INTRODUCTION:

• Mission: One of the greatest assets schools have, are the resources collected and created by teachers throughout their careers.  Once a teacher leaves a school or retires all the perfected resources are lost.  The Innovakids.com site allows teachers and district curriculum staff to create and manage all the educational resources in a fully integrated online environment.  The InnovaKids.com site has been designed as a fully integrated Educational Website and database created to assist Teachers, Parents, Administrators and Students in centralizing the content and resources used to teach California Standards. This site is designed to integrate learning with classroom management, assessment, reporting, and parent communication.   This system would contain an integrated link for each subject and grade level standard to all the resources created by teachers throughout the nation.  Teacher created lesson plans and activities, teacher created online lessons with images and multimedia, links to online websites related to the standard, online integrated quizzes directly associated to each concept scaffolded to understand the Standard.  The site would contain edited online movies of master teachers across the nation teaching each concept and standard.  The communication components would automatically email and update an online grade book and progress report each time a student completes a lesson.
• Audience: This site is designed for 1st to 12th grade in addition to Special Ed and Independent Study programs.

THE INNOVAKIDS CONCEPT
The Innovakids.com concept integrates the requirements of classroom management with the overall Standardized Curriculum focus needed to move our students to Proficiency.   With the requirements of  NCLB (No Child Left Behind), schools are faced with the dilemma of finding innovative ways to teach our children differently.  The Innovakids site was created by teachers who saw a need for a tool to integrated the collaborative knowledge base of teachers across the nation into a centralized fully usable data-warehouse and interactive web based environment.  Not simple a system that allows teachers and parents to access grades online, or a system of computerizing tests with automated grading, but a fully integrated school system that centralizes all the content, lessons, quizzes, lesson plans, assessment, discipline, grade books, student management, curriculum, homework, progress reports and more into a system that individualizes the learning plans of each student and links these resource into the State Standards of Education.

