ODYSSEYWARE

Whether they’re a fan of veteran ski racer Bode Miller, charismatic snowboarder Shaun White, or elegant and perky figure skater Sasha Cohen, your students are gathered around a screen of some size, somewhere watching Olympic athletes go for the gold. Once every four years you have the opportunity to capitalize on this midwinter enthusiasm by creating teaching moments as they arise.

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For those accustomed to reading our blog, it should come as no surprise how we feel about online curriculum. From engaging students to allowing flexibility, online curriculum provides an excellent opportunity to reach students in an individualized manner that meets their certain needs. Picture a golfing instructor who taught a proper swing to a class by showing how he or she approaches the maneuver. Helpful, right? The sort of insight that the individual could give would certainly help people attempting to learn the game. Now picture a one-on-one tutorial that allows golfing students to learn the mechanics of their swing by an instructor dedicated to one student’s particular need. That is the dynamic online curriculum like ours provides.

Taking this understanding and expanding it to the real world, Education Week spotlights a school in New York City which is serving as a useful example of how technology — and, in fact, online curriculum — is engaging students and improving grades where many thought it couldn’t happen. From the story:

“The pilot program at Dr. Sun Yat Sen Middle School in Chinatown provided math lessons that were customized every day to meet the individual needs, and progress, of the 80 incoming 7th graders who volunteered to attend the five-week session this past summer. The School of One combined face-to-face instruction, software-based activities, and online lessons designed to move each new 7th grader through a defined set of math benchmarks at his or her own pace.”

The School of One is a summer school pilot program that uses technology, more particularly individualized classroom instruction, that combines teacher-led instruction with software and online tutors that are customized to each student’s needs. This is not some fantasy dream out of a sci-fi movie; this is a real initiative in New York City that is focused on students who have typically struggled in a traditional classroom setting and is being received with wide applause. In fact, TIME Magazine ranked it as one of the 50 best inventions of 2009. This is a very interesting and novel approach to education, one we’ll keep our eye out for in the future.

Tell us how you are integrating education and technology in your classroom to engage students. We’d love to hear your stories!

There’s nothing more frustrating than buying something revolutionary, only to find out tomorrow that it’s yesterday’s news. This is never the case with ODYSSEYWARE. Our online learning environment for students in grades 3-12 is constantly being updated and improved, keeping your learning program on the cutting edge.

One of our most recent curriculum updates allows teachers to add students to their courses. This is a big time-saver for administrators, but it is a privilege recommended only for “superteachers” who are also able to add courses.

To access this new feature, administrators should log in as admin using their admin password, then follow these simple steps:

To add this privilege to an existing teacher:

1. Click on the “teacher” tab.
2. For the selected teacher, select “edit.”
3. Check the “add students” box.
4. Click “submit.”

To add this privilege to a new teacher:

1. Click on the “teacher” tab.
2. Click “add teacher.”
3. Select all the appropriate boxes.
4. Click “submit.”

The ability for teachers to add students simply and efficiently is only one of the recent updates available from ODYSSEYWARE. Other exciting updates include

• Course customization – re-sequence, delete, or add your own lessons; create a course
• Text-to-speech – highlight any text to hear audio
• Reformatted CSV grade report – new name sequencing
• Updated security – students cannot reenter completed assignments with “back” button

Regular and real-time updates set ODYSSEYWARE apart from other computer-based curriculum. We can quickly respond to a changing world and the requests of our customers, which keeps our online learning environment revolutionary.

Just when graduation looked hopeless for credit-deficient students in Lodi, California, school administrators provided a lifeline. According to the Stockton Record and Recordnet.com, students at Lodi Unified high schools will have access to ODYSSEYWARE for credit recovery.

This opportunity comes in the wake of budget cuts which necessitated discontinuation of the summer school programs which helped failing students catch up and recover the credits they needed to graduate. Fully online classes will be offered first to students closest to graduation, then to others for whom the credits are not quite as critical.

With ODYSSEYWARE, these students can log on at school or at home but must take tests in staffed computer labs.

According to Kevin Anderson, who teaches math at Elkhorn Elementary School and has been a district teacher coach,

“I’ve taught summer school for about 10 years without computers, and I was really surprised how well [online classes] went. Engagement of the kids was just really unbelievable. I didn’t have to say anything, and they would come in and turn the computers on and start work without any instruction.”

ODYSSEYWARE is happy to welcome Lodi Unified to its family of partners. It’s our mission to reach kids where they are, and our online curriculum allows students with diverse needs to succeed academically. If your district is faced with budget cuts and funding challenges, an ODYSSEYWARE education specialist can work with you to find a solution that meets your needs.

As school administrators struggle to stay on budget while still providing students with a quality education that meets their diverse needs, school districts in South Dakota have found a practical solution in ODYSSEYWARE.

As reported on Keloland.com in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, seniors at Viborg High School are now able to take an economics class that would not have been available without online curriculum.

According to Viborg/Hurley superintendent Patrick Kraning, they “use it to augment what we do live in class, or it can act as a replacement for a course that we don’t have a person physically there to offer, so it gives us a flexibility.”

ODYSSEYWARE also offers options for kids who struggle in the traditional classroom with a credit recovery program that gives them an opportunity to pass the class and graduate on time.

Is it possible to listen to Katy Perry on an mp3 player while completing an online math assignment and texting a cousin in Poughkeepsie? If you ask anyone born with a silver mouse in hand, it’s not only possible, it can be done effectively. Not so, say the experts. 

While multitasking may be cool and so 21^st century, what we call multitasking is, in most cases, just switching from one task to another, avoiding a collision course of information. Most of us can’t do it very well, as evidenced by the incidence of automobile accidents caused by texting drivers.  In fact, brain research indicates that distractions can change the way people learn, especially as it affects using that knowledge later on.   

Work conducted at Stanford University and reported in an article by Constance Holden in ScienceNOW Daily News indicates,

“Cognitive performance declines when people try to pay attention to many media channels at once.” 

Not surprisingly we tune in and out depending on the attractiveness of what else is happening around us. 

In an age when more and more people are simultaneously working on their computer, social networking, texting, or talking on their smart phones, and listening to music, the implications are frightening. Not only are we not learning or working at capacity, we are actually fooling ourselves into think we’re good at this multitasking.

Like it or not, multitasking is present – in our lives, our classrooms, and the workplace. Instead of trying to convince students to disconnect from their chosen media sources, it’s our job as teachers to help them understand how they can learn most efficiently. We must teach them how to manage the media and the information that freely flows in “the Information Age.” 

It’s part of the job.

One of the benefits of ODYSSEYWARE is that it engages the interest of students in grades 3-12 with interactive tools and stimulating curriculum that helps them to stay on task, improving learning and their academic success.

What can you do as a 21^st century educator to teach the fine art of managing information, keeping students on task while they multitask?

The ODYSSEYWARE iQ eNewsletter is created for you, the innovative educators that have chosen to give your 21^st-century learners the tools they need to succeed. We want to bring you the news that matters in your world. Tell us your interests, your ideas, and the topics that are relevant to you, and we’ll do our best to accommodate your requests.

Want to know about new tech tools that help teachers better manage their time? Need information on current federal legislation? Want to explore different funding options for integrating technology in your classrooms? Need inspiration? Take a few moments to tell us what you would like to see in future editions of the ODYSSEYWARE iQ. We welcome your suggestions and comments in the field below. Not signed up to receive this helpful free resource?

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Many ODYSSEYWARE students are finding academic success with Prescriptive Credit Recovery. Working at their own pace, they are able to test out of material they understand while revisiting subjects in which they aren’t proficient. 

Our tech support team offers the following tip to streamline the process: 

When a student using ODYSSEYWARE is assigned a course in the CRX mode, the student should always access his course by clicking on the link for the course at the bottom of the homepage, instead of using the “my courses” button.  

This will allow the student to take an “alternate” or “pretest.” Based on the results of the test, the student will either test out of the unit or be placed directly into that current unit. If the student tries to access the course by using the “my courses” button, the student will see all units skipped. Conversely, the teacher side shows assigned. While this can be confusing, it is the design of ODYSSEYWARE CRX mode. 

If a student does not test out of the unit, be sure the student clicks on “Finish Assignment” when he completes the final review.  Clicking on “Continue to next assignment” will take the student to the first lesson in the next unit and will not generate the next “alternate” or “pretest.”

For other tech support questions, visit www.odysseycare.com, email support@odysseycare.com or call 800-821-4443 to speak to one of our technical support specialists.

Things haven’t looked the same for the North East Independent School District’s Social Studies Supervisor, Grades Pre-K-12, Eric McGarrah, since he found out his name was drawn by ODYSSEYWARE as the winner of a Panasonic VIERA 42” plasma TV. Eric entered his name in the drawing while attending the iNACOL Virtual School Symposium in Austin, Texas this November.

“I never win anything,” said Eric, when he was notified regarding his prize. “I’m shocked,” he continued in happy disbelief. 

According to Eric, district administrators asked him to attend this year’s conference because he is passionate about using technology in the classroom. During the symposium, Eric took a look at some different online learning options that North East may be able to offer to students in the next few years. While the district currently offers a number of technology-based courses, it would like to expand its options. 

The San Antonio native has been teaching for 25 years. When it comes to the accelerated use of technology in the classroom, Eric says,

“It’s about time. Our students are ahead of us in the use of technology as a communication information gathering tool. It is now our opportunity to bring this technology into the classroom as a major partner in developing life-long learners.”

 Eric realizes that making the move towards offering more digital options is tough for some education veterans.

“Teachers want to know everything,” he said. They want to make sure that they can answer any question their students may have. But these days it’s often the students that teach teachers about technology. As for Eric, he continues to “keep poking buttons” knowing that eventually he’ll figure it out. 

Soon he’ll be punching the buttons on the remote of a brand new plasma television. And he can no longer say, “I never win anything.” 

Congratulations, Eric, from all of us at ODYSSEYWARE.  

With ODYSSEYWARE online curriculum, everyone wins. For more information about our technology-driven learning solutions, visit www.odysseyware.com.

The economic downturn and the ever-evolving needs of today’s classroom has set the collision course between Microsoft and Google, with both vying against each other for a stronghold in the future of classrooms. In the past few years the two have already faced off with Google’s search engine vying against the rising Bing. Now, as Silicon Valley’s Mercury News reports, the two are facing off again to provide classrooms with an incentive to use their products in the future by donating large quantities of goods.

The battle has already reshaped classroom technology. Just a year ago, Martino’s sixth-graders would have generated reams of paper as they researched mummies, Cleopatra and King Tut. This fall, the students’ work exists on the “cloud” — bits of data flowing across Google’s network, accessible from any computer with a Web browser and a password.

Indeed, Microsoft is providing, free of charge, its Live@edu for free, and Google is sharing its Google Apps for Education, yet another educational resource for free. The battle royal provides students with an excellent opportunity for free education technology programs. How schools are able to maintain this level of resources after the philanthropic efforts of these two titans ends is another question.