ODYSSEYWARE

According to a recent article, Central Regional’s odyssey to help students pass tests, posted on APP.com, ODYSSEYWARE® has been chosen by the Central Regional School District to help high school juniors just below the “proficiency bubble” to pass the upcoming High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) test in March.

Before choosing ODYSSEYWARE, the district conducted trials, allowing 78 juniors to work with this media-rich curriculum for two weeks. The results were remarkable. Of the students who participated in the trials, 75% achieved a five to seven percent jump in their test scores.

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Kentucky is a state accustomed to being first; rumor holds that it was the first state to produce the cheeseburger and the first of many states to use Washington as a town name (after our first President). Although the 15th state to be incorporated into the Union, it has traditionally laid claim to the original ideals of the 13 colonies and can trumpet the Kentucky Derby as the standard in horse racing events. It is the oldest in the nation on that count. This week, however, Kentucky also became the first to incorporate the national standards set forth in the Common Core State Standards Initiative, which have slowly come into being since last year’s meeting of the National Governors Association. The standards, while voluntary, have been claimed by many to be the first step toward a uniform educational measure for all states, or at least those that choose to join. Education Week highlights some of the challenges that remain in fully implementing the shift.

Bringing the state’s 47,000 teachers up to speed on the new standards, and helping them translate those ideas into curriculum for the classroom, will take time and money, educators said.

‘Teachers need time to reach agreement on what the standards mean for day-to-day instruction,’ said Ms. Young, who chairs a panel that advises the state education department on curriculum, instruction, and assessment issues.

Good luck to Kentucky as it begins to set the standard for other states seeking to join the Common Core. Because the standards are only in their infancy, much more will need to be learned on how effective they are; however, many educators seem genuinely excited for taking a different approach

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!

The results are in and the future is digital, say teachers, at least according a recent survey completed by Grunwald Associates LLC for PBS. Key findings of Digitally Inclined are not surprising for tech-savvy educators who recognize the benefits of providing digital learning tools to students living in a digital world. 

Survey results include the following: 

• Teachers are becoming more strategic in their media use and savvier about integrating it into their repertoire of instructional strategies and resources. 

• Teachers value many different types of digital media, with games and activities for student use in school topping the list. 

• Increasing numbers of teachers are joining virtual professional communities, and many are comfortable using social networking tools in their personal and professional lives. 

This all bodes well for students who function best in a wired (or wireless) world and could usher in changes in both the pre-K and K-12 education. These changes include more “engaging, creative, and collaborative learning environments,” the implementation of more specialized individual learning plans for students with different learning styles and abilities, more teachers actively engaging in their own professional development, and increased opportunities for students to take charge of their own learning. 

At ODYSSEYWARE, we know how important it is for teachers to have access to the digital tools that support academic achievement. Our curriculum not only offers students a media-enriched curriculum that engages the mind, but offers teachers effective and efficient tools for providing individualized instruction that most suits each learner. 

As our schools become increasingly technology-driven, the tools teachers use in their classrooms continue to evolve, driving individualized learning and promoting 21st century skills. What digital tools are you using in your classroom to keep students connected to their own learning?

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.

Pardon the sarcasm, but in one of the more obvious studies to be released recently, MIT researchers have concluded that educational games engage students and lead them to take a more active interest in their education. OdysseyWare, along with online curriculum advocates, has long claimed that switching to an online curriculum that provides large multimedia resources will drive students to want to learn because, from their technology-inclined backgrounds, students naturally seek mediums that comport with their high-paced, technology-driven lives. From ESchoolNews:

According to a recent paper by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), games, when developed correctly and used appropriately, can engage players in learning that is specifically applicable to school curriculum—and teachers can leverage the learning in these games without disrupting the worlds of either “play” or school.

For this obvious and very simple reason, OdysseyWare has incorporated over 30,000 multimedia files into our curriculum that include educational games and simulated activities, such as our vocabulary drill Vocabulocity, which requires students to save the universe by correctly entering the definitions to key vocabulary words. Time and again we hear from our students that our curriculum engages them and makes them want to continue their lesson plans because they are interesting and resemble many of the games they play on PS3 or Xbox360. Although the MIT study is welcome news, it’s old news in ours and our students books!

Students in Hesperia Unified School District’s GED program have a new option this year, according to an article in The Hesperia Star. For the first time, roadblocks that had prevented students from getting their GED were removed by offering flexibility through the use of ODYSSEYWARE’s online curriculum. 

“I am a mother of six children with a baby on the way,” said one online student. “Making time to sit in a classroom and find a sitter is next to impossible. With the online GED program I am able to study whenever it is convenient for me. While my children are at home playing or after I put them to bed, I choose my own schedule. 

As the makeup of the nuclear family continues to change, providers and caregivers look much different than they may have in the past. And some are students looking for a way to complete the coursework to get their GED or a high school diploma. Family and work commitments, childcare and transportation challenges, and other physical, intellectual, and emotional barriers can keep them from academic success. 

Not so with online curriculum like ODYSSEYWARE.  

The access to lessons any time and theoretically anywhere is the big appeal of the program, according to Dede Smith and Kim Walker, teachers at HUSD who created this online GED program after seeing so many of their students challenged by transportation problems, financial issues, and lack of childcare.

ODYSSEYWARE was created for 21^st-century students with 21^st-century challenges. This innovative and flexible learning environment, allows students to learn anywhere, anytime, at a pace that meets their needs and fits into their “real lives.” 

How have the “real lives” of your students been changed through the use of technology-driven tools like ODYSSEYWARE?

All over the world people are talking about alternative education. But with the passage of time, the meaning of these words continues to change.

Many historians of public education believe that the American model of public schooling was first organized in the 1800s as a way to educate children while suppressing individualism and cultural diversity. The supposed aim of this system was to support the emerging corporate economy with a politically and socially homogenized workforce. This was social efficiency, a term often used by educational leaders. 

Although this narrowly defined model became more deeply embedded in the culture, from its origins it faced resistance for a number of reasons. Diverse forms of schooling emerged, championed by a wide rage of social reformers and individualists, religious believers and romantics. During the 1960s, interest in alternative educational options became a widespread movement. 

For years there have been alternative education options for students who were challenged within the traditional educational system and included students with physical disabilities, learning disabilities, or behavioral problems. Many of the students served by alternative education programs were labeled at-risk.

Today there is a resurgence of interest in student-centered learning. In post-modern society, the philosophy of social efficiency is falling from grace. Parents and progressive educators are looking at new and innovative models of learning — new alternatives for teaching and learning.

With the infusion of technology and access to information from sources around the globe, the options for alternative education seem virtually endless. While the classrooms of today look much the same as those of yesterday, we can barely imagine the classrooms of tomorrow or the communication skills and expansive knowledge of its students.

 As the classrooms and students evolve, so does the meaning of the words alternative education. And with the rapid pace of innovation, there seems to be no limit to the possibilities.

How do you define alternative education?