The team at Digital Futures Initiative (DFi) has been busy this fall updating the experience of using DFi for all of our Instructors, Teachers, Parents and everyone who interacts with DFi and DFi content.
Here is an outline of what is new and where you can find it:
Learning Management Portal (LMS)
We have completely re-vamped the learning management system giving it a new look / feel along with bringing it into the actual DFi website. You will still keep your same account information but will need to re-enter your password the first time you visit.
- The LMS is not longer at certify.dfinow.org. That will re-direct you to the main DFi website where everything is now located.
- The new LMS is located here under the “Learning Portal” for access to all the lessons and your account profile can be accessed through the “Login” button.
- You can access courses either by Topic (Digital Citizenship, Relationships, Substance Use, Distracted Driving) which is the default view or now by GRADE (6th, 7th, 8th, High School) which can be accessed via the “Course Categories” dropdown just above the courses
- We have removed all of the restrictions from the previous experience. You are no longer required to take any courses and can access single lessons if desired.
New Lessons with Updated Content
With the new LMS, we took the opportunity to update the lessons with some new material. We recommended accessing and re-downloading all lessons you teach to stay current and teach the latest material available anywhere. We have incorporated images of our new reality (masks), new learning topics, inserts from a recent docu-drama “The Social Network” from Netflix and updated stories, activities and more!
New Content Area in the Website
We wanted to pull out some of the content that was hard to find before and bring it all out to make it easier to access. Take a look at the new Resources tab at the top of the site. Here is what you will find:
- Books: these are the Books we use in our lessons and generally recommend
- Testimonials: We receive emails, voicemails, letters and stories from the field telling us how DFi is making an impact in your School, Class or home. We wanted to share these more broadly an be a resource of hope. Need a pick-me-up? Grab a coffee and go through some of the 13+ pages of testimonials that we have collected.
- Programs: this is a full description of each Program area (Digital Citizenship, Relationships, Substance Use, Distracted Driving) including Objectives, Samples and more. Need a 1-pager for your Administration or an overview on file of what you are teaching? Use these pages and feel free to share with your friends and colleagues!
- Downloads: This is a collection of documents and resources for you to download and take with you. Use as handouts, send to Parents or use however they can help the most. Get the latest Apps and what you need to know, know the services available to help monitor the devices in your household, get in-depth sheets across a number of topics and a lot more!
- Digital Maturity Framework: we are working on a Framework that represents the modern Kid in a digital world. This is a placeholder for now, but keep an eye out.
Our commitment is to always have the latest content and models available that you can use to teach your students with the most up-to-date information available anywhere in the world.
