INFOhio ICoach

Capstone and Pebble Go are the resources that I decided to evaluate.  Of course, they were going to correctly reflect Ohio's Learning Standards because they are in the Teach and Learn flyer and knowing INFOhio, there will not be any representation on this website that does not support rigorous instruction. One of the strong points for Capstone and Pebble Go is the fact that a correlation tool was created ensure these resources supported state standards.  Another strong attribute is the colorful books and fun titles, will make learning feel exciting.  One concern, however, is a few books are older and may not keep the interest of some students who prefer updated titles over the familiar ones. 

Transparent Language Online is the most powful, personalized platform for language learners and is unbelievably included without a fee for Ohio residents. If I evaluate to the rubric:

Standards: While it is not specifically denoted as meeting the standards, the program does meet language standards for ELA with reading, writing, listening, and speaking components.

Research-based:

Each lesson builds on prior learning that is always available for review

Skill are gradually built without some of the earlier supports

It is authentic because learners get the chance to pronounce words and phrases and get immediate feedback on the quality of their production

Not certain if it is bias-free but at first glance it appears so.

What's more powerful than students building their own learning and understanding at the pace that they need.

Usability

Materials do need high-speed internet access to work appropriately.

The visual design is appealing but could be overwhelming at times

Flexibility:

Students can access 24/7 but do need to be onine

There are great supports in place and documentation of progress is automatic.

1.  I'm going to use IWonder again for this since it can be used by so many of the teachers I support as a Tech Integration Specialist.

2.  Standards Alignment:  Yes, it aligns with Ohio's Learning Standards.

Research-Based Strategies:  IWonder definitely allows for student-directed inquiry and authentic learning since it allows students to choose their research path.  There are differentiation options such as providing a guided notes activity to help students record their findings and keep them on track.  

Usability:  The internet is definitely a must with this resource, but I don't think students would be downloading large files on a regular basis.  

Flexibility:  There does need to be a device available for students to use this resource, so if a student does not have access outside of school, it may not be the best resource to use in a hybrid learning model.  

1. I am going to use PebbleGo Next because as a tech integration specialist, I am being asked to find resources for all subject areas, and PebbleGo Next offers lessons for both science and social studies.

2.  Standards Alignment:  PebbleGo Next does allign to state standards.

Research-Based Strategies: Students can be given some freedom to inquire about different topics they are interested in through PebbleGo Next, however, it is more set up to work through a specific topic or reading and then answer critical thinking questions after. For some of the activities, more research can be done and students can fully explore questions that interest them.

Usability:  PebbleGo Next is usable because it has a home screen that is easy to read, uncluttered, and easily accessable. Every page looks clean and has buttons with clear meanings.

Flexibility: Most of PebbleGo Next's resources are online, however, PDFs are available to be printed off for the different lessons. The majority of the content is online, so it may not be accessable to all students when not at school.

A strong point of this resource is the ease of use and accessability for students. I also really like how students can read the material, or have the passages read to them, giving accomodations when needed to students that need them. An improvement that could be made is to expand this resource to more topics and content areas. The information provided is really good, but there are not a lot of topics covered.

The resource I am using is the ISearch. We already use this for our research paper with our seniors, so I am the most familiar with this source. 

Standards: Since it is a direct INFOhio source, I know it aligns with the standards for ELA with the evaluating sources and using research. 

Research Based Strategies: It has millions of different options so the students are able to get multiple different perspectives on different topics. It also give the students the opportunity to do their own research based inquiries. 

Usability: The usability could use a little work, as the layout is sometimes a bit confusing for students. There is a need to play around with it before teaching it to students, and the students need to follow certain directions to actually access the correct source, but it is still a great resource that has all the links the student may need for a research paper. 

Flexibility: this does offer the user to download the source to be used offline. It also has a way to email the source, save it to a Google Drive account, and multiple other ways to view the source. While this is helpful, again, there is a bit of a process and it must be done correctly, otherwise the student may lose that source and have to find it again. (Speaking from personal experience with that one.)

I chose World Book Advanced to compare with the Rubric.  WBA is very strong in the research-based and aligned with curriculum area.  Material is taken from reliable sources and you are able to pick the grade and subject strand.  I also believe that WBA's usability is superb because the interface is very easy to manuver and understand for students and staff.   I was impressed with this the first time I used it.  WBA also offers flexibilty in it's lessons.  There are items like scavenger hunts and videos to research based projects.  This is one I will be using with staff at our school.

I chose Pebble Go Next from the Teach & Learn flyer because I used it with my first graders when they were doing research on animals. 

It is standards aligned simply because it's on INFOhio.

Research Based Strategies: I accounted for 4  of the 7 strategies being met here.

Usability is met, again, because it's INFOhio approved.

Flexibility is met, but I was able to print off the articles, while PGN read aloud the text and students followed along on the printed copy and highlight what the information that they needed.

Some of Explora's strong points include: connection to ELA and Library Media Science standards; provision of vetted, published articles; ability to connect to student's Google drive to save articles; and flexibility in enhancements for individualized instruction such as audio format, Lexile Range, limiting of source types, and citation tools.

Explora 9-12.  Connects to Language Arts Standards.

Data base that only contains published articles.

Easy for students to connect to google drive

It helps students create the correct citation

Points of View Reference Center

Aligns with standards - it actually has a great filtering tool that will dive pretty deep and point users in the right “search” direction.

Research Based Strategies

This resource provides great opportunity for authentic learning and student directed inquiry, evaluation, analysis, etc.

Usability

Everything is clean and easy to see; however, it is very basic in the layout and design.  While I do not see this a problem, some students may not find it very engaging.  I like it because it isn’t distracting for the purpose.

Flexibility

Students can easily share the information (articles, etc) to google drive, email, safe, and export as pdf etc. They can even create notes and citations directly within the resource.

The resource does what it is intended to do. It provides great quality content for opposing viewpoints on controversial issues. It also does a great job of tying into systems schools use such as google drive and one drive.  Additionally, the ability to create citations within the cite is awesome for students. It takes the guesswork out.  Though it appears very text heavy, it also has a robust image gallery/search.

I think the resource is great, but the overall display of information could be improved upon.  Additionally, the reader function works, but there is a slight learning curve.   You can search content by lexile level, but it would also be nice if one could filter those levels without having to go into the advanced search options. It would makes things slightly quicker.

I am going to use world book advanced.While reasearch based it aligns well with our curriculum.  I liked the flexabilty with it's lessons.  I was excited to see the scavenger hunt and am looking forward to being able to utilize that when showing students how to use this program.

I chose World Almanac for Kids Elementary. This resource does align with Ohio's Learning Standards and clearly has them marked in each article. Teachers can search by standards to find articles that directly fit with a standard. This resource does include the research based strategies listed in the rubric. The usability section and flexibility sections are also met in this resource. I think that they layout could be improved because I think that it looks to young for the 4th and 5th grade students. They would think that the resource is for the little kids and not them because it looks like it is more for 2nd graders.

I picked Bookflix to look into and the one criteria I see that can be improved upon is text complexity. Even with students as young as Kindergarten, they should still have complex texts for their level. That would probably be the only are I would focus on improving,