CCSD pioneers digital learning environment

Overseen by Cobb County School District Superintendent Chris Ragsdale, center, Cobb’s Teaching and Learning System is the first of its kind in the nation to help teachers, students and parents gain access to school resources through one log-in on their digital devices. AJC file photo

Overseen by Cobb County School District Superintendent Chris Ragsdale, center, Cobb’s Teaching and Learning System is the first of its kind in the nation to help teachers, students and parents gain access to school resources through one log-in on their digital devices. AJC file photo

The Cobb County School District is launching a digital teaching and learning environment to unify resources for teachers, students and parents.

Created by CCSD, the Cobb Teaching and Learning System is a one-stop, user-friendly digital platform where educators can access and customize instructional content, according to a CCSD statement.

That means teachers will be able to receive lesson planning resources, professional learning modules, historical student performance data and real-time classroom assessment results - all in one place on their digital devices.

Also, teachers will be able to customize their computer platform in CTLS to include resources beyond their assigned teaching responsibilities, joining communities with other educators and enrolling in professional learning courses.

“In the field of public education, more and more is asked of teachers each and every year,” said CCSD Superintendent Chris Ragsdale. “This tool is designed to take something off the plate of teachers and give them more time to do what they do best which is teach kids. CTLS organizes data and resources so that redundancy is eliminated and instructional decisions can be made more efficiently.”

The extensive process involved in building the system began more than three years ago with Ragsdale’s vision to create a central hub for organizing student progress, monitoring data and connecting it to the district’s teaching and learning resources.

“We have approached this effort from a user-based design strategy. Over the past three years, teachers have contributed to the design, the features and the functionality of CTLS, making their voices instrumental in guiding this vision,” said CCSD Chief Academic Officer Mary Elizabeth Davis.

In the next phases, CTLS will provide tools for parents and their children.

The CTLS parent experience will offer access to resources that support their children’s individual learning strengths, gaps, tutoring tools, homework help and supplemental resources to support learning at home.

Following that, students also will have access to a personalized collection of learning resources aligned to their grade levels and also based on their individual learning needs.