APLUS+ Network Association Partners With it's learning, inc.

Partnership expands online personalized learning choices for its member schools and their students

BURLINGTON, Mass., May 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In an effort to help its member schools creatively deal with the Californian fiscal crisis, the APLUS+ Network Association (www.theaplus.org) has partnered with it's learning, inc. Member schools will now have access to it's learning, The Individual Learning Platform™ (www.itslearning.net), to help them develop and share resources in a cost-effective way.

Focused on promoting Personalized Learning, an approach to education that is designed to help every student reach his or her full potential in a cost-effective manner, APLUS+ will use the it's learning platform to create an online personalized learning portal for APLUS+'s member schools.

The APLUS+ Network Association, a California-based association of member schools dedicated to promoting the personalized learning model of instruction, was introduced to it's learning, inc. by Steve Ross, Director of Technology at Forest Charter School in California. After Ross' school piloted the it's learning platform, Ross introduced the two organizations because of their common vision for individualized instruction and the possibility for sharing learning resources, courses and even instructors between schools.

"We currently represent 47 charter schools, with more than 35,000 students in the state of California, which is about 10% of the entire charter school enrollment in California," said Jeff Rice, Founder and Director of APLUS+ Network Association. "When we were introduced to it's learning, inc., we immediately saw the possibilities for collaboration. My goal is to build an online community portal that will house a wide variety of resources and online courses that our schools and students can access. When I discussed the idea with it's learning, inc. executives, they immediately shared our vision. I have been very impressed by the timely responsiveness of its learning to our network needs. This is truly an exciting 'personalized' partnership."

The it's learning – APLUS+ community portal will use the Global Community feature of the it's learning platform to allow students and instructors to join courses created by educators at other schools. Once enrolled, these individuals can then invite users from other schools to join the courses, opening up new avenues for both personalized learning and next-generation collaboration.

"it's learning provides the tools and services to enable the delivery of truly individualized instruction," said Jon Bower, President of it's learning, inc. "We are thrilled to be working with APLUS+ to establish a collaborative, cost-effective, scalable model for personalized learning in schools. We look forward to implementing this approach in California and expanding it nationwide."

To learn more about it's learning, visit www.itslearning.net. For more information on APLUS+ Association, visit www.theaplus.org.

About APLUS+ Association  

Founded in 2002, APLUS+ is exclusively dedicated to advancing Personalized Learning as a successful model in public education for the 21st century. Personalized Learning is a true, "putting students first" model of education that embodies choice, flexibility, and collaboration in tailoring individualized learning plans to the needs and interests of each student. APLUS+ also represents and supports high quality Personalized Learning schools that are committed to academic excellence and the highest standards of integrity and accountability. APLUS+ promotes the value and benefits of the Personalized Learning model for the growing number of public education students, who for various reasons, either need or choose a more flexible alternative approach to the traditional, full-time classroom based learning model. APLUS+ has become the leader and recognized voice for the Personalized Learning movement in education.

About it's learning

Since 1999, the company has provided it's learning – The Individual Learning Platform™ to European clients in K-12 and higher education. In order to provide more effective service to North American schools and universities, in the spring of 2009 it added a North American headquarters in Burlington, Massachusetts.  In additional to its global headquarters in Bergen, Norway, the company has offices in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, and France. Investing in the future of education, in 2009, it's learning dedicated more than 40 percent of its revenue to the design and development of its products. The company's goals are to offer the best learning platform and related services worldwide and to be the most innovative organization within the education market.

SOURCE it's learning, inc.