LEARN
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2018 Grants Challenge

Lola software makes learning possible.

Lola software helps students with learning differences access rigorous curriculum and stay focused by: breaking routines into manageable tasks, providing visual timers and enabling a messaging system.

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Please describe the activation your organization seeks to launch.

Our mission: spread Lola’s impact through out LA County.

Goals:

Engage and educate community members on how to understand and support people who struggle with learning.

Expand the Los Angeles network of K16 educators and leaders who have a knowledge base and the tools to work with people with learning differences toward a goal of independence.

Include all stakeholders in our LA community in the process of building healthy self-esteem for those who guide side-by-side with those who learn.

Which of the LEARN metrics will your activation impact?​

College and community college completion rates

District-wide graduation rates

Proficiency in English and Language Arts and Math

Will your proposal impact any other LA2050 goal categories?​

LA is the best place to CREATE

LA is the healthiest place to LIVE

In what areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?​

County of Los Angeles

City of Los Angeles

LAUSD

How will your activation mobilize Angelenos?​

Trainings and/or in-person engagements

Create new tools or technologies for greater civic/political engagement

Influence individual behavior

Describe in greater detail how your activation will make LA the best place to LEARN?​

The creation of Lola evolved from the urgent need to give K-16 students, with learning differences, tools that he/she needs in order to perform tasks necessary to everyday functioning and learning, in/out of the classroom, regardless of demographics. Users include: school Districts, service provider agencies and behavior interventionists, parents and adults who self-assign utilize Lola software to best provide support that fosters not only growth in learners but independence as well.

As this is the fundamental purpose of Lola, when guides such as teachers/support personnel/parents utilize all that Lola offers, classrooms and other settings see an increase in ALL student engagement, in promotion of students with below proficient and/or higher skills, along with an increase of teacher effectiveness on classroom management and delivery of instruction in general and access to rigorous curriculum, no matter where the teacher is in his/her career or school address.

When Lola software helps leaners with learning differences access rigorous curriculum and stay focused by: breaking routines into manageable tasks, providing visual timers, and enabling a messaging system for support, community realizes the value because the learning environment becomes more efficient/effective.

Executive functioning, commonly thought of as organizational skills, are something that typically developing students acquire over time, but students with various types of learning differences find especially difficult to overcome when reaching for academic success. Approximately 13% of the 55 million preK-12 students in the United States are diagnosed as needing special education services; 64% of these students are categorically labeled as having a Learning Disability or Specific Learning Disability (NCES, 2015). Learning Disabilities and/or Specific Learning Disability can include Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Auditory and Visual Processing Disorders, and Dysgraphia. Additionally, students with Traumatic Brain Injuries, Other Health Impairments, Attention Deficit Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and Autism Spectrum Disorder also struggle with executive functioning. Since 2000, categorical areas such as Other Health Impairments and Autism Spectrum Disorders have seen more than 400% increase in diagnosis (NCES, 2015). Supporting the executive functioning of students diagnosed with Learning Disabilities, Traumatic Brain Injuries, Other Health Impairments, and Autism Spectrum Disorders has plagued educators and families alike. Arguably, the most frustrating situations for educators and parents alike include: not being able to support children by giving each child the tools he/she needs to navigate through his or her day with confidence and independence.

How will your activation engage Angelenos to make LA the best place to LEARN​

Successful modern societies require broad participation from all citizens to thrive and evolve. With technology immersion, participants need better learning systems to develop basic and advanced skills in processing information and developing creativity. Leaving many behind is not an option for our society. Lola helps everyone build skills and confidence needed by all citizens in the modern world.

Through demos and awareness we will reach more guides and learners in Los Angeles who do not know that with just the right amount of support we can transform a struggling learning into an independent confident learner.Our research team will inform next steps, to make sure we continue on the best path.

Our team will coordinate marketing, organizing volunteers and a research project. We will target our already existing schools network, both LAUSD, non-charter, charter schools, LA higher Ed Institutions and regional centers serving people with disabilities. With a get the word out and providing that Lola is here to help- activating 100,000 learners is doable.

Funding for special education and for providing accommodations for learners in higher education can be used, and actually saves money, on Lola.

Offering volunteer opportunities, especially for eager high school students, to help explain and board users will be a win-win for the volunteers and new Lola users. These activities with develop growth mindsets and an understanding of differences both in/out of the classroom.

Please explain how you will define and measure success for your activation.​

We have secured a research project:

Sample Research Questions:

For Learner Task Completion: Do students using Lola complete more tasks during classroom time than without Lola?

For Learner Time in Task: Do students using Lola complete more tasks on time, than without Lola?

For Impact on Overall Classroom Disruptions: Do classrooms using Lola have fewer disruptions than classrooms not using Lola?

For Usability: Does Lola function appropriately across various types of devices, various academic content areas, various student ability level, and various instructional activities?

For Initial Feasibility: What are teacher and student’s perceptions and satisfaction with Lola as a technological support for individual student time on task, student task completion, and impact on overall classroom disruptions.

Measures:

Surveys: Surveys focused on guide and learner perceptions of the user friendliness of Lola’s Messaging System and Visual Timers will be implemented at both pre and post stages of the study.

De-Identified Data Points: De-identified data points focused on students and teachers frequency of use of Lola Messaging System and Visual Timers, individual student task completion, and overall classroom task completion will be collected from Lola data system.

Are at risk students on a stronger path towards graduation?

Additionally: monitor how does volunteer work impact getting Lola into the the hands of those who need support. Along with impact on the volunteer experience.

Where do you hope this activation or your organization will be in five years?

With all we know and are able to study about the brain, activation now within LA 2050 will lead us to healthier options for people in Los Angeles with and without cognitive disabilities.

As mentioned, broader societal needs will be met when Lola is customized for use by parents (already in pilot), Teacher Ed Institutions (of which UCLA has rolled out 2017) and therapists working with Brain Trauma ( a pilot in the works).