WHO PATENTED KMAC?
The KMAC teacher management plan was devised by Leonard Merrell, his head curriculum administrators, and the IT guys. That they patented the plan is odd. They assigned the patent to the school district.
It would seem that the school district should have applied for the patent, not Elizabeth Clark, John Mathis, David Lambson, Tom Black, Linda Helbach, Darla Pollard or Stephen Adams. It is curious that these seven people would be allowed to attach their names to the patent application. Why are they there? If, somehow, Dr. Merrell were inclined to give credit where credit is due, then perhaps the names of the teachers who designed their "650 courses of study" might surely have been considered, but that seems not to be the case! They just took those plans and used them as their own!
Realize, if you will, that employees of Katy ISD sign a contract that says all of their "creations" during their employment are the property to Katy ISD. I'm sure that's the premise that allowed them to "take" the teacher's lesson plans, but how could that same premise not apply to what THEY were doing?
In my many years, I've never known anyone to apply for a patent without having the clear intent of trying to make money off of the product of that patent!
I think the Katy Plan was hawked about--I have heard from teachers in other Texas school districts that had it shoved down their throats, and their outrage knew no bounds. They found me through my website, and they had plenty to say about KMAC!
Anyway, here's the patent application. Decide for yourself what happened here.
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( 1 of 1 ) |
United States Patent Application |
20060035206 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Clark; Elizabeth A. ; et al. |
February 16, 2006 |
Systems, program products, and methods of organizing and managing curriculum information
Abstract
Systems, program products, and methods of curriculum planning are provided. An embodiment of a system includes instructional course instructions, responsive to user input commands, to associate one of several instructional courses with one of several teachers, calendar instructions, responsive to user input commands, to create a calendar schedule and assign the instructional course to a date and time for display on the calendar schedule, lesson-plan assignment instructions, responsive to the calendar schedule and user input commands, to assign one of several lesson-plans to the instructional course at the date and time on the calendar schedule, and lesson-plan indicator instructions, responsive to the calendar schedule and lesson-plan data, indicating whether the instructional course for the date and time has been assigned a completed lesson.
Inventors: |
Clark; Elizabeth A.; (Katy, TX) ; Mathis; John; (Bayou Vista, TX) ; Lambson; David; (Sugar Land, TX) ; Black; Tom; (Sugar Land, TX) ; Helbach; Linda; (Katy, TX) ; Pollard; Darla; (Katy, TX) ; Adams; Stephen; (Houston, TX) |
Correspondence Address: |
BRACEWELL & GIULIANI LLP P.O. BOX 61389 HOUSTON TX 77208-1389 US |
Assignee: |
Katy
Independent
School
District |
Family ID: |
35285475 |
Appl. No.: |
11/076398 |
Filed: |
March 9, 2005 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
Application Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
||
---|---|---|---|---|
60600633 |
Aug 11, 2004 |
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Current U.S. Class: |
434/350 |
Current CPC Class: |
G06Q 10/0639 20130101; G09B 7/02 20130101; G06Q 10/10 20130101; G06Q 10/06393 20130101 |
Class at Publication: |
434/350 |
International Class: |
G09B 3/00 20060101 G09B003/00 |
Claims
1. A system to enhance organization and management of lesson-plans, the system comprising:
a computer defining a server and having a database and memory associated therewith, the
server adapted to interface with a communication network; an administrative computer
adapted to interface with the communication network and a user, the administrative
computer being remote from and in communication with the server through the communication
network; a plurality of client computers each adapted to interface with the communication
network and a user, each of the plurality of client computers being remote from and in
communication with the server through the communication network; and a program product
stored in the memory of the server and adapted to be accessible by the plurality of client
computers and the administrative computer, the program product comprising: (a)
instructional term curriculum schedule instructions, responsive to administrative user
input commands through the administrative computer, to establish a plurality of teachers
as teaching a plurality of predetermined instructional courses at a plurality of
predetermined dates and times during a future instructional term on an instructional term
curriculum schedule for the future instructional term, (b) communication instructions,
responsive to the instructional term curriculum schedule, to communicate the instructional
term curriculum schedule to each of the plurality of teachers, (c) profile instructions,
responsive to the instructional term curriculum schedule, to create an individual teacher
profile for each of the plurality of teachers, (d) instructional course instructions,
responsive to the instructional term curriculum schedule and user input commands, to
associate one of the plurality of predetermined instructional courses from the
instructional term curriculum schedule with one of the plurality of teachers by assigning
the predetermined instructional course to one of the plurality of teacher profiles, (e)
schedule storage instructions, responsive to the instructional term curriculum schedule
and the teacher profile and user input commands, to create a schedule depository and to
