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  • Big Changes Coming to Rubin Curriculum in Fall 2022

    Big Changes Coming to Rubin Curriculum in Fall 2022

    The Rubin team is hard at work in summer 2022 to create a brand-new learning environment for our Emerge curriculum starting in fall 2022. The goal is higher-quality lessons for college and career readiness.

    This is a wholesale update in which we aim to improve site design, site navigation and the content inside the assignments themselves.

    Changes include:

    • Brighter colors
    • More engaging site layout
    • More short instructional videos
    • Easier site navigation and simplified student instructions

    “We knew this summer would be the right time to update our online program,” said Austin Makohon, software developer at Rubin and the project lead for the curriculum redesign. “We are excited to roll out a fresh, more intuitive design in the fall for both educators and students.”

    See below for renderings of the new design.

    Image 1: A cleaner, more modern sign-in screen which still features single sign-on capabilities for Gmail and Outlook.

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    Image 2: A revised unit page that lays out resources for specific topics (ex: Email Etiquette Advanced). All unit pages feature an overview video and drop-down sections with different instructional materials.

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    Image 3: A revised assignment page with an instructional video and simplified instructions with bad/good communication examples tucked inside a simple drop-down option.

    college and career readiness curriculum

    A major facelift is in the works.

  • GA Student Wins $5,000 in Scholarships Using Rubin “Storytelling” Method

    GA Student Wins $5,000 in Scholarships Using Rubin “Storytelling” Method

    The ultimate goal at Rubin is to provide teachers with high quality resources for college and career readiness they can share with students.

    We have no better example of such a pursuit than Lamar County Schools in Georgia southwest of Atlanta.

    Ms. Sharonda Bostic, a CTAE (career, technical and agriculture education) teacher in Lamar County, employs the Rubin “storytelling” method for cover letters and job interviews.

    In short, the story approach encourages students to share an example of a time they overcame a challenge (ex: school project, part-time job) rather than use words like “hardworking” or “problem solver.”

    Shorter than that, it means: show me, don’t tell me.

    Ms. Bostic went further. She helped her own son use the narrative approach for college scholarship essays.

    Lo and behold, her son won big — to the tune of $5,000 across five different scholarships. He begins college in fall 2022.

    “What better proof do I need?” Bostic said. “Rubin’s techniques win, plain and simple.”

    At Rubin, we want teachers to embrace our methods and share them with students to achieve real-world results.

    All you need to know is $5,000 in scholarship money from a short story about work ethic.

    What’s your student’s story worth?

    Explore our robust Emerge curriculum (which includes our “storytelling” unit) and find out!

    One story = 5K

  • Deerfield USD 216 (Kansas) Adopts Rubin Emerge as Employability Curriculum

    Deerfield USD 216 (Kansas) Adopts Rubin Emerge as Employability Curriculum

    Deerfield USD 216 (Deerfield, Kansas) has formally adopted Emerge, to satisfy the postsecondary and college and career readiness component of the Kansas Education Systems Accreditation (KESA), the state’s K-12 accrediting model.

    Deerfield, under the direction of teacher Jennifer Wieberg, uses Emerge for grades 6-12 to teach valuable skills like email writing, phone etiquette and conversation techniques.

    See Emerge in action with Deerfield students here.

    “Deerfield’s decision to adopt Emerge is a big step in Kansas and elsewhere to show that Emerge can be a cornerstone resource for how students learn employability skills,” said Danny Rubin, the founder of Rubin. “We want to be a trusted, year over year tool that educators can depend on as we navigate the digital age and ensure our students know how to communicate with professionalism, grace and humility.”

    Want to try Emerge for yourself? Request a 30-day free trial here!

    Indispensable resource.

  • Rubin Team Works with HS Tech Students to Improve Curriculum Layout

    Rubin Team Works with HS Tech Students to Improve Curriculum Layout

    In the photo, Rubin Software Developer Austin Makohon shows Virginia Beach high school students proposed updates to Emerge, our online curriculum, to gain their feedback.

