Introducing Remix for Educators

Human-centered transportation networks don’t just happen by chance; they’re intentionally, painstakingly designed to prioritize safety, sustainability, and equitable access for diverse communities. This holistic approach is often formed in classrooms and lecture halls, long before a transit planner’s first day on the job.

So today, we’re excited to announce Remix for Educators, a special licensing program for students, teachers, and academic researchers at graduate and undergraduate institutions. We’ve created a new way for educators to bring Remix into the classroom, to the field, and for research projects, so they can introduce human-centered collaborative mapping to future transportation professionals. 350 agencies across 22 countries use Remix to plan their transit and infrastructure projects, making literacy with the platform a key skill to build in any transportation planning curriculum. Our new license structure enables educators to equip their students with modern planning technology that is displacing traditional tools like GIS and Excel.

21-year GoTriangle-veteran-turned-lecturer John Tallmadge integrated Remix into his course curriculum this past fall at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill to ensure his students learned the fundamentals of public transportation planning, with the tools planners use every day. The class explored the role public transportation plays in communities and policies that agencies commonly grapple with, such as funding, governance, and a host of social issues. Students considered critical questions as they worked through each topic: who benefits and who bears the burden of each decision? How do we address trade-offs in the context of the overall goals of the transportation system?‍

“With Remix, my students didn’t have to go find different datasets and incorporate them into a new GIS network. It was really valuable for us that the existing conditions and nearly all the datasets existed in Remix already.”

John Tallmadge

UNC-Chapel Hill lecturer and former planning director at GoTriangle

With Remix for Educators, UNC students were able to conduct their planning, design, and analysis in the same platform that many of their future employers use on a daily basis. They were also able to see the complete transportation picture in a single platform - walking, biking, streets, and transit - and explore the impacts that network decisions have on different groups. Responses to the program were enthusiastic: over 90% of John’s students said in their end of semester survey that Remix was a valuable part of their course experience, and when asked if he would recommend Remix to other educators for their transportation curriculum, John responded: “Absolutely, I certainly would."

Remix for Educators introduces a software licensing structure tailored for academic calendars and budgets so that institutions can prepare students for the critical work of transit planning, street design, and implementing transportation policies that meet the needs of their communities. We’ve made it easy for instructors and departments to purchase Remix for entire courses or research teams and get up and running quickly with our library of online resources.

“Remix has long wanted to work with students and provide them access to powerful software used at most agencies across the U.S. and beyond,” said Rachel Zack, Remix’s Director of Policy. “With Remix for Educators, students can quickly convey their ideas and grapple with difficult trade-offs related to costs, space, and access. It’s been a highlight of my career to launch this program with the visionary instructors at UNC, Florida Atlantic University, and University College London over the last quarter.”

We’re excited for these partnerships to expand access to Remix for the next generation of transportation professionals. To learn how you can participate in this new program, fill out this form to get started.