How CODCA Brought Project-Based Learning Into Its CTE Program
As CODCA's CTE Director, Breeann Gibbons wanted real, project-based learning in the school's career pathways — and a way to fund it. She piloted KANU as a graded assignment in Galen Harkness's Business & Marketing class: 21 students launched real businesses and marketing campaigns, and with a Perkins Innovation Grant secured, CODCA is now scaling the model across its pathways.
Destinations Career Academy of Colorado
K12 online CTE school • Colorado
Breeann Gibbons
CTE Director, CODCA
21
Real businesses launched in a graded class
38
Students in the pilot class
Perkins
Funded by a CTE Innovation Grant
Scaling
Expanding across CODCA's CTE pathways
Executive Summary
A CTE Director's Plan for Real-World Learning
Breeann Gibbons, CODCA's CTE Director, wanted to bring real, project-based learning into the school's career pathways — the kind of hands-on experience that's hard to deliver in an online program — and to fund it through a Perkins Innovation Grant. Rather than build from scratch, she piloted KANU as a graded, 175-point assignment in Galen Harkness's Business & Marketing class. Using KANU's ready-made 'Flyers to Funnels' project, students built and launched real promotional campaigns — 21 launched a real business and campaign, including student ventures like Maddy's Cozy Bakery. With the grant secured, CODCA is now scaling the model across more teachers and pathways.
Real Businesses Launched
21 students launched real businesses and campaigns
A Graded Assignment
Embedded as a 175-point graded component of the course
Funded Through Perkins
Backed by a CTE Innovation Grant
Built to Scale
Expanding across CODCA's CTE pathways
The Challenge
Real Experience, at Program Scale
CTE programs are judged on whether students get real, career-relevant experience — but delivering authentic, hands-on projects across an online program is hard to build, hard to fund, and hard to scale across teachers. CODCA wanted project-based learning its students would actually do, with outcomes strong enough to back a grant.
The CTE Mandate
A CTE program is only as strong as the real-world experience its students walk away with.
Hard to Build
Authentic, hands-on projects are a heavy lift to create from scratch — especially online
Hard to Fund
Programs need demonstrable outcomes to win CTE/Perkins dollars
Hard to Scale
A pilot that rests on one teacher's effort won't spread across pathways
The Solution
Pilot With Turnkey Projects, Then Scale
CODCA started with a focused pilot: Breeann put KANU's ready-made 'Flyers to Funnels' project into Galen Harkness's Business & Marketing class as a graded, 175-point assignment. Students designed a flyer, connected it to a QR code and business page, launched a live campaign, and tracked real engagement — a complete project that dropped into the existing course, with KANU supplying the activity, platform, and step-by-step verification. Galen ran it on his existing schedule with minimal prep, giving CODCA a proof point to scale from.
Turnkey Projects
Ready-made KANU voyages drop into existing courses — no building from scratch
Pilot, Then Scaffold
Start in a class or two, then scale across pathways once it's proven
Outcomes for Funding
Verified completion and real student work make the case for Perkins
How It Ran
Plan
Breeann scopes a Perkins-funded pilot
Pilot
'Flyers to Funnels' runs in Galen's Business & Marketing classes
Result
21 students launch real businesses and campaigns
Scale
Expanding across more teachers and CTE pathways
The Transformation
Real Businesses, Built in Class
Embedded as a graded assignment, KANU's 'Flyers to Funnels' project had CODCA students launching real businesses and campaigns — and gave the CTE program a proven model it's now building on.
21
Real businesses and campaigns launched
Maddy's Cozy Bakery
A student's online bakery — 36 active supporters
Scaling
Expanding across more teachers and pathways
Why It Matters
CODCA didn't just run an activity — it found a fundable, repeatable way to put real-world experience into its CTE pathways, with students launching actual businesses, starting with one class and built to grow.
Voices of Proof
From CTE Leadership and the Classroom
From the CTE director who brought KANU to CODCA and the teacher who ran the pilot.
CODCA explored two platforms with our students this year, and KANU stole the show. It's easy for our students to navigate without feeling overwhelmed, yet it still offers a fantastic experience. Working with the team has been a joy, as well; they are supportive, collaborative, and deeply focused on what we want to achieve. We're looking forward to a long-term partnership and are already planning to include KANU in our next Perkins grant.
Breeann Gibbons
CTE Director, Destinations Career Academy of Colorado
I've had a great experience using KANU in my teaching — it's helped me bring real world content and information into the classroom. It's clever and packed full of powerful content, and it's made a real difference in how my students engaged in the learning. Also, the customer service is amazing!
Galen Harkness
CTE Business & Marketing Teacher, Destinations Career Academy of Colorado
Replicate the Success
How to Bring Project-Based Learning to Your CTE Program
CODCA's approach is repeatable for any CTE program: start small, prove it, fund it, and scale.
Start With a Turnkey Project
Use a ready-made KANU voyage instead of building hands-on work from scratch.
Pilot in a Class or Two
Run it in a course you already teach to prove the model before scaling.
Fund It Through Perkins
Use the pilot's outcomes to support a CTE/Innovation grant, as CODCA did.
Scale Across Pathways
Expand to more teachers and pathways once the pilot proves out.
Bring Project-Based Learning to Your CTE Program
Schedule a conversation to see how KANU helps you pilot and scale real-world projects across your pathways.