HEIDI HEILMAN, Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Heidi has worked in the youth substance abuse prevention field for over 25 years. Her experience in drug policy, prevention and treatment has helped advance the mission of several noteworthy service organizations working to address youth risk and promote healthy development.  Heidi led the founding and continues to serve as President of the Massachusetts Prevention Alliance, a non-profit educational and advocacy organization serving to protect the health and well-being of youth through sound public health policy.  Through her vision and leadership, she launched WaylandCares, a community coalition dedicated to reducing local youth substance abuse, securing federal Drug Free Communities funding and municipal budget appropriations to sustain the program.  Prior to her work in Wayland, Heidi was the Director of Field Services for SADD National coordinating state and federal agency initiatives to develop and strengthen youth prevention education in high schools and communities across the country.  Her career began in direct service, providing treatment in youth drug rehabilitation followed by positions as substance abuse prevention clinician and educator at both the high school and college levels.

EXPLOROS, Premier Online Learning Platform and Chief Instructional Design

Exploros has been on the cutting edge of technology in the K-12 space for decades. They began with LOGAL software’s flagship product line—a breakthrough simulation-based science and math curriculum. With LOGAL, they had the first Internet subscription-based product offering for schools (1996), won the first textbook state adoption for Internet-delivered curriculum (Biology, Texas, 1997), and established a presence in 20 percent of U.S. high schools. Most recently, the team developed PangeaTools, a cloud-based eLearning authoring and distribution platform, which was acquired by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2012. 

THE PLATFORM: The Exploros collaborative learning platform offers a new way of scaling prevention education, and making quality learning experiences available any time, anywhere.  Delivered through various technological devices, courses are self-paced with full teacher engagement in a shared, virtual learning environment where each participant benefits from the knowledge, questions, and discussion of other course peers. Learning experiences are XML files and therefore device-agnostic and future- proof.

THE CURRICULUM DESIGN TEAM: New and unique learning experiences are designed to integrate content with student collaboration governed by the flow of instruction. The team develops quality lesson plans based on the best science and research available.  Course strategy delivers salient and compelling content for every unique participant in the shared learning environment.  This strengthens course efficacy and allows teachers to spend more time guiding students and less time dealing with logistics. www.exploros.com