SIIA.

Details about each finalist are listed at http://www.siia.net/codie/Finalists

About Smart Sparrow
Smart Sparrow is an adaptive elearning platform for authoring next-generation courseware. It enables any educator to create amazingly engaging, personalized learning experiences and then continuously improve them through built-in learner analytics — so students are better supported and more motivated to succeed. Smart Sparrow believes in providing the tools that support great teaching, and putting faculty first to unlock the full potential of adaptive learning. www.smartsparrow.com

SOURCE Smart Sparrow

Related Links

http://www.smartsparrow.com