Author: Creation of 'KidCitizen' and 'Music of Us'

Author, our platform for creating roleplay assessments, is truly more influential than you might think. Not only are we making assessment creation quick and simple, but our pedagogical approach to assessments transforms how students are 'learning by doing' and fosters impactful learning outcomes. At Muzzy Lane, we strive for students to achieve meaningful learning experiences and enjoy the process of applying skills in real-world scenarios. 

In this blog, you will read about how we are achieving these important learning outcomes with the creation of 'KidCitizen' and 'Music of Us' from our Author platform. 

'KidCitizen' and Its Impact on Education

KidCitizen is a platform built by an interdisciplinary group of historians and educators in collaboration with Muzzy Lane developers. Its purpose is to empower K-5 grade educators to create interactive episodes, where children delve into the past and learn about historical events from the United States. Children are immersed in an engaging learning environment, where they analyze primary source visuals to find important details from the past and create meaningful connections to their everyday lives.

Additionally, KidCitizen is involved in the Congress, Civic Participation, and Primary Sources Project, receiving a grant from the Library of Congress to support its endeavors. Furthermore, it is part of the Teaching with Primary Sources, a professional development program where teachers are trained to embed primary source visuals from the Library of Congress into their episodes to stimulate student literacy and critical thinking skills.

'Music of Us' and Its Use-Case 

Music of Us is a platform produced by Snow&CO and a diverse team of innovators in collaboration with Muzzy Lane's Author Suite. This platform is redefining how educators deliver musical learning materials of the United States' history to middle and high school students. Similar to KidCitizen, this platform is designed for educators to create interactive episodes that incorporate musical primary sources from the Library of Congress. An engaging learning approach, students learn and explore different music genres and legendary musicians that shaped our history and culture. By listening to songs and analyzing their lyrics, students will gain intriguing insight into their historical contexts and a glimpse into the world from that era.  

This coming year, Music of Us will pilot its first-ever Student Builder Program. Students will now have access to tools for designing their own episode projects, using either a library of their own music recordings or the Library of Congress. This exciting launch gives students complete autonomy in creating interactive music episodes that achieve individual or collaborative learning goals and outcomes. Students and teachers will have free access to the Author platform to build episodes with support from the Library of Congress. 

Conclusion

Author is more than just an assessment creation platform. It's not just about 'what' we do, but 'why'. We aim to solve the complexities of assessment building so educators alike can create diverse assessments with ease, but it runs deeper than that. We are passionate about leveraging our AI-powered authoring tools to create effective learning outcomes and spark genuine student interest in any educational subject matter. KidCitizen and Music for Us are testaments to our mission, and we will continue to work with partners that strive for success in all areas of education, from higher-ed and K-12 to corporate learning and development. 

The KidCitizen Editor and Music of Us run on our cloud-based Author platform, and episodes can run in browsers on any device.