Uniting Students, Parents and Educators Online for Better Outcomes

Students in Latin America face many educational challenges, but promising deployments of edtech are helping overcome those barriers. Look no further than how families and educators are adapting to new ways of learning due to the reality of teaching in a COVID-19 world with

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“A major flaw in our education community was the lack of fluid communication between families,” Maria Belen Penen, a secondary school vice president, frames one of the challenges Latin American educators face every day.

Helping parents become more involved in the process is a key factor to giving students a better chance at success. Blended works to facilitate better outcomes for students by making sure the right foundational conditions are met – simply by being present.

“Technology is already a part of the lives of the students we have. Now, I provide a lot more communications to parents about their students, letting them know what’s happening moment to moment. That’s allowed us to improve [how we help students],” says Andrea Kac, Secondary School Principal of Orange Day School.

Immediate Help on Improving Outcomes

More than a tool, the software is a conduit to a brighter future, and is already changing students’ lives for the better. It allows for parents to be more involved in the education of their students, and to play a more active role in their daily lives.

Attendance, daily communications and lessons for students get done in minutes rather than taking significant portions of educators’ days. Thus, they're able to focus more on the students themselves and the learning outcomes. "Attendance and course notes arrive before the students arrive at home," says Sebastian Picasso, Administration Council President, Irish School

"We understood that the boys have everything on their cell phone, therefore, it was necessary that their class materials were also there. Today, they are used to having educational content downloaded to the platform and therefore they always have work available while in class,” says Cristian Maya, Secondary Director of Santiago Canclini High School Principal.

Teachers feel supported because all of their tools and methods for communication are in one place. And students feel like they have access to the right information and streamlined classes, file sharing, readings videos and presentation all in one organized spot.

A Platform for Learning, Now More Than Ever

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a total lockdown in most Latin American countries, closing schools and unexpectedly transforming the K-12 education system overnight. This forced all schools to depend completely on digital solutions to ensure learning continuity.

Blended’s safe platform allowed students to continue learning despite not being able to be there in person. When COVID-19 hit, daily active users spiked more than 1200% year over year; yet Blended was ready to continue to foster those connection points.

It’s no small feat that the platform was able to keep students connected with teachers, ensuring opportunities for education, despite the new reality, handling over ​175,000 new users–in just two weeks​. During this time, the average session duration increased by 70%, rising from just over five minutes to nearly nine minutes.

At a time when needs for distance learning are arising everywhere, the Blended platform has been made available, for free, to 40 public schools for through the 2020-2021 school year in order to meet the needs of schools and continuing to build student/teacher/parent engagement.

Looking Towards a Brighter Future, Beyond the Pandemic

There’s no doubt that a comprehensive learning platform for students, parents and teachers is critical, now more than ever. Blended’s reach and impact will extend further, as the company expands regionally offering their solution through local partners in Mexico, Uruguay, Chile and Colombia. While the pandemic has forced the world to reimagine education models and delivery, edtech solutions like Blended are much needed and will leave a lasting impact for years to come in Latin America and beyond.

Read why we invested in Blended here.