Standards and Instructional Tools via Web and CD-ROM

Transcription

1 Dr. Cathy Cavanaugh and Dr. Terry Cavanaugh Florida Center for Instructional Technology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL In January of 1998, the Florida Center for Instructional Technology (FCIT), Tampa, Florida, entered into a partnership with Pinellas County School District, Florida, on a Goals 2000 Grant. The goals of the grant were to develop a system of curriculum assessment and improvement through the use of quality principles, Sunshine State Standards and Curriculum Frameworks, and Pinellas Student Expectations; and to develop accessible and innovative uses of distance learning strategies and technology tools to support professional development. The services that Pinellas County received from FCIT focused on two areas: 1. The production of a relational database capable of assisting teachers in incorporating Sunshine State Standards and Curriculum Frameworks in lesson planning and assessing those standards. 2. The development of an interactive Web site that provides the resources of the Student Expectations database to educators and the community via the Internet. The Pinellas County Schools Student Expectations describe the essential content knowledge, reasoning, performance or skill that each student should know and be able to do at the end of a grade level. Pinellas County teachers and administrators developed these expectations, lesson plans, and classroom assessments based on Florida's Sunshine State Standards, national standards, and current research. The suggested modifications and resources are included to help in the instruction and assessment on the expectations so that each student will be appropriately supported in the learning Student Expectations Start Screen STUDENT EXPECTATIONS DATABASE Content The Student Expectations Database consists of the Sunshine State Standards, strands and benchmarks, Pinellas Expectations, lesson plans, sample assessments, parent information, and related resources, cross-referenced in a relational database. Pinellas educators contributed the lesson plans specifically as models for teaching the Pinellas expectations. The parent information describes the curriculum goals for each grade level. The resources include teaching materials such as software and World Wide Web sites, and strategies for Exceptional Student Education, English for Speakers of Other Languages, and Drop-Out Prevention. The information in the database pertains to kindergarten through twelfth grades in ten curriculum areas. 1/5 SXManuscript99.doc

2 Search Results Screen The Student Expectations database has grown to impressive proportions. Over 400 Sunshine State Standards and over 1000 Pinellas Expectations are available to guide teachers in planning instruction. Although the assessments are considered pilot versions, the database contains 376 assessment plans for teachers to adapt to their classroom situations. A core of 13 lesson plans serve as models in the database, with more being developed for future inclusion. The 84 parent information and resource files provide additional details about what students are expected to learn at each grade level. Assessment Graphic View Design Users locate information in the database by entering a subject area, a grade level, or a keyword. After entering search parameters, the database locates information. Pinellas expectations and benchmarks are displayed. When an expectation is selected from a list, a window shows related assessments, state standards, lesson plans or resources. Information in the database may be printed on the user's computer printer. Help is available to further explain the functioning of each component of the database, and a glossary provides definitions for the education terms. 2/5

3 Development As Pinellas educator teams developed the content for the database, they sent the files to be incorporated into the database. During the building of the database, reviewers several interface formats were designed and tested before the final interface was chosen. Graphic designers created sample screens that were reviewed by educators for appeal and ease of use. A relational database programmer ensured that all components of the database functioned optimally, and made adjustments as recommended by. The database in its software and World Wide Web formats is designed to operate on the computers most commonly found in Pinellas classrooms. At intervals during the development of the complete database, reviewers from Pinellas Schools and from FCIT used the database and suggested improvements and changes to the designers and programmer. Parent Information Screen 3/5

4 Evaluation Evaluation CD-ROMs and floppy disk sets were created to enable Pinellas curriculum coordinators and teachers to review the database. These demonstration copies were distributed and demonstrated at the 1998 Pinellas Educational Technology Conference, and at a Pinellas Goals 2000 teacher workshop, among other places. When first seeing the database, teachers uniformly have positive responses. Teachers feel that the database will greatly streamline their lesson planning, teaching and accountability processes. Teachers evaluated both the educational soundness of the information in the database, and functionality of the software. For example, some of the assessments and lesson plans were altered to make them more usable by teachers. Spelling and grammatical errors were corrected. Search features were added to make the software easier to use. Help Screen The database CD was demonstrated at the 1999 Florida Educational Technology Conference in Orlando. Teachers' responses were very positive, both from Pinellas educators who eagerly anticipated having the resource for their use, and from educators in other areas who inquired about using the database in their regions. The suggestion of including additional lesson plans has led to plans for the development of lesson plans in all content areas. Keyword Search Screen 4/5

5 Distribution The second, large-scale pilot of the Student Expectations CD-ROM installable version began with two-hundred disks, capable of running on either Mac or PC computers. The CD packages included descriptive summary and instructional information for users. The CDs were distributed and evaluated with the goal of developing the most effective final product. FCIT prepared a set of printed documents outlining the click-by-click procedure for updating and editing data in the database. Pinellas staff members who have the ongoing responsibility for maintaining the data used these guides. Additional guides are in production to assist Pinellas staff with creating new CDs from revised data. After a team of Pinellas teachers worked to evaluate the functioning and content of the database, the complete database master CD was professionally duplicated for a Fall distribution to schools. The CD-ROMs arrived at schools with a district-produced videotape demonstrating software installation and use. STUDENT EXPECTATIONS WEB SITE The Student Expectations Web site has all of the functionality of the install version. The Web site will make the information available to educators, parents and the community. The Web site was developed by graphic designers and HTML programmers at FCIT using the data from the relational database converted to a Web-accessible format. The main difference between the two versions involves the assessments. On the install version of the database, a comprehensive set of assessments is included, however the assessments are considered samples or drafts. The Web version will include only those assessments that have been carefully reviewed and classroom tested. The Pinellas Schools "Guide to A Web Presence" served as a reference during construction of the Web site. The Web site is accessed from a Pinellas Schools Goals 2000 Windows NT file server, and has been optimized to display well on any computer currently networked in Pinellas County Schools. Anyone with World Wide Web access will be able to use the Student Expectations Web site from their connected computer and their standard Web browsing software. The Web pages use Web-safe colors that display on any monitor and the database graphic file sizes are small for fast loading on all computers. Even older computers with small monitors and older browsers can successfully view the pages. FCIT developed documentation to guide Pinellas staff in converting data from the CD form to the Web-accessible form. These documents also include information regarding Web server setup and maintenance. The URL is 5/5