Course Management System

If you're a teacher who has wondered about offering an online course but doesn't know how to get started, check out the new article we've posted about Course Management Systems. It explains that a Course Management System (CMS) is actually a suite of software that provides all the tools you need to manage your class: taking attendance, making assignments, tracking student participation, and even grading some types of work electronically.

A Course Management System Is Versatile

A Course Management System is very versatile. For some courses, students log in on their own schedule. In this case, they would communicate with you and with each other by email messages, bulletin boards, or threaded discussions. Other classes are taught when all the students in a class log in at the same time as the instructor. This kind of class enables you to use real-time web chats and video conferencing.


You Control Class Content

The Course Management System is the framework for your class, but you still control the content. IQity offers a comprehensive online platform that makes it easy for you to add content within the framework of the Content Management System. You can upload materials you already have. Or you can choose to use curriculum available within the IQity platform, which is already aligned with state standards. And soon you'll be able to search IQity's new database, called Reactor, for a wide variety of learning objects, also aligned with state standards.

IQity makes it easy for your school to offer online classes. You can go to the IQity web page (www.iq-ity.com) to request a demonstration.

New Measure for School Performance

Researchers from The Ohio State University have developed a new way to measure school quality. They say it is a more accurate reflection of student learning than achievement tests now used in keeping with the federal No Child Left Behind Act.


Fewer Schools Are Failing


The study was conducted by researchers in the department of sociology and published in the August 2008 issue of the journal Sociology of Education. Up to three-fourths of the schools now rated as failing would receive acceptable ratings using their system, which measures how quickly students are learning. Results show that students in many failing schools learn much faster during the school year than during the summer break, and learn at an acceptable rate.


Testing Bias Eliminated


The researchers contend that their system eliminates the bias in test results that comes from lower scores by disadvantaged groups of students. They used data measuring math and reading scores for 4,217 children in 287 schools. Measurements were done at the beginning and end of kindergarten and first-grade. They showed that although children from a lower socio-economic background began school behind their counterparts, they learned at an acceptable rate, showing that their teachers were doing a good job.


IQity Strives to Help All Students


At IQity, we're excited to see this study and hope it's widely discussed in the educational community. Our mission is to achieve an educational system in which all children can learn successfully, regardless of socio-economic status, geography, medical conditions, learning styles, or other historic barriers. But we're not satisfied with a system in which children who are disadvantaged remain behind their peers, a system in which they may learn at an "acceptable" rate but never really catch up. We believe that the individualized instruction made possible by a comprehensive online Learning Management System like IQity can bridge the achievement gap.

Virtual Classroom Ready for School

With the start of the school year fast approaching, teachers in many brick-and-mortar schools are preparing their classrooms for the arrival of students. Preparatory tasks range from counting textbooks to hanging motivational posters on the walls. Teachers who work in an online learning environment can also use this time to get ready for the first day of classes, though they can do so without leaving home.


In school districts that use the IQity Learning Suite, teachers have access to their own virtual classroom, which can be configured to match the look of the physical classroom. School colors and logos can be used. Teachers can personalize their classroom page with pictures or slogans and can prepare a welcome message to students, setting a positive tone for the school year and providing contact information for ongoing communications.


Teachers who like to use motivational messages can send them daily, weekly, or whenever they choose via the closed-circuit message system. I'm attaching a link to some of my favorites, including "Strength of mind is exercise, not rest." (Alexander Pope)


This is also the time to post the class calendar, which enables students to anticipate and plan for project deadlines and upcoming exams.

E-Learning a Second Language

I was interested to see the ongoing poll by Edutopia on teaching foreign languages in schools. The poll asks, "What's the most practical language for students to learn?" Of the 166 responses so far, 51 percent said Spanish. That evidently does not count Senator Barack Obama, who inspired the poll by advocating that immigrant children learn English and American children learn Spanish. Speaking of inspiration, perhaps the Beijing Summer Olympics motivated voters to make Mandarin the second most recommended language with 17 percent of the votes. French is running third with nine percent.


Further arguing for Spanish language education is the projection released this month by the Census Bureau that by 2050 there will be nearly 133 million Latinos in the United States, making them the largest minority group.


It's hard enough for some school districts to recruit teachers for European languages like Spanish and French. But Mandarin? Arabic? Russian? And even if a teacher is available, how does a school justify offering a course for which only a handful of students will register?


One way that school districts can expand their language course offerings is by using an online learning platform like IQity. A single teacher can teach students in multiple schools at the same time via an online class. With the IQity whiteboard, the teacher can speak to students in real time in the class language. Students can record audio files and send them to the teacher for assessment.


Use of the IQity platform is free to school districts using the embedded curriculum, which includes four Spanish courses. Schools pay only a small per-student fee for use of the curriculum. Teachers can also upload their own course materials for other languages, so the potential languages that can be taught over the IQity platform is not limited. Schools may pay a small hosting fee for uploaded class materials.