Plan: Two-Arm Website Restructure — Programs + Platform
Plan: Two-Arm Website Restructure — Programs + Platform
Context
BEM has two distinct arms:
- Programs — BEM-delivered courses (Spark.AI, Foundations, FLL, Advanced Robotics). Audience: parents enrolling students, schools inviting BEM in.
- Products/Platform — the software ecosystem (Spark.AI LMS + XRP coding platform) that schools license to deploy themselves. Audience: IT admins, teachers, curriculum builders.
The current site conflates these. Visitors who want to enroll a child and visitors who want to license a platform hit the same pages with no clear routing. Goal: clean segregation, intuitive design, full homepage redesign, no verbosity.
Scope: Full redesign — new homepage structure, new nav, new platform page, Partner With Us split into two distinct pages, visible cross-link from Spark.AI program page to platform.
Platform Name (decide before Phase 3)
The platform merges the Spark.AI LMS and the XRP Coding Platform into one institutional product. Name options:
| Name | Feel | Tagline idea |
|---|---|---|
| Forge | Tactile, craft, building | “Where AI and robotics skills are built” |
| Nexus | Ecosystem hub, connected | “The hub for next-gen STEM education” |
| Kernel | Technical, infrastructure, depth | “The core of AI and robotics education” |
| Lattice | Structured, scalable, modular | “Modular STEM education infrastructure” |
| Arc | Forward-motion, curriculum arc | “The complete arc from beginner to builder” |
Recommendation: Forge — resonates with both AI (algorithms forged from data) and robotics (physical making), avoids corporate blandness, and is unused in edtech.
New Site Architecture
Homepage (redesigned - two entry forks)
├── Programs (audience: parents/students)
│ ├── /spark.ai — Spark.AI program page (+ cross-link to Platform)
│ ├── /foundations-of-robotics
│ ├── /competitive-robotics
│ └── /advanced-robotics
├── Partner With Us (audience: institutional)
│ ├── /partner-with-us — Bring Our Programs (BEM-staffed, revised scope)
│ └── /platform — License the Platform (NEW, self-deploy)
├── /schedule
├── /news
└── About▾
├── /about
├── /careers
├── /faq
└── /contact
Phase 1 — Nav Restructure (_config.yml)
Current:
Programs▾ | Schedule | Partner With Us | News | About▾
New:
Programs▾ | Partner With Us▾ | Schedule | News | About▾
Programs▾ dropdown:
- Spark.AI
- Foundations of Robotics
- Competitive Robotics (FLL)
- Advanced Robotics
Partner With Us▾ dropdown:
- Bring Our Programs → /partner-with-us
- License the Platform → /platform
Keep “Partner With Us” as a standalone top-level nav item. The dropdown explains the two paths. Partnering is not just with Schools, but also with Club, or Community Organization?
Phase 2 — Homepage Full Redesign
The homepage becomes a clean routing surface. Every section maps to one or both audiences.
New section order (_layouts/home.html):
home-featured-news.html (keep as-is)
home-hero.html (REDESIGNED — fork)
home-programs-overview.html (NEW — 4 program cards, compact)
home-spark-ai.html (keep, already good)
home-why-robotics.html (keep)
home-partner.html (REDESIGNED - fork)
home-blog-preview.html (keep)
Remove from layout: home-what-students-learn.html (detail belongs on program pages, not homepage), home-programs.html (replaced by compact overview).
home-hero.html — full redesign
Two-fork hero: Programs path left, For Schools path right.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Brain Eating Machines │
│ AI and Robotics Education for Every Learner │
├────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────┤
│ PROGRAMS │ FOR SCHOOLS │
│ │ │
│ Enroll in Spark.AI│ Bring programs to your │
│ or one of our │ school, or deploy the │
│ robotics programs │ platform your teachers use │
│ │ │
│ [Explore Programs]│ [For Schools & Institutions] │
└────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────┘
Mobile: stacks vertically, Programs first.
home-programs-overview.html — NEW
4 compact cards in a grid. Each card: program name, grade badge, one-line description, Learn More link. No long descriptions — those live on program pages.
┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐
│ Spark.AI │ │Foundations│ │ FLL │ │ Advanced │
│ Gr 6-10 │ │ Gr 4-8 │ │ Gr 4-8 │ │ Gr 8-9 │
│ [Learn→] │ │ [Learn→] │ │ [Learn→] │ │ [Learn→] │
└──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘
home-partner.html — UPDATE (home-partner.html)
Two-column section with a distinct background (dark or gray). Clear visual break from the Programs section above.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ For Schools, Clubs & Institutions │
├──────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────┤
│ BRING OUR PROGRAMS │ LICENSE THE PLATFORM │
│ │ │
│ Want BEM instructors to │ Want your teachers to │
│ run Spark.AI or robotics│ deliver AI and robotics │
│ at your school? │ using our tools? │
│ │ │
│ [Partner With Us →] │ [Explore the Platform→] │
└──────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────┘
Phase 3 — New Platform Page (/pages/for/platform.html)
Permalink: /platform/
Audience: IT admins, teachers, curriculum builders
Layout: page with custom_layout: true and new custom_css: platform
Page sections:
- Hero — “Deploy AI and Robotics Education at Your Institution” — clean, enterprise tone. Grade range, licensing model, support CTA.
- What’s included — two components: Spark.AI notebook ecosystem + XRP Coding Platform. What each delivers.
- For Teachers — what the teacher experience looks like: pre-built curricula, student/teacher notebook versions, daily exit tickets, progress visibility.
- For IT/Admins — deployment: runs in the browser (Google Colab), no infra to manage, single sign-on options, school-wide rollout.
- How it connects to Programs — brief note: “Already running Spark.AI programs? This is the same platform your students use.”
- CTA — Request a demo / Contact for licensing (links to contact or consultation page).
Visual language: Cleaner, more enterprise than program pages. Less LEGO color palette, more neutral with accent color.
Phase 4 — Partner With Us Revision (/pages/for/partner-with-us.md)
Scope narrows: now exclusively “Bring Our Programs to Your School.”
- Audience: PTAs, HSAs, school admins, after-school coordinators
- Offering: BEM instructors come to your location and run programs (Spark.AI, Foundations, FLL, Advanced)
- Keep the consultation CTA
- Remove any platform/licensing language (that moves to /platform)
- Update hero badge from “PTAs, HSAs, School Administrators” — keep this, it’s right
No URL change — /partner-with-us/ stays. SEO preserved.
Phase 5 — Spark.AI Program Cross-Link (/pages/programs/spark-ai.html)
Add a visible callout block between the “How it’s Delivered” section and the final CTA:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Are you a school, teacher, or curriculum builder? │
│ │
│ The Spark.AI program runs on our learning │
│ platform — the same notebooks, tools, and │
│ progress tracking are available for schools │
│ to deploy independently. │
│ │
│ [Explore the Platform →] │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Add a note, we can integrate with leading Learning Management Systems out there, like Canvas, Moodle to name a few.
Use the existing ai-cta-block CSS class or a new styled aside. Blue accent, not the primary CTA color (that’s reserved for enrollment).
Phase 6 — Footer Update (_includes/footer.html)
Add a “Partner with Us” column (or rename “Programs” to two sub-columns):
| Programs column: Spark.AI | Foundations | FLL | Advanced Robotics |
| Partner with Us: Bring Our Programs | License the Platform |
Update copyright tagline if platform name is decided.
Files Summary
| Action | File |
|---|---|
| Modify | _config.yml — nav restructure |
| Modify | _layouts/home.html — new section order |
| Rewrite | _includes/sections/home-hero.html — two-fork design |
| Create | _includes/sections/home-programs-overview.html — 4 compact cards |
| Create | _includes/sections/partner-with-us.html — institutional two-column |
| Delete from layout | home-what-students-learn.html, home-programs.html, home-partner.html |
| Create | pages/for/platform.html — new platform product page |
| Create | assets/css/platform.css — platform page styles |
| Modify | pages/for/partner-with-us.md — narrow scope to program and platform partnership |
| Modify | pages/programs/spark-ai.html — add cross-link callout |
| Modify | _includes/footer.html — add For Schools column |
Verification
docker compose up— confirm site builds- Homepage: hero forks correctly on desktop (two columns) and mobile (stacked)
- Nav: “For Schools” dropdown shows two items
/platform/loads with enterprise-tone content, no LEGO-heavy styling/partner-with-us/is now program-partnership only, no platform language/spark.ai/has visible cross-link callout to/platform/- Footer has For Schools links
- All existing program page URLs unchanged (SEO preserved)