Over the last decade， online education has grown significantly， especially for adult learners who want to earn a degree or certificate while working full-time. The National Center for Education Statistics （NCES） reported 6.6 million students enrolled in distance education courses at postsecondary institutions1 during the fall of 2017.
　　 Within the last few years， high schools have also started exploring ways to add remote learning options2， including dual-enrollment3 courses in partnership with local community colleges. Although the majority of these courses were offered solely on the high school campus， recent NCES research noted growth in online options.
　　 Fast forward to today， and suddenly online education is no longer optional4. In fact， all schools at all levels must immediately migrate to some type of remote education format. Although some schools had already begun the digital migration， the majority of institutions weren’t ready. But when faced with the task of making a quick change， online education became a mandated reality.
　　 Our new reality may help push remote education even farther forward. Thanks to the urgency of the situation， technology has stepped up to show educators， students and parents what remote education might soon look like.
　　Learning management systems
　　 Learning management systems create a seamless5 digital learning environment with all the tools necessary for remote learning. These platforms house front-end areas used by students and parents in addition to back-end areas where teachers and administrators can post assignments， add and change grades and interact with students through virtual classrooms.
　　 Numerous school districts already use this type of platform， allowing parents and students to see assignments and grades. But in the last several months， the learning management systems have become a crucial foundation for building out comprehensive remote education frameworks that integrate other learning tools.
　　 For example， PowerSchool Unified Classroom gives teachers a way to create custom virtual classrooms that connect to a student and parent dashboard6. There are options to incorporate additional recordkeeping tasks for matters such as disciplinarian7 issues， attendance tracking and standardized testing scores. These learning management systems streamline8 communication and work for both schools and students.
　　 The dashboard view shows the teacher’s current classes， upcoming assignments， messages， grades and other content. The student version has additional features， such as tools to submit assignments， discussion boards and online quizzes and test apps. Each virtual classroom can be enriched with videos， presentations， visuals， and links to other educational resources. Mobile applications make these learning management systems even more accessible.