assign the predetermined instructional course to a day of the week and time in the
schedule depository for storage in the schedule depository, (f) calendar instructions,
responsive to the instructional term curriculum schedule and the schedule depository and
user input commands, to create a calendar schedule and to assign the predetermined
instructional course to the predetermined date and time on the calendar schedule for
display on the calendar schedule, (g) lesson-plan creation instructions, responsive to
user input commands, to create a plurality of lesson-plans for a particular teacher and a
particular instructional course, (h) lesson-plan storage instructions, responsive to the
lesson-plans and user input commands, to create a lesson-plan depository and to assign the
lesson-plans to the lesson-plan depository for storage in the lesson-plan depository, (i)
lesson-plan access instructions, responsive to user input commands, to access one of the
teacher's lesson-plans from at least one of a plurality of school years, (j) share-network
instructions, responsive to user input commands, to create a plurality of sharing teachers
from the plurality of teachers on a share-network, the sharing teachers having a plurality
of shared lesson-plans from one of a plurality of school years to share with other sharing
teachers through the communication network, (k) lesson-plan assignment instructions,
responsive to the calendar schedule and the lesson-plans and user input commands, to
assign one of the lesson-plans to the instructional course at the date and time on the
calendar schedule, and (l) lesson-plan indicator instructions, responsive to the calendar
schedule and lesson-plan data, to indicate on the calendar schedule whether the
instructional course for the date and time on the calendar schedule has been assigned a
completed lesson-plan.
2. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein the program product further comprises
objectives storage instructions, responsive to a plurality of predetermined objectives and
user input commands, to create an objectives depository to store the objectives and from
which the objectives are assigned to one of the lesson-plans, and objectives indicator
instructions, responsive to the objectives depository and user input commands, to indicate
whether the objectives has been assigned to a lesson-plan.
3. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein the program product further comprises schedule
depository instructions, responsive to user input commands, to copy the instructional
courses from one day of the schedule depository onto another day of the schedule
depository and depository assignment instructions, responsive to the schedule depository
and user input commands, to assign data from one day of the schedule depository to a date
and time on the calendar schedule for display on the calendar schedule and to assign data
from one week of the schedule depository to one week of dates and times on the calendar
schedule for display on the calendar schedule.
4. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein the share-network is selected from the group
consisting of: an individual school share-network, a school share-network, a school
district share-network, a school city share-network, a school county share-network, a
statewide share-network, and a nationwide share-network.
5. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein the lesson-plan comprises one or more topics
selected from the group consisting of: objectives, resources, strategies, assessments,
activities, instructional tools, and homework assignments.
6. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein the lesson-plan indicator instructions further
indicate on the calendar schedule whether all the plurality of instructional courses for a
particular date on the calendar schedule have been assigned a completed lesson-plan and
indicate whether all the plurality of instructional courses for a particular week on the
calendar schedule have been assigned a completed lesson-plan, and further indicate on the
calendar schedule by using a color-coded indicator communicated to the user through the
communication network.
7. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein the program product further comprises feedback
instructions to provide an administrator of the system with feedback information relating
to improvement of a topic selected from the group consisting of: the communication
network, the instructional term curriculum schedule, the teacher profile, the schedule
depository, the calendar schedule, the lesson-plans, the lesson-plan depository, the
share-network, the importation of lesson-plans from the share-network, the assignment of
lesson-plans to the calendar schedule, and the indication of completed lesson-plans on the
calendar schedule.
8. A program product embodied in a computer-readable medium to enhance organization and
management of lesson-plans, the program product comprising: (a) instructional course
instructions, responsive to user input commands, to associate one of a plurality of
instructional courses with one of a plurality of teachers; (b) calendar instructions,
responsive to user input commands, to create a calendar schedule and to assign the
instructional course to a date and time on the calendar schedule for display on the
calendar schedule; (c) lesson-plan assignment instructions, responsive to the calendar
schedule and user input commands, to assign one of a plurality of lesson-plans to the
instructional course at the date and time on the calendar schedule; and (d) lesson-plan
indicator instructions, responsive to the calendar schedule and lesson-plan data, to
indicate on the calendar schedule whether the instructional course for the date and time
on the calendar schedule has been assigned a completed lesson-plan.
