Monthly Archives: February 2020

Bright Care: Empowering Schools to Manage Student Health More Effectively

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Lumen Touch CEO, Dr. John Vandewalle, was recently a panel speaker for a GG4L-hosted webinar about the role EdTech plays in physical health and wellness with regard to making schools safer. Among the topics discussed during the webinar was the struggle schools face in managing absenteeism and chronic health issues, such as asthma and allergies. You can listen to the webinar here.

Effective Student Health Center Management Is the Cornerstone of Success in Every School

Student Health Centers (SHCs) play a significant role in the management of physical health and wellness for students. Whether you’re communicating with parents and community members, school board members, teachers, or the students themselves, having the ability to manage students’ health can reduce chronic absenteeism and missed class times. Lumen Touch provides support for SHCs with the Bright Care™ student medical health management system.

What Is Bright Care™?

Bright Care is a comprehensive student medical record management system that provides immediate and historical information. It can be implemented as a standalone process or as part of Bright Student™. Some system features include:

  • Medication inventory
  • Daily medications schedule
  • Student medication chart (dosage and expiration dates)
  • Customizable school screenings, which include mass screenings
  • BMI and physicals that can be linked to extracurricular activity groups

One of the ways in which Bright Care comes into play is when a student is getting lunch in the cafeteria. The system can be set up to monitor what the student chooses to eat, trigger an alert if they choose something that they are allergic to, and prevent them from checking out that item. It can also communicate to teachers, alerting them about peanut allergies in the classroom so that they can plan accordingly for school parties and classroom snacks. Our solutions go beyond just communication, however.

Using Student Data to Reduce Absenteeism

One of the large school districts with whom Lumen Touch works had a significant absenteeism rate. By analyzing student data for absences, we discovered that a large percentage of absences were due to the school not having a comprehensive treatment protocol for students who had asthma. By working with the school and local medical providers, we were able to significantly reduce that absenteeism rate.

At the End of the Day, It’s About Efficiency

Schools are charged with the most daunting of tasks: to provide for the education, safety, and wellness of the students in their communities. This can be overwhelming, and while there is a lot of data available, the power comes from being able to leverage that data effectively to save time, save money, and make better, more well-informed decisions that benefit teachers, students, and the community at large.

At Lumen Touch, we know that there are no simple answers to solving the big challenges that face schools. But there are changes that can make a difference. Bright Care is part of our Bright Student package and a powerful tool for schools. To learn more, get in touch.

2020 Is Going to Be BRIGHT

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“For students whose networking and guidance alternatives are limited or altogether nonexistent, EdTech that connects students to online experts, mentors, and peers is revolutionary.”

– Julia Freeland Fisher, author of Who You Know: Unlocking Innovations That Expand Students’ Network

As we continue to progress into this new decade, there is so much to be hopeful for. We have seen examples around the world of what happens when we let our students believe in their own capabilities, when we encourage innovation. From Greta Thunberg and Luisa Neubauer to Bruno Rodriguez and Autumn Peltier, we are seeing innovation in action from young people around the world. Will your students be next? In order to foster innovation in your students, you must first foster connection.

Fostering Connection

Students are inspired by example, but they are strengthened by connection. The Christensen Institute has spent the past decade studying the impact of EdTech on schools and learning and have demonstrated that a child’s network – the people they have in their lives – is incredibly important to their overall ability to achieve, so much so that students who don’t have adequate resources in their families and communities are left behind.

EdTech Provides Connection

Where there is a lack of network in communities and families, and to complement what network there is, a growing body of research is revealing that EdTech holds the key. More than just the school itself – which is burdened with budget and staffing issues all the time – EdTech within the school can provide a connection for students to the outside world that is deep, formative, and powerful.

In The next decade of disruption in education? Unlocking networks, Julia Freeland Fisher writes:

We are ushering in a new decade of innovation that is still powered by technology but offers a different value proposition. This new wave has less to do with just transforming how students learn, and instead has the potential to revolutionize how they connect—to experts, mentors, and peers. That’s a crucial distinction. These innovations are offering connections in circumstances where students lack access to relationships. They are opening up new channels to help students accrue what sociologists and economists call social capital—that is, the value contained in our networks. And over time, they stand to disrupt the boundaries that time and geography have long held on students’ networks.

The Lumen Touch Difference

One of the most valuable components of Lumen Touch is Bright Success™. Bright Success is a state-of-the-art, web-based software solution that allows students, counselors, administrators, and mentors to collaborate on an integrated platform and guide students towards career and or college success. This powerful solution manages the interactions, goals, projects, communications, and accomplishments of students as they are safely and systematically guided by their mentors toward long-term achievement. Through it, students can:

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  • Connect with colleges and career resources
  • Track progress toward established goals
  • Connect students and mentors

The system provides students, faculty, mentors, and parents a safe, monitored, and secure communication platform. Connecting is crucial to learning and to innovation. Bright Success provides a safe way for students to strengthen their networks. We invite you to learn more about Bright Success™ and Lumen Touch’s all-in-one solution.