    With every Zoom “raised hand” and comment in the chat, Rubin efforts to strengthen our Emerge employability skills curriculum came into better focus.

    Thanks to feedback on April 6 from high school students within Virginia Beach City Public Schools, the Rubin team gained new ideas for:

    • a smarter, more intuitive site navigational structure
    • simpler instructions for classroom assignments
    • easier way to see what lessons they have already completed

    The Rubin team, alongside a group of software developers based in Serbia, takes the student insights into account as we build “version 2.0” of Emerge to be ready by the start of the 2022-2023 academic year.

    “We are proud of the impact Emerge has on thousands of students nationwide for college and career readiness,” said Danny Rubin, the founder of Rubin. “Still, we are determined to take Emerge to the next level, smooth out user experience issues and make our platform the best it can be.”

    Other planned changed to Emerge include:

    • a fresh design for the log-in screen
    • the addition of QR codes for Emerge digital badges (so people like employers can snap the QR code and find information about the skills obtained through the badge)
    • enhanced middle school curriculum for email etiquette and interview skills

    More to come in the months ahead!

    Listen to the end user.

  • Austin Makohon Joins Rubin as Software Developer

    Austin Makohon Joins Rubin as Software Developer

    We are excited to welcome Austin Makohon to the Rubin team!

    Austin will work on software updates and maintenance to our Emerge curriculum.

    Emerge provides a library of videos, activities and quizzes for business communication skills (ex: email etiquette).

    A native of the Peninsula, Makohon received his bachelor’s degree from Christopher Newport University.

    Makohon had previously worked in IT at the Peninsula Agency on Aging in Newport News.

    “As a provider of a web-based learning curriculum, we often receive excellent feedback from customers on ways to make the program more engaging,” said Danny Rubin, the founder of Rubin. “Austin will play a big role in delivering a stronger product semester over semester to our school partners nationwide.”

    Rubin Emerge integrates into common learning management systems like Google Classroom, Canvas, Schoology, Moodle, Blackboard, D2L and Sakai. Whenever possible, we provide “single sign-on” access so students can work on Emerge lessons without the need for an additional username or password.

    Want to explore Emerge for yourself? Click here for a 30-day free trial!

    Rubin is a leader in online curriculum for business communication. The company provides a robust digital learning platform called “Emerge” to middle schools, high schools, colleges/universities and adult education programs. Emerge teaches in-demand skills like email etiquette, phone etiquette and how to hold meaningful conversations for college and career. Rubin is based in Virginia Beach, VA and, through Emerge, reaches tens of thousands of students in Virginia and 30+ other states. Rubin is founded by Danny Rubin, a former TV news journalist and national news consultant. Our motto: “Write well, open doors!”

    Ready to help your students thrive.

  • Kansas CTE Students in Grades 6-12 Explore Emerge to Learn Life Skills

    Kansas CTE Students in Grades 6-12 Explore Emerge to Learn Life Skills

    At Deerfield USD 216 in southwest Kansas, students in grades 6-12 sit at tables to practice cursive signatures and how to address an envelope — and then pop up to shake hands with classmates with steady eye contact and firm grasps.

    What’s going on?

    Each week, CTE Coordinator Jennifer Wieberg dives into the Rubin Emerge curriculum, an online library of practical lessons for employability, and then delivers each lesson to her students in middle and high school.

    Emerge is designed as a comprehensive resource to help students become stronger writers and speakers as they pursue college and career opportunities.

    “Last year, I was up late many nights scouring Pinterest for career resources and even paying for curricula out of my own pocket,” said Wieberg. “Emerge has everything I need in one place with activities, lesson plans and discussion questions for critical life and career skills. I love it.”

    Check out scenes from Wieberg’s classroom!

