Today I’m excited to share some details about one of our newest launches, the Childhelp Speak Up Be Safe virtual campus. I believe it’s truly a groundbreaking program, taking an off-line program and providing broad access to it online, while also driving sales, awareness and community connection.

Childhelp, the nation’s oldest and largest non-governmental nonprofit advocating for abused and neglected children, offers a comprehensive child abuse and bullying prevention education program, Childhelp Speak Up Be Safe®. The program includes curriculum for grades one through six, taught by trained facilitators.

Previously, much of the actual curriculum was delivered via a thumb drive, and the training was scheduled based on availability. Using the 6Connex platform, Childhelp’s brand new virtual campus enables immediate access to the curriculum, along with anytime access to the facilitator training. In addition, Childhelp will be offering guest speakers, continuing education opportunities, community outreach, the Childhelp Speak Up Be Safe for Athletes program for youth sports and more.

The program was brought to life by a talented and passionate team, who had a clear vision from the start. We applaud their efforts, and the mission of Childhelp. We’re also quite excited about the use case – what a great way for a 55 year old nonprofit to leverage technology to further its mission.

I’d like to share some of the highlights, the things that we think are truly unique uses of our Virtual Environment platform.

• We talk a lot about how “looks matter” and in this case it’s as true as ever.  Bringing Childhelp’s “little red schoolhouse” to life and creating a campus look and feel that reflects the nonprofit’s feeling of hope is a significant achievement. The unique design provides just the right backdrop to welcome new individuals, schools and other organizations to learn more about the Childhelp Speak Up Be Safe program. Childhelp Co-Founder and President Yvonne Fedderson said, “We are amazed that you were able to capture the look of our villages with this new technology. It honors a dream that took us so many years to build and gives everyone access to the Childhelp mission.”
• Of course the content of any program is the real key, and the Childhelp Speak Up Be Safe curriculum takes center stage. The virtual campus’ architecture showcases the value of the curriculum at each grade level, providing a public view into the content. For a deeper look at the curriculum, powerful platform entitlement allows Childhelp to grant access for a full review, and once a decision has been made to purchase the curriculum, grant full access to the program. Childhelp refers to this process as “leveling up” and it’s a key strategy that is aimed at bringing the program to more children across the nation.
• Perhaps the most important element of the virtual campus is an entirely new way to train and engage with facilitators. By leveraging a virtual environment, Childhelp can make the training available to facilitators when and where they need it, and the curriculum itself is available for immediate download. Platform interactivity features enable facilitators from across the country to connect with each other, forging a stronger community fighting child abuse and bullying. Additionally, guest speakers can engage with the community, and Childhelp can offer other continuing education opportunities. Childhelp Co-Founder and CEO Sara O’Meara said, “We really honor your team’s investment in this remarkable platform. Our hope has always been to bring prevention education to every state in the nation so that all of our children can learn to speak up and be safe. Your help will make that dream a reality!”

All in all, it’s a comprehensive and engaging program, one that we hope will serve as a model for other non-profits. You can check it out at www.speakupbesafe.org – and please share to help drive awareness for this very worthy cause.

Virtual Classrooms

Education is evolving.

Virtual learning is quickly making its way into the educational realms. Dusty erasers and broken chalk have long been discarded, and soon even the classroom will become a distant memory. Just think, students will no longer have to compete for their teacher’s attention, and personality clashes will never be an issue. Education is constantly evolving, and the learning tools that businesses currently use to educate their personnel are now being applied to schools.