KNeoMedia sets sights on rolling out education platform across schools in New York State

KNeoMedia Limited’s (ASX:KNM) unique education platform is going from strength to strength, with plans to expand to schools throughout New York State and eventually throughout the US.  The unique format of standards-aligned lessons blends language with math instruction and social-emotional learning while embedded analytics measure academic growth. This month 1,700 Dell Chromebooks, pre-loaded with KNeoWorld technology, will be deployed to another 20 New York City public schools (on top of the 50 schools already involved with the program) as limited in-class activities in some New York public schools resume. The roll-out is supported by the New York City Council and the New York Department of Education (NYC DOE) with US$2 million of funding commitments secured. Expanding the platform’s reach  KNeoMedia's Jeff Huart, who is a member of the company's Educator Advisory Board, told Proactive’s Andrew Scott that the company’s Connect All Kids program was highly valued by politicians and educators. He said: “Political leaders and educational leaders saw the value of it and believed that it was something all kids should be able to utilise at school and at home. “Right now we are in close to 50 schools here in New York City, we started in the elementary schools and special needs, and now with our new program Connect All Kids we’ve added about 20 additional schools. “We also have a special component for those programs from Pre-K to Grade 2 so the amount of kids will increase because of the younger population. “As we move forward here in New York City, we’re going to be going through the rest of New York State, Long Island, and then slowly moving nationwide across the United States.” Instantaneous analytics measure progress As an approved Google Education Partner, KNeoWorld is an effortless education program to use at school, remotely or both – particularly during COVID where teachers were struggling to measure students progress through online learning. Huart said: “The ambition for KNeoMedia is to find creative and exciting ways to reach students on a very creative platform, bringing them into a new world of education and make it more exciting for them. “But the key component is analytics where we can measure the child's progress instantaneously and that is a tremendous help for the teachers. “Parents love the platform because the characters keep the kids interested and busy so the parent can do their work at home but also with the analytics they can measure their child’s progress. “It becomes a great tool in school and out of school for parents and teachers to work collaboratively together.” Supporting special needs and disengaged students Huart said the company had also found a creative way to work with special needs students using the platform. He said: “There is no measuring tool for special needs students nationwide – how do you access what they’re doing?  “KNeoWorld actually shows what they are doing because you can look at the analytics and progress in real-time but they also love it and it keeps them active and that has been a tremendous help for the teachers and the parents.” The KNeoWorld characters have also proved successful at engaging students who are struggling. Huart said: “We have found it's phenomenal for our students - especially our special needs students and those students who are struggling with education saying it's boring or I don’t want to be in class. “When they see the characters of KNeoMedia they are engaged and ready to jump right in on the platform.” The platform has also proved effective as an English learning tool for new immigrants.