9. A program product as defined in claim 8, further comprising instructional term
curriculum schedule instructions, responsive to administrative user input commands, to
establish the plurality of teachers as teaching a plurality of predetermined instructional
courses at a plurality of predetermined dates and times during a future instructional term
on an instructional term curriculum schedule for the future instructional term;
communication instructions, responsive to the instructional term curriculum schedule, to
communicate the instructional term curriculum schedule to each of the plurality of
teachers; profile instructions, responsive to the instructional term curriculum schedule,
to create an individual teacher profile for each of the plurality of teachers, and wherein
the instructional course instructions further comprise instructions, responsive to the
instructional term curriculum schedule and user input commands, to associate one of the
plurality of predetermined instructional courses from the instructional term curriculum
schedule with one of the plurality of teachers by assigning the predetermined
instructional course to one of the plurality of teacher profiles; schedule storage
instructions, responsive to the instructional term curriculum schedule and the teacher
profile and user input commands, to create a schedule depository and to assign the
predetermined instructional course to a day of the week and time in the schedule
depository for storage in the schedule depository, and wherein the calendar instructions
further comprise instructions, responsive to the instructional term curriculum schedule
and the schedule depository and user input commands, to create a calendar schedule and to
assign the predetermined instructional course to the predetermined date and time on the
calendar schedule for display on the calendar schedule; lesson-plan storage instructions,
responsive to the lesson-plans and user input commands, to create a lesson-plan depository
and to assign the lesson-plans to the lesson-plan depository for storage in the
lesson-plan depository; lesson-plan access instructions, responsive to user input
commands, to access one of the teacher's lesson-plans from one of a plurality of school
years; share-network instructions, responsive to user input commands, to create a
plurality of sharing teachers from the plurality of teachers on a share-network, the
sharing teachers having a plurality of shared lesson-plans from one of a plurality of
school years to share with other sharing teachers through the communication network; and
import instructions, responsive to the share-network and user input commands, to import
the shared lesson-plans through the communication network from one participating teacher
on the share-network to another participating teacher on the share-network, and wherein
the lesson-plan assignment instructions further comprise instructions, responsive to the
calendar schedule and the lesson-plans and user input commands, to assign one of the
lesson-plans to the instructional course at the date and time on the calendar schedule.
10. A program product as defined in claim 9, further comprising objectives storage
instructions, responsive to a plurality of predetermined objectives and user input
commands, to create an objectives depository to store the objectives and from which the
objectives are assigned to one of the lesson-plans; and objectives indicator instructions,
responsive to the objectives depository and user input commands, to indicate whether the
objectives has been assigned to a lesson-plan.
11. A program product as defined in claim 9, further comprising schedule depository
instructions, responsive to user input commands, to copy the instructional courses from
one day of the schedule depository onto another day of the schedule depository; and
depository assignment instructions, responsive to the schedule depository and user input
commands, to assign data from one day of the schedule depository to a date and time on the
calendar schedule for display on the calendar schedule, and to assign data from one week
of the schedule depository to one week of dates and times on the calendar schedule for
display on the calendar schedule.
12. A program product as defined in claim 8, wherein the lesson-plan indicator
instructions further indicate on the calendar schedule whether all the plurality of
instructional courses for a particular date on the calendar schedule have been assigned a
completed lesson-plan, and further indicate on the calendar schedule whether all the
plurality of instructional courses for a particular week on the calendar schedule have
been assigned a completed lesson-plan, and further indicate on the calendar schedule by
using a color-coded indicator communicated to the user through the communication network.
13. A program product as defined in claim 9, further comprises feedback instructions to
provide an administrator of the system with feedback information relating to improvement
of a topic selected from the group consisting of: the communication network, the
instructional term curriculum schedule, the teacher profile, the schedule depository, the
calendar schedule, the lesson-plans, the lesson-plan depository, the share-network, the
importation of lesson-plans from the share-network, the assignment of lesson-plans to the
calendar schedule, and the indication of completed lesson-plans on the calendar schedule.
14. A method to enhance organization and management of lesson-plans, the method
comprising: associating one of a plurality of instructional courses with one of a
plurality of teachers; creating a calendar schedule and assigning the instructional course
to a date and time on the calendar schedule for display on the calendar schedule;
assigning one of a plurality of lesson-plans to the instructional course at the date and
time on the calendar schedule; and indicating on the calendar schedule whether the
instructional course for the date and time on the calendar schedule has been assigned a
completed lesson-plan.