• Integrated Student Database  - The Innovakids database allows educators a web based interface to enter and access the basic student information needed in the course of a school year.  This database includes the student’s parent and home information, contact information as well as basic medical requirements.  Through this database the teacher can access phone numbers, addresses, and email accounts of the students parents and guardians.
• Grade book – The integrated grade book automatically is updated with grades as the students complete each lesson and assessment.  The teacher can add grades manually, edit grades or print progress and grade reports with the most current grade information.  Parents can access current grades online and well as receive emails of completed lessons and progress reports.  Teachers can print progress reports, charts and graphs and view real times reports and graphs as students are working.
• Student Schedules – Parents, teachers and students can view and print their entire school schedule through the web interface.
• Online Assessments – All lesson and class related assessments are available online for immediate grading or printable through the teacher interface.  These assessments are automatically graded and grades are immediately updated in the online grade book.
• Online Quizzes – Each lesson concept includes a question used for immediate evaluation of that concept.
• Online Lessons – In place of PowerPoint slides and Transparencies the Innovakids system allows teachers to build the concept slides directly into the site via web browser from any location.  Teacher may add video, sound, images, Concept information, and a question to each concept.  The slides are unlimited for each lesson although we recommend between 10 and 20 per lesson.  After the lessons are added on line they are available to any teacher using the system via the lesson library.  Each lesson is linked to a state standard and allows any teacher search by key word or by standard to see all the other lessons in the system associated to that standard. 
• Automatic Emailing of Student Progress Reports – The most important feature is the email and mail function that allows students to receive lesson progress reports after each student completes their lesson.  This automatically send progress report list not only the name of lesson and associated standard but the questions and concepts that the student marked incorrectly and calculates and displays the students current grade for that class based on this completed lesson. 
• Quizzes Integrated with online Lessons – Each concept in the lesson has an associated assessment question that is asked as the student reads the concept.  If the student marks the question incorrectly the system returns the student back to the concept page where that information was taught or can return the student back to the beginning of the lesson allowing for repetition of the lesson.  The grading for each lesson is determined via a calculated total of each concept question (even if the concept was repeated) divided by the number of questions answered correctly. (i.e. If the student answered 10 questions but had to re-answer  2 of the questions then the grade would be based on 12 total questions divided by the number that were answered correctly.)
• Administration Systems fully integrated – Graphs, Reports and Charts depicting overall teacher, standard, concept and student results from each lesson.  This system also reports on overall understanding and progress of each standard being taught by grade, ethnicity, teacher, team, or grouping.
• Lesson Plan sharing – Just like the online lessons the Lesson Plan Library is a central shareable library where teachers around the world can input lesson plans, link them to online lessons and standards.  These Lesson Plans will print in the Lesson Book at the end to assist the teacher in planning their class period activities.
• Import lessons and quizzes from other teachers  - The Online lesson library includes the ability to create new lessons and share them automatically with other teachers.  This allows teachers to search by keyword for related lessons or by standard for lessons that fit their particular pacing guide or curriculum.  Once these lessons and quizzes are imported the teacher may customize them to fit their needs.
• Progress Reports – Students, Parents and Teachers may print or view online a progress report for any class or a summary progress report for all classes.   These progress reports can also be automatically emailed to each student’s parents in a class with the pressing of one button or emailed to an individual’s parent.  The progress reports can also be printed for an entire class or individual student and includes a formatting that includes the parent’s name and address for mailing in windowed envelopes.
• Parent communication – The integration with parent communication tools is essential for the system.  This toolset includes: Online access for parents via the web; Mailed and automatically emailed progress reports; Automatically emailed lesson completion reports; Discipline reports (Referrals) automatically attached to progress reports (emailed, mailed, online or printed); Notification online of class and school events; Online communication with parents via email and discussion groups; Online chat rooms for parents to chat with administrators and teachers at set times.
• Teacher and Student Observations – Student observations are available for input by the teacher via the web. 
• Student Team Management – Student teams in each class can be easily input into the system.  Teachers can quickly view what students are on what teams for assignments and assessment summarizing.
• Seating Charts – Student seating charts are online and easily accessible by teachers, subs and administrators.
• Curriculum Plan – District Pacing guides, Department Curriculum Plans and/or Teacher class curriculum plans are input online and easily available via the web.
• Classroom Management – The system is designed to give teachers a fully integrated classroom management system to centralize and share the resource used for each subject.  The Student management system allows for quick integrated access of addresses, phone numbers, discipline records, standardized test information, special ed information and academic information.  The concept is to allow teachers and administrators to enter information once and have it available to everyone who has permission and access rights. 
• Student Information Management – All the basic information is placed online in the system and available to all those with access.
• Online Homework with ability for students to complete homework online  - Parent’s and students can access the web and view all the homework required for that class and all classes.  These assignments are automatically entered into the grade book when a teacher creates them and are available in the homework section of the automatic progress reports.
• Discipline - Online Referrals for Teachers with automatic printing on Progress Reports
• Individualize Learning Plans – The concept of Innovakids is to begin to manage many students with a system that treats each student as an individual learner.  This ILP approach presents a way for teachers to directly instruct the class according to the pacing guide and curriculum but allow students to move through the class at their own pace with immediate communication with the parent and teacher.  If a student requires a week to pass a lesson the system allows for that.  If a student needs to repeat a lesson 3 times before passing the system allows for that.  If a student can work ahead of a class the system allows for that.

• The problem or need being addressed, and how you will address the identified problem or need:

Here are reasons why students fail to learn
Unpleasant realities
Bob Doyle, Columnist
Cumberland Times-News
Earlier in the year, I presented the factors that ensure learning in a class or course; now it’s time to face the other side, why some students learn far below their capabilities. Some of these factors are never acknowledged by educational “experts,” who prefer to discuss well prepared students and the methods that engage these students.

The first contributing factor is that many, perhaps a majority of students underestimate the time and effort needed to learn the concepts or techniques in a class. Students often expect the teacher to make the class so entertaining and fun that they will do a large majority of necessary learning within class time. Then out of class work will be minimal, such as just scanning the notes before a test or quiz.

If a student is in high school, the needed homework can be done during their study period. The problem with this outlook is that many class concepts were the result of many years of hard work by writers, philosophers, business leaders or scientists. Even with an excellent class presentation and well written text books, course concepts often take time, reflection and going over before they are fully understood and grasped.

Also it is important for the student to learn the vocabulary, key rules and principles for use on a quiz or test. This also takes time, particularly if the terms are not those used in every day language. Several hours of study time a night for secondary students is essential to really learn and master the ideas. The same amount of time is needed for average college grades.

