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GaITAC Sub-Committee. NETS-S Curriculum Review. Purpose for Review. To determine which curriculum will best support students’ preparation for success on the 8 th Grade Technology Literacy Assessment. . Four Guiding Areas. CONTENT Alignment with current 8 th grade assessment.
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GaITAC Sub-Committee NETS-S Curriculum Review
Purpose for Review • To determine which curriculum will best support students’ preparation for success on the 8th Grade Technology Literacy Assessment.
Four Guiding Areas CONTENT • Alignment with current 8th grade assessment. • Strength of remediation and tutorials (Is it simply a score\right or wrong or does the program offer feedback/further instruction based on student data?). • Method of delivery – individual only, teacher led only, or combination. • Rigorous grade-level appropriate materials. ASSESSMENT • Reporting features – student scores/assessments, time on task, etc.? • Are there incremental chances to assess or one final score? • Are assessments graded by computer or teacher? • Are there multiple types of assessment?
Four Guiding Areas MANAGEMENT • Time required for completion. • Access to material – web-based and 24/7, server based, or CD based. STUDENT ENGAGEMENT, PROGRAM INTERACTIVITY, AND MOTIVATION • Audio/video components and visual graphics. • Ease of use for students. • Authenticity of the experience. • Ability to repeat modules. • Feedback to increase understanding.
Materials Reviewed • Common Sense Media • GaVS Digital Citizenship Modules • Learning.com • Microsoft Digital Literacy
Common Sense Media ADVANTAGES • Free. • Good lesson plans and materials for teacher led instruction. • Great video examples that prompt group discussion. • Strong correlation to NETS relating to Digital Citizenship. Also supports communication and research standards. • Content broken down by grade level. • Lots of helpful communication with parents such as tips for home use of technology. • Includes online training for teachers. • NETS-S alignment chart available - loosely aligned to each lesson.
Common Sense Media DISADVANTAGES • No online component for students outside of videos – teacher led lessons. • Time constraints on teachers to prepare additional lessons. • Doesn’t cover all NETS – gaps in areas other than Digital Citizenship. • Assessment is subjective. Guided discussion questions come with sample answers to help you gauge your students’ understanding of specific learning outcomes through informal classroom conversations. • Each lesson also contains guidance for using project-based assessment to gauge student understanding of concepts. • No data collection feature.
GaVS Digital Citizenship Modules ADVANTAGES • Free. • Aligned to the” Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship” (Ribble and Bailey) and the NETS-S Digital Citizenship standard. • Willing to adjust content to our needs – planning a module on each NETS-S standard. • Essential questions and key vocabulary. • Text-based materials have “read aloud” option. • User control over audio and video elements. • Videos loaded fast and were appropriate and engaging. • Consistency of activities and easy navigation. • Alternative accessible activity content. • Interactive reviews of material throughout the modules.
GaVS Digital Citizenship Modules DISADVANTAGES • Reading content seems to be for young adults/adults. • Content would not be engaging or understandable for younger students. • No data tracking feature for teachers to use for assessment. • Self Check “Quiz” questions do not provide feedback outside of the correct answer.
Learning.com ADVANTAGES (1 of 2) • Variety of materials (activities, discussion, game, lessons, videos, simulations/practice, journals, quizzes, web links, etc.). • EasyTech aligned to the 8th grade assessment. • Great video lessons using avatars would motivate and engage students. • Short amounts of information followed by self quiz. • Captioned lessons good when audio is not available or for differentiation. • Content is differentiated by grade levels (Mainly for K-8).
Learning.com ADVANTAGES (2 of 2) • Student data available for certain lessons to track progress. • Teachers can choose whole units or single lessons to preview and assign to students or create their own materials. • Multiple topics are searchable by GA standards from 2006-2009 (Older standards searchable at the element level). • Web-based resources. No download required. • Some materials adjust based on student results. • Materials do not focus on a particular brand. • Each unit has at least one “real world” assignment to complete. • Multiple topics covered and students can repeat modules.
Learning.com DISADVANTAGES • Cost. • Many of the Internet Safety resources, especially at the HS level, link to free web-based materials. • The “Find by Standard” option does not include a search option for NETS-S. Quote from site: “EasyTech has also earned the ISTE Seal of Alignment to its NETS-S 2007 student standards.” • Time consuming to implement. • Some of the secondary video introductions are too childish. • Journal entries not submitted electronically - print to PDF or paper. • Quizzes do not provide usable feedback outside of the correct answer. • Tech Driven instead of learning driven by needs of the project. • Would require teacher training on use and management. • Quiz is 10 questions – must be able to read – no audio directions.
Microsoft Digital Literacy ADVANTAGES • Free • Available online or as a download. • Addresses digital literacy, productivity programs, Internet safety, ethics, etc. (no objectives on bullying noted). • Modules contain interactive games and self-tests (some of which provide feedback). • Differentiated content (basic and advanced levels). • Teacher could possibly use for whole group activities. • Digital Literacy Certificate Test provides personal learning plan upon completion steering students back to modules. • Scores and assessments are provided to the end-user.
Microsoft Digital Literacy DISADVANTAGES • Mainly text-based – very little audio/video components noted. • Not motivating for students. • Simulated exercises lacked authenticity. • Only Microsoft specific products covered. • Data/reports not available for the teacher. • eLearning requires updated Internet Explorer browser. • Takes several minutes for eLearning Viewer to load. • No documented NETS-S alignment noted although it covers some standards. • No grade level(s) identified for materials. • Designed with an adult audience in mind. • Difficult to navigate back to Home screen. • Time consuming to implement.
Conclusions • These materials were all very different in regard to content addressed, delivery format, and audience. • We would like to review other materials such as EdvationTechSteps. • Since GaVS is planning additional NETS-S aligned modules and would work to meet our needs, it would be helpful to research possibilities for data collection with this platform. • If we had to select one of these four without considering further options, we would choose Learning.com.
Input from GaITAC • What are your thoughts? • Shall we review more options and research GaVS further?