15. A method as defined in claim 14, further comprising establishing the plurality of
teachers as teaching a plurality of predetermined instructional courses at a plurality of
predetermined dates and times during a future instructional term on an instructional term
curriculum schedule for the future instructional term; communicating the instructional
term curriculum schedule to each of the plurality of teachers; creating an individual
teacher profile for each of the plurality of teachers, and wherein the associating further
comprises associating one of the plurality of predetermined instructional courses from the
instructional term curriculum schedule with one of the plurality of teachers by assigning
the predetermined instructional course to one of the plurality of teacher profiles;
creating a schedule depository and assigning the predetermined instructional course to a
day of the week and time in the schedule depository for storage in the schedule
depository; creating a lesson-plan depository and assigning the lesson-plans to the
lesson-plan depository for storage in the lesson-plan depository; accessing one of the
teacher's lesson-plans from one of a plurality of school years; creating a plurality of
sharing teachers from the plurality of teachers on a share-network, the sharing teachers
having a plurality of shared lesson-plans from one of a plurality of school years to share
with other sharing teachers through the communication network; and importing the shared
lesson-plans through the communication network from one participating teacher on the
share-network to another participating teacher on the share-network.
16. A method as defined in claim 15, further comprising creating an objectives depository
to store the objectives and from which the objectives are assigned to one of the
lesson-plans, and indicating whether the objectives has been assigned to a lesson-plan.
17. A method as defined in claim 15, further comprising copying the instructional courses
from one day of the schedule depository onto another day of the schedule depository, and
assigning data from one day of the schedule depository to a date and time on the calendar
schedule for display on the calendar schedule, and assigning data from one week of the
schedule depository to one week of dates and times on the calendar schedule for display on
the calendar schedule.
18. A method as defined in claim 14, wherein the indicating further comprises indicating
on the calendar schedule whether all the plurality of instructional courses for a
particular date on the calendar schedule have been assigned a completed lesson-plan, and
indicating on the calendar schedule whether all the plurality of instructional courses for
a particular week on the calendar schedule have been assigned a completed lesson-plan,
indicating on the calendar schedule by using a color-coded indicator communicated to the
user through the communication network.
19. A method as defined in claim 15, further comprising providing an administrator of the
system with feedback information relating to improvement of a topic selected from the
group consisting of: the communication network, the instructional term curriculum
schedule, the teacher profile, the schedule depository, the calendar schedule, the
lesson-plans, the lesson-plan depository, the share-network, the importation of
lesson-plans from the share-network, the assignment of lesson-plans to the calendar
schedule, and the indication of completed lesson-plans on the calendar schedule.
20. A computer-readable medium that is readable by a computer, the computer-readable
medium comprising: a set of computer-executable instructions that when executed-by the
computer causes the computer to perform the following operations: associating one of a
plurality of instructional courses with one of a plurality of teachers; creating a
calendar schedule and assigning the instructional course to a date and time on the
calendar schedule for display on the calendar schedule; assigning one of a plurality of
lesson-plans to the instructional course at the date and time on the calendar schedule;
and indicating on the calendar schedule whether the instructional course for the date and
time on the calendar schedule has been assigned a completed lesson-plan.
21. A computer-readable medium as defined in claim 20, wherein the set of
computer-executable instructions further causes the computer to perform the following
operations: establishing the plurality of teachers as teaching a plurality of
predetermined instructional courses at a plurality of predetermined dates and times during
a future instructional term on an instructional term curriculum schedule for the future
instructional term; communicating the instructional term curriculum schedule to each of
the plurality of teachers; creating an individual teacher profile for each of the
plurality of teachers; associating one of the plurality of predetermined instructional
courses from the instructional term curriculum schedule with one of the plurality of
teachers by assigning the predetermined instructional course to one of the plurality of
teacher profiles; creating a schedule depository and assigning the predetermined
instructional course to a day of the week and time in the schedule depository for storage
in the schedule depository; creating a lesson-plan depository and assigning the
lesson-plans to the lesson-plan depository for storage in the lesson-plan depository;
accessing one of the teacher's lesson-plans from one of a plurality of school years;
creating a plurality of sharing teachers from the plurality of teachers on a
share-network, the sharing teachers having a plurality of shared lesson-plans from one of
a plurality of school years to share with other sharing teachers through the communication
network; and importing the shared lesson-plans through the communication network from one
participating teacher on the share-network to another participating teacher on the
share-network.
22. A computer-readable medium as defined in claim 21, wherein the set of
computer-executable instructions further causes the computer to perform the following
operations: creating an objectives depository to store the objectives and from which the
objectives are assigned to one of the lesson-plans, and indicating whether the objectives
has been assigned to a lesson-plan.
23. A computer-readable medium as defined in claim 21, wherein the set of
computer-executable instructions further causes the computer to perform the following
operations: copying the instructional courses from one day of the schedule depository onto
another day of the schedule depository, and assigning data from one day of the schedule
depository to a date and time on the calendar schedule for display on the calendar
schedule, and assigning data from one week of the schedule depository to one week of dates
and times on the calendar schedule for display on the calendar schedule.