    Hands shakes, mailing letters and so much more

  • Fairfax County, Nation’s 7th Largest School Division, to Implement Rubin Emerge District Wide

    Fairfax County, Nation’s 7th Largest School Division, to Implement Rubin Emerge District Wide

    Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), the nation’s 7th largest school division, will implement the Rubin Emerge curriculum division wide for all high school career and technical education (CTE) students in the 2021-2022 academic year.

    FCPS, which is also the biggest school system in Virginia, plans to incorporate Emerge lessons on email etiquette, LinkedIn, networking, entrepreneurship and others within various CTE classes spanning 9th to 12th grades. FCPS has 27 high schools and 57,000 students in CTE classes each year.

    As well, FCPS will integrate Rubin Emerge into its learning platform, Schoology, through single sign-on so students can complete Emerge assignments without the need to leave Schoology or enter a username/password.

    The decision to roll out Emerge division wide comes amid increased demand from colleges and employers for writing, speaking and other “employability” skills.

    “We are proud and humbled at the opportunity to provide Emerge to every high school within Fairfax County,” said Danny Rubin, the founder of Rubin. “We know administrators within Fairfax County have wonderful ideas for how to use our content, and the partnership shows the broader educational community that Rubin is a premier provider of online instruction for business communication skills.”

    A major step forward in Virginia and nationwide.

  • NJIT Engineering Students Give Rave Reviews About Emerge Curriculum

    NJIT Engineering Students Give Rave Reviews About Emerge Curriculum

    In spring 2020, nearly 100 freshmen engineering students at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) used our Emerge curriculum to learn essential professional skills like email writing, LinkedIn profiles and resume construction.

    The lead instructor of the First-Year Seminar course, Ryan Baldwin, oversaw a pre- and post-assessment of the students to gauge the effectiveness of Emerge.

    Survey questions included:

    • I confidently place phone calls to speak with others
    • I have a professional email signature created
    • I am comfortable introducing myself to professors

    From the NJIT report on the assessment data:

    “Virtually every item the students ranked saw an increase in agreement, and confidence reported by the students who participated in this pilot program. More than half of the items ranked saw an increase in rank of at least 0.75 on the 5-point scale.”

    See the full report and then request a 30-day free trial of Emerge to see how the material can benefit your freshmen engineering students.

    The post-assessment data says it all.

  • Rubin Co-Publishes Engineering Academic Paper with Michigan State

    Rubin Co-Publishes Engineering Academic Paper with Michigan State

    Rubin is proud to release an academic paper with the mechanical engineering department at Michigan State called “Creating a Communications Curriculum for the Modern Engineer.”

    Rubin and Michigan State began a pilot program in fall 2019 to incorporate communication skill lessons (ex: email etiquette) into engineering classes like design courses, labs and a senior capstone.

    The innovative collaboration continued into the 2020-2021 academic year, and now the partnership is on full display as an academic paper published by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).

    From the paper’s abstract:

    The paper outlines the development of a multi-course syllabus and leveraging an existing communications education solution. Careful work is done to integrate communication education into the course objectives and curriculum rather than treating it as an add-on. Evidence of successfully achieving student outcomes is measured with student surveys and questionnaires.

    See the full abstract and download the paper here!

    The Rubin-MSU collaboration is official.

  • Rubin Featured in E-Jewish Philanthropy for Collab w/NYC Colleges

    Rubin Featured in E-Jewish Philanthropy for Collab w/NYC Colleges

    Check out the article from “E-Jewish Philanthropy,” news publication covering the world of Jewish philanthropy, about how two NYC colleges have used Emerge, our signature online platform, to help students become better prepared for internship and job opportunities.

    Here’s the central paragraph about the effectiveness of Emerge:

    “Not only did students turn out – more than 50 of them – but the [Emerge] program also worked effectively to prepare them for the job market. The summer group was so successful we implemented a cohort for each semester of the 2020-2021 school year. Last semester alone, 25% of participants who completed the internship had full-time jobs or internships at its end. This is the kind of lasting communal impact that is possible when we work together to serve our students’ most pressing needs.”

    See the full story here

    25% of students landed jobs within one month.