I marvel at those who were the first to explore the globe centuries ago. Their courage to tackle the unknown and their commitment to stay the course despite great odds inspires me. In honor of those great explorers, I am going to do some exploring myself! But rather than around the globe in a sailing ship, I’m going to explore the curricula of Global Student Network.
My first stop is Global Courseware. Global Courseware contains over 5,500 lessons and over 200,000 content pages to be used by students grades K-12. It is aligned with national and state standards and offers flexibility to personalize a course of study to meet individual student needs and learning styles. Lessons are presented on slides enhanced with graphics and multimedia pictures. There is an option for the student to listen to the text as well. Here is what a lesson slide looks like. This slide is from 6th Grade History:
The program is easy to use and clearly shows the student what they need to work on next. Here is a picture of the dashboard:
Pulling up anchor and setting sail, I’m headed to OdysseyWare next. OdysseyWare offers course for students grades 3-12. The lessons are presented in an interactive format (like this page shown from an earth science lesson) with questions at the bottom of each page.
The dashboard makes courses easily accessible and also has a calendar.
WOW!! A beautiful hidden lagoon! OdysseyWare also offers course in Career and Technical Education. Courses such as Business Management and Administration, Health & Science, Hospitality & Tourism, Human Services, Information Technology, Agriculture, Science, Technology, Engineering & Math will help prepare tomorrow’s workforce. OdysseyWare is a versatile location, to be sure.
OK, now I’m heading into some rigorous wind!! Honors Courses, straight ahead!!
Honors courses are standards-based general studies courses that meet the needs of motivated students seeking to accelerate their learning and deepen conceptual understanding. With many opportunities to apply, extend, and synthesize knowledge, Honors courses are ideally suited to prepare students for the rigors of Advanced Placement courses. Each semester course offers 90–120 hours of interactive direct instruction, guided practice, and robust enrichment, with integrated formative, summative, and diagnostic assessment. Here is a glimpse into a poetry lesson:
As you can see, another easy-to-use dashboard showing progress made in each course.
Next stop in my Global exploration is the island of Christian curriculum. Alpha Omega’s Ignitia offers Biblically based online curriculum for grades K-12 in five core subjects – Bible, math, science, language arts, and history. There are also a wide range of electives, too. The lessons include interactive activities. Here are some pictures from the land of Christian curriculum:
Here that music? See that scenery?? It can only mean one thing – we’re landing at Compass Learning! Compass Learning is a highly engaging curriculum for all grade levels. This easy-to-use program motivates students and builds their confidence by delivering instruction at precisely the right level. The presentations are video-based instead of dependent on student reading. Here’s a snapshot (you’ll have to use your imagination to hear the farmer deliver the lecture or checkout the demo yourself):
Land ahoy! Look at the pristine format and magnificent variety! It can only be one place – GradPoint! GradPoint is the easy-to-use, cost-effective and comprehensive online learning solution that helps students in grades 6-12 develop the skills they need to succeed in high school, college and beyond. GradPoint gives you the power to truly personalize learning with proven and award-winning curriculum aligned to state and Common Core State Standards and delivered on an award-winning, intuitive learning platform. GradPoint puts unparalleled, proven curriculum at your fingertips so you can deliver an educational experience that is uniquely designed for each student and keeps them interested, motivated and moving forward. And GradPoint offers an unprecedented variety of electives such as digital photography, forensic science, and anthropology.
What a shame – my camera is not working! To see this amazing place yourself, go to www.globalstudentnetwork.com and click on Demos.
What’s an expedition without finding treasure?? I think I found a priceless stone! It’s the Rosetta Stone, no doubt! The Rosetta Stone method unlocks your natural ability to learn a language. Learn naturally with no translation or memorization through a fully immersive environment right on your computer. Read, listen and speak in your chosen language and stay motivated with a range of activities and exercises. Speak confidently and build your conversational skills using Rosetta Stone’s speech recognition software. The speech-recognition technology helps you pronounce syllables, words and sentences in your new language, and provides immediate, ongoing feedback. Retain what you’ve learned with the built-in Adaptive Recall™ feature that brings back review exercises to help you transfer what you’ve learned into your long-term memory.
Well, that was my adventure. Now it’s time for you to do some exploring of your own! Go to www.globalstudentnetwork.com and see what you discover!!
Bon Voyage!!
Copyright © 2013 J. Hoffman / GSN
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Email: JHoffman@GlobalStudentNetwork.com