The second factor is students giving up when they come to readings or a class where they find they can not follow the ideas.. For prior to a class, it is important to work through the associated readings. To fully understand a text chapter or article, you usually have to read the material several times to catch all the key ideas.

Some people go to a particular movie or watch a DVD several times; at each time, they catch new meanings in the dialogue and notice symbolism and subtleties, not picked up in the first viewing. So if viewing a movie several times to catch all the action, wit, and messages is O.K., then it is O.K. to read and reread your text chapters or an article.

The third factor deals with expectations. If a teacher tells the students a particular set of items will be on the test, you can be sure that the students will learn these items and little else. Before a test, students in class will complain about how much material is in the chapters to be covered on the test. This puts pressure on the teacher to emphasize on the test just the material covered in class.

Consequently, many teachers just test for material covered or discussed in class; these teachers know that if text readings are emphasized, there will be a howl from the students about the unfairness of the test. Then the student’s expectations are dominant, not the teacher’s expectations of what the students should learn.

A very dark factor is cheating. It can’t be denied that cheating is present in many classrooms from primary grades through college classes. There was a recent report on ABC News (on Web) and a book a few years ago called “The Cheating Culture,” covering cheating in education, business, government, etc. Many students realize that if they don’t know something on a quiz or test, they may be able to look to the side on someone else’s paper or perhaps text message during an exam.

I minimize the amount of cheating in my classes by varying the order of questions on quizzes and tests so there are a number of different versions in each of my larger classes. I also don’t number the questions so I can easily cut and paste to make alternative versions of quizzes or test. So in my classes, copying directly from a nearby student will result in mostly wrong answers! It also helps to make the questions more on applications rather than memory questions (ex. what’s speed of light?)

Other factors that inhibit learning include cell phone, iPod and video game addictions, which I will treat in a future column.

Evening moon returns

Early in the week, the moon may be seen a very slender crescent low in the western twilight. We are then viewing mostly the moon’s night side and just a sliver of its day side. On Wednesday evening, the moon will appear near the Pleiades or Seven Sisters star cluster. On Friday, the moon will appear near the yellowish planet Mars. On that same night, the moon is half full, offering the best views of its craters and mountains through binoculars or telescope.

Showing at the Frostburg State Planetarium is “The Ancients and the Sky,” surveying how early peoples regarded the heavens. Cultures mentioned include Hunter-Gathers, Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Chinese, Hindu, Greek, Ancient British and Norse. The Planetarium offers free public programs each Sunday in March (except Easter Sunday) at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Our presentations are live, allow questions from audience and last about 45 minutes. Following our planetarium programs, visitors are invited to visit the Compton Exploratorium and see a fabulous collection of preserved mammals from five continents. Bring a camera to capture some great images of lions, leopards, bears, antelopes and deer.

Bob Doyle invites comments and questions from readers; email him at rdoyle@frostburg.edu .

• The population or community served by your organization – This is a program that affects all cultures and groups within our population.  This program is the first that balances the playing ground by finally making accurate student information available to all parents, teachers and students.  If a student is in a class with a new teachers who is not as organized as an experienced teacher the student and parent will still receive the same accurate and complete academic information.  All students within a population will have access to the same quality lesson regardless of quality of the teacher they are assigned to. 
• How your project or program will promote long-term change – Education needs to change.  Without an Individualized Learning Program with immediate and accurate communication with parents this will not occur.  Teachers are bombarded with more and more students and students are arriving at an ever increasing variety of levels of proficiencies. To effectively teach in this environment we need to give teachers tools that are accessible by both parents, teachers, students and administrators and are integrated into the whole school curriculum and classroom management requirements.  Without this integrated system approach we are doing nothing but creating more work for parents, teachers and administrators and that will eventually lead to failure.  Many schools are purchasing online grade book programs, online quiz and testing systems, online student information managements systems, online licenses to lesson, etc… But with out an overall integrated system these systems become disconnected and cumbersome and eventually inaccurate.  This approach is to start looking at the overall picture of technology in education as a critical decision that must take into account all the areas I mentioned above and the Innovakids system is a great way to start.