Centric Learning
Motivating Students through Engaging Learning Technology

Education is a constantly evolving field that changes as new technologies and innovations are developed and implemented but seldom do these technologies address students’ motivation to learn. Additionally, while providing learning opportunities, educators and parents face their own problems while trying to support their students’ educational journeys. Rising to these challenges is Michigan-based Centric Learning—a company that has developed a learning system, HERO to address student motivation, and provide support for teachers, staff, and parents.

Governed by a mission to “to make every student a hero,” Centric Learning has specifically designed the HERO Learning System to meet the needs of students and teachers and is centered around a project-based learning methodology. The state-of-the-art Digital Learning Environment (DLE) powered by HERO enables learners to access a living curriculum that helps them develop real-world, 21st-century problem-solving skills. The HERO system offers a collaborative, personalized approach to education—one that is engaging, motivating, and student-centered. It hosts an accredited curriculum from grades 6 to 12 in a global content repository of over half a million learning objects which are created and customized by highly dedicated, certified educators.

HERO provides data analytics on student performance that is tied to specific national learning standards, enabling continuous monitoring of students’ learning development and growth. Through this data, students can glean a detailed and precise understanding of their progress toward learning objectives and how each project contributes to their graduation pathway, allowing them to take ownership of their own education.

Students engaged in project-based learning are able to retain the information they have learned longer than students taught through more traditional methods

Teachers and parents also have access to this data, which can be used to help support student learning. That’s not all; HERO’s highly-scalable administrative tools can be leveraged to manage a single classroom, school, or an entire district. The system supports traditional, blended, and online classes—empowering both students and teachers to excel. “HERO is a dynamic partner in the learning process that empowers students and teachers to focus on the right learning and then shares that learning with all stakeholders,” states Glen Taylor, Co- CEO, Centric Learning.

Taylor believes in providing education that is driven by student voice and student choice. In the same vein, Centric Learning recognizes that the old school model of passively learning facts is no longer effective in preparing students to succeed in today’s disruptive, hyper-competitive, technologically-driven, global economy where ideas and jobs move effortlessly around the world.

The company understands that students want to be in charge of their future and need a dynamic classroom approach where they can learn through exploring real-world problems, working on finding their solutions to those problems and collaborating with peers and mentors throughout the process.

Centric Learning utilizes the project-based learning methodology to engage learners’ hearts and minds and provides relevancy and practical applications for learning. While working on a project, students connect to different core content areas while simultaneously develop essential skills such as problem-solving and project management. Students engaged in project-based learning are able to retain the information they have learned longer than students taught through more traditional methods.

"Centric Learning utilizes the project-based learning methodology to engage learners’ hearts and minds and provides relevancy and practical applications for learning"

Moving ahead, Centric Learning’s HERO is being enhanced by its team of qualified educators to continuously bring students the best in educational technology. Centric Learning works in partnership with renowned educational institutes in the U.S., England, Brazil, and China and is currently expanding further into South America and Asia. These worldwide partners shared the need for a flexible, up-to-date technology that worked with their passion for educating and engaging their students more effectively throughout the learning process. “People like to talk with us because they are interested in preparing young people for l ife outside of t he classroom. H owever, t hey become clients because they trust us,” says Beth Baker, Co-CEO, Centric Learning.

HERO provides these partners with the tools to create a more dynamic and flexible curriculum that allows students to work at their own pace, anytime, anywhere.