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Welcome CT Educators!

The Connecticut State Department of Education is pleased to provide the Defined Learning and Defined Careers platform at no cost to all public schools in Connecticut. Defined Learning and Defined Careers provide the essential elements that educators need to engage students in real-world Project-Based Learning (PBL). 

All K-12 public school teachers in Connecticut have access to these PBL Solutions: 

  • Defined Learning (K-12): An online library of standards-aligned performance tasks that are searchable by grade, subject, and standard. The Defined Learning platform includes the essential design elements you need to implement high-quality PBL: career-focused videos to set the stage for the project, research resources, editable rubrics, and more! 

  • Defined Careers (K-12): Defined Careers is a career exploration and experience system featuring over 500 careers and over 1000 hands-on projects across all career clusters and pathways. Students experience careers by completing standards-aligned performance tasks on careers in their recommended pathways.

How do I access Defined Learning and Defined Careers?

Defined Learning will attempt to contact your district, but we also encourage district leaders to reach out to Defined Learning to schedule an Implementation call. Once your preferred method of logging in is established, teachers will access Defined Learning at https://users.definedlearning.com/signin/teacher, while students will access Defined Learning at https://users.definedlearning.com/signin/student. Defined Learning and Defined Careers works with login providers such as Google, Clever, and Classlink to provide easy access to the content.

Complete this form to get your school or district started on the platform or email Carlie Brandt at carlie_brandt@definedlearning.com

 

GET STARTED

Getting Started with Defined Learning 

For a quick 2-minute video of Defined Learning, click here or below: 

Video Thumbnail

For instructions and additional resources to support your use of the platform, explore the Defined Learning teacher support toolkit.

 

Example Defined Learning Performance Tasks by Grade Band

Lemonade Stand

Grades K-2: Entrepreneur: Lemonade Stand In this task students will learn about managing their own businesses. They will practice adding, subtracting and making change to run their own Lemonade Stand. 

Aquarium Designer

Grades 3-5: Aquarium Designer  In this task, students are asked to play the role of a structural engineer whose team of marine biologists and zoologists enter a contest to design the best new aquarium. 

Tiny House

Grades 6-8: Architect: Tiny House In this task, students will create a scaled floor plan of a tiny house and calculate the square footage of the rooms and determine the square footage needed for materials like siding, carpet, etc.

Roller Coaster Design

Grades 9-12: Structural Engineer: Roller Coaster Design. This task is focused on helping students understand how roller coasters conserve energy and convert energy from one form to another. 

 

Getting Started with Defined Careers

For a quick 2-minute video of Defined Careers, click here or below: 

Defined Careers-Dec-06-2022-06-09-27-4301-PM

For instructions and additional resources to support your use of the platform, explore the Defined Careers teacher support toolkit.

 

Example Defined Careers Performance Tasks

In the third lesson of Defined Careers, students experience careers by completing real-world performance tasks that are based on careers in their recommended pathways.

Take a look! 

game_designer

Game Designer

You are a Game Designer, and your role is to design a new character and storyline for a new Super Mario game.

industrial_engineer

Commercial and Industrial Designer

You are an Industrial Designer for Dick’s Sporting Goods. Your role is to develop and improve concepts for everyday outdoor products.

plumber

Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters

You are a Pipefitter and Steamfitter for the Murphy Contracting Company. You will be responsible for designing and laying pipe for the Soccer Stadium.

Support

Here is how to access your account: