ODYSSEYWARE

At ODYSSEYWARE®, we understand that moving forward into the high-tech world of online learning can be a challenge, yet teachers across the country are using the latest tools, online resources, and innovative ideas to help students connect to their own education.

Do you know an ODYSSEYWARE teacher that has embraced the use of technology in the classroom to enrich the learning experience of his students? Do you have a story to share about the impact one teacher can have on the lives of her students?

If your answer is yes, nominate this first-rate facilitator to be honored as ODYSSEYWARE’s Teacher of the Month. The winner will be featured in an upcoming issue of the ODYSSEYWARE iQ eNewsletter. Just complete the nomination form to submit your nominee.

Some restrictions apply.

With one decade of the century under our belts, it seems surprising that educators, scientists, and parents continue to struggle to define those skills that should be taught in schools to prepare K-12 students for their future in the Information Age. There seem to be as many opinions as there are students, but more and more often, the phrase “21st century skills” is used to identify a specific and progressive list of skills that are necessary to ensure a successful future for today’s students.

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E-rate has made a name for itself in schools with telecommunications funding, especially in rural areas that need access to technology but all too often are consumed by budget needs to purchase computers. E-rate becomes an asset in this manner and can give a much needed boost to technology budgets through the help of federal funding. The problem, however, is that the program is often too onerous to navigate for school administrators who spend much of their day dealing with the day-in, day-out tasks of maintaining order in school to sit down and put pen to paper and apply for funding. According to The Education Week:

Such frustrations have become synonymous with the E-rate. The program is credited with helping most of the nation’s schools move into the Internet age—just 14 percent of K-12 classrooms had access when the program was created in 1996, compared with more than 95 percent today.

But confusion over which services qualify for discounts, the extent of the requirements for addressing Internet safety and access, and a paper trail laborious enough to frighten even the most seasoned of bureaucrats, have hindered plans in some districts to expand the use of digital tools, experts say.

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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.

Keep your focus on teaching and learning by providing behind-the-scenes framework that allows maximum benefits with minimal frustration.

Your browser: We support both Internet Explorer® and Firefox®; however, ODYSSEYWARE is optimized for Firefox. Because it offers more features that complement our online curriculum, our first choice is Firefox.

Firefox

• is less prone to spyware

• displays math and science symbols properly

• responds to caching and proxy headers more consistently

• responds to Java script controls

• conforms to web standards better than Internet Explorer.

Download Firefox free here.

If you prefer Internet Explorer over Firefox, you need Internet Explorer 7 or higher installed. Internet Explorer 6 and lower are not supported.

Browser Settings: We recommend you turn off the browser caching in both Firefox and Internet Explorer to allow ODYSSEYWARE to run optimally. Caching in Firefox is called Offline Storage and should be set to 0. In Internet Explorer it’s called Temporary Internet Files and History Settings. It should be set to 8 MB and should be set to check for newer versions of stored pages every time you visit the page.

• To change the setting in Firefox, click on the Tools menu > Options > Advanced > Network tab > and set the offline storage 0 MB.

The headlines are often bleak with news of high dropout rates, budget cuts, and the closing of underperforming schools. Over the last decade, parents have demanded changes to an educational system that seems to be broken. On the other hand, there’s a sunny spot in Arizona, a place where student achievement is expected. Last year, ACE Charter High School reached a milestone, celebrating the largest graduating class in the school’s 13-year history.

ODYSSEYWARE recently conducted a case study at this innovative charter school that was started in the 90s to provide a technology-driven learning environment for high school students. After trying other computer-based curriculum, ACE switched to ODYSSEYWARE. The results have been remarkable. 

According to Jennifer Fimbres, a teacher at ACE,

“ODYSSEYWARE has had a big impact on the success of our students, especially in student satisfaction and attendance.”

The test scores speak for themselves. Last year, ACE’s pass rate for Arizona’s Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) test more than doubled for math and reading.

While the numbers are impressive, student satisfaction is also a key component to successful academic programs. At ACE, both students and teachers expressed a high degree of satisfaction with the curriculum.

“Students didn’t like the old program,” said Jennifer. “It was old technology with a lot of line drawings and green screens. It was not aligned to state standards. Students like the interactive aspect of ODYSSEYWARE and the look. It looks like everything else they’re used to seeing. It’s familiar and easy for them to navigate.”

As the educational landscape rapidly changes, teachers are increasingly looking for ways to engage their students and support their academic success. For this forward-thinking teacher, who loves ODYSSEYWARE’s fully online curriculum, it provides a solution.

“The world that we live in is increasingly technical. Students need to be able to function in that environment with a certain amount of independence. ODYSSEYWARE allows them to do this,” she said.

I’m not sure if parents and children have ever agreed on just how teenagers should spend their free time. The widespread use of the Internet has flamed this age-old fire and has created a few new sparks. According to the Norton Online Living Report 2009, parents believe their kids spend 21 hours per month online, but kids say it’s an average of 39. Either way, six in 10 adults worldwide say it’s “too much.” Surprisingly, 45% of kids agree.

How is this time spent? The study indicates that their time is split between school projects, entertainment, games, and shopping. The report also found that “one in five kids admitted to conducting activities that their parents wouldn’t approve of.”

For students in traditional classrooms, time online is limited to approved class work and free time, but for students who attend school online or use online curriculum like ODYSSEYWARE®, more hours of the day are spent connected to the computer. As parents and educators, it’s important to recognize the safety and time management issues and to address them with kids.

As a provider of security software, Norton™ offers these tips to parents and teachers for helping to keep their kids safe while they’re on the web:

• Have “The Talk” frequently and establish realistic rules. Engage in dialogue about who, what, and where your kids are online, but make it fun, not an interrogation.

• Deploy basic preventative security measures and all-in-one security site and parental controls.

• Participate in their lives online; in addition to joining their kids in texting, IM’ing, and social networking, parents can learn more about their kids by looking at their online videos, photos, and status updates, or even “Googling” them.

If I had all the time in the world, a concern for the future of education, and a Facebook login, I think I would spend my time reading “Teachers’ Letters to Obama”. 

According to a recent article in Education Week, this popular Facebook group began when a science coach from Oakland Unified School District, Anthony Cody, wrote a letter. He remembers it this way: 

“In November, I accidentally launched a groundswell. I posted an open letter to President Barack Obama online and invited other teachers to join me.”

As of today, the group boasts 751 members who start and join in regular discussions about the state of education. They offer ideas, insights, and a ground zero perspective of what’s happening in their world. From test-driven policies and analogies that liken the educational system to Wall Street, there are more than 100 eloquent letters and almost as many topics and opinions.

At ODYSSEYWARE, we believe in the power of digital technology. We use it to provide curriculum and tools that help students learn. Social media channels, a product of the digital age, provide students, educators, and politicians a forum for examining issues and collaborating toward solutions. 

Looking for a good read? Join a discussion at teachers’ letters to obama on Facebook.

As a writer, I spend a lot of time exploring the pros and cons of differentiated learning, often mentioning that all K-12 students are different, excelling when they receive instruction through specific delivery channels. Through research and data I have come to believe that this is true.

The other day, something happened to me that drove the point home. The management team at our company decided that it would be interesting for the employees to take an online personality test. Each of us logged on and proceeded to answer multiple choice questions that we believed best described our own behavior at work.

I dutifully logged on and worked my way through the test. I have to admit, I often found it hard to choose the answer that best described me, but I did the best I could to be accurate. After 15 minutes or so, I finished the last question, only to have an interesting message pop up on my screen. As it turns out, I was among the one percent of respondents that did not fit any of their predefined personality types. I was prompted to take the test again. I had proven once again to be a square peg.

 My colleagues and I got a good laugh out of it, but the take-away for me is this: Are we asking our students to “take the test again” when they don’t fit into predefined categories that we understand?  Additionally, do we ask them to change the way they “are” so we can more easily deal with them?

Customizable online curriculum like ODYSSEYWARE allows students to be themselves while they work their way through school at their own pace, in their own way. Directed by teachers who guide them, they are able to effectively learn in a digital environment through multiple channels. Best of all, our online courses are available anytime from any Internet connected computer.  That’s good news for today’s square pegs like me.

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.