Iowa e-Learning Central (ILC) is an online exchange for Iowa educators, students, and families. It supports teachers and provides access to evidence-based curriculum, instruction and assessment practices. ILC offers high-quality courses and units. It supports teachers in creating content and expands statewide access to standards-aligned courses and units across all grade levels. ILC main components include:
- Resource Library. A library of resources for educators, families, and students. Resources are developed by experts in the field.
- Course Repository. A course repository where anyone may access high-quality course and unit content developed by Iowa-licensed educators for use in classrooms. Course content will continue to expand across all grade levels and disciplines. Course content can be used online or in the classroom and can be adapted to meet local needs or taught as is. It is available to any school across the state: public, nonpublic, or homeschool.
- Student/Course Exchange. This portion of the system facilitates sharing of seats in online courses. School leaders with extra seats in online courses may create a post to offer access to the seats for students attending other schools. Interested school leaders can respond to the seat offering to negotiate a sharing agreement to register a student for the open seat. Similarly, school leaders can post seat requests for students in their school who need an online course not offered in the school. A school leader who has an available seat for such a course may respond and negotiate enrolling the student in the course. It is up to the sharing schools to work out the legal and financial arrangements to enroll the student in the online course.
ILC addresses two statewide needs key to the success of our students, educators, and families. The first is a newly identified need that was brought to light with the COVID-19 pandemic. The need was for accessible, evidence-based supports and resources for students to be successful in their studies along with educators and families to support their students in their learning whether in-person or online. The second identified need is access to high-quality content, regardless of a student’s location in the state. Therefore, ILC:
- Expands access to high-quality course content that aligns with Iowa’s academic standards. It provides schools the flexibility to use, modify, and incorporate the content to best meet the needs of their students, families, and communities.
- Allows schools to download the content they need from the course repository, as they need it. The content is designed to be taught by educators locally (whether that's an online or in-person classroom). Using Iowa e-Learning Central is completely voluntary.
Iowa e-Learning Central is supported by one of the federal Education Stabilization Funds – Rethink K-12 Education Models (ESF-REM) Grants, which were authorized under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Learn more about Iowa e-Learning Central, including its current offerings and future enhancements, by accessing the Iowa e-Learning Central Fact Sheet.