24. A computer-readable medium as defined in claim 20, wherein the set of
computer-executable instructions further causes the computer to perform the following
operations: indicating on the calendar schedule whether all the plurality of instructional
courses for a particular date on the calendar schedule have been assigned a completed
lesson-plan, and indicating on the calendar schedule whether all the plurality of
instructional courses for a particular week on the calendar schedule have been assigned a
completed lesson-plan, an indicating on the calendar schedule by using a color-coded
indicator communicated to the user through the communication network.
25. A computer-readable medium as defined in claim 21, wherein the set of
computer-executable instructions further causes the computer to perform the following
operations: providing an administrator with feedback information relating to improvement
of a topic selected from the group consisting of: the communication network, the
instructional term curriculum schedule, the teacher profile, the schedule depository, the
calendar schedule, the lesson-plans, the lesson-plan depository, the share-network, the
importation of lesson-plans from the share-network, the assignment of lesson-plans to the
calendar schedule, and the indication of completed lesson-plans on the calendar schedule.
Description
RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims benefit from U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/600,633
filed Aug. 11, 2004.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention relates generally to curriculum organization and, more
particularly, to systems, program products, and methods of organizing and managing
curriculum information for teachers within an educational institution.
[0004] 2. Description of Related Art
[0005] In educational institutions it is often necessary to organize and manage curriculum
information for each instructional course. For example, an educational institution may
utilize a calendar schedule of curriculum objectives and lesson-plans for any particular
instructional course. The curriculum objectives and lesson-plans enable teachers to
prepare a methodology for teaching a particular instructional course at a particular date
and time on the calendar schedule.
[0006] Prior versions of organization and management systems utilized rudimentary
procedures comprising boxes of stored notebooks or file cabinets containing books and
papers. Such organization and management systems covered a lot of physical space on the
premises of the educational institution and became disorganized unless substantial efforts
were undertaken to continually re-organize the notebooks or files into a library of
curriculum objectives and lesson-plans. Moreover, because it may take an overabundance of
time for an administrator or teacher to search through the notebooks and files, such an
organization and management system has proved to be quite inefficient. The time and effort
necessary to search through the materials thus impeded on the time and effort the
administrator or teacher could apply toward performing other more important duties.
[0007] An alternative system is desired for preserving physical space in the educational
facility, as well as providing a more efficient and effective ways of organizing,
managing, and distributing calendar schedules of lesson-plans and lesson objectives to
administrators and teachers at the educational institution.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] In view of the foregoing, embodiments of the present invention advantageously
provide enhanced systems, program products, and methods of curriculum planning to allow a
teacher or supervisor to organize and manage lesson-plans in a computer readable format.
Embodiments of the present invention also advantageously provide an instructional term
curriculum schedule to establish multiple teachers teaching multiple courses for a future
instructional term. Embodiments of the present invention additionally advantageously
provide lesson-plans assigned to instructional courses on the future schedule for easy
access by teachers and administrators. Embodiments of the present invention further
advantageously provide a teacher share-network which enables teachers to share and easily
access through a computer system lesson-plans from other teachers in the share-network.
Embodiments of the present invention still further advantageously provide the ability for
teachers to easily access through a computer system lesson-plans from previous years.
Embodiments of the present invention also advantageously provide a lesson-plan indicator
to easily notify to a teacher or administrator whether a completed lesson-plan has been
assigned to an instructional course.
[0009] More specifically, embodiments of the present invention advantageously provide a
system to enhance organization and management of lesson-plans, including instructional
course instructions responsive to user input commands to associate one of a plurality of
instructional courses with one of a plurality of teachers, calendar instructions
responsive to user input commands to create a calendar schedule and assign the
instructional course to a date and time on the calendar schedule for display on the
calendar schedule, lesson-plan assignment instructions responsive to the calendar schedule
and user input commands to assign one of a plurality of lesson-plans to the instructional
course at the date and time on the calendar schedule, and lesson-plan indicator
instructions responsive to the calendar schedule and lesson-plan data to indicate on the
calendar schedule whether the instructional course for the date and time on the calendar
schedule has been assigned a completed lesson-plan.
[0010] Embodiments of the present invention also advantageously provide a method to
enhance organization and management of lesson-plans. For example, embodiments of the
method include associating one of a plurality of instructional courses with one of a
plurality of teachers, assigning one of a plurality of lesson-plans to the instructional
course at the date and time on the calendar schedule, and indicating on the calendar
schedule whether the instructional course for the date and time on the calendar schedule
has been assigned a completed lesson-plan.
[0011] Embodiments of the present invention also advantageously provide a
computer-readable medium that is readable by a computer. For example, embodiments of the
medium include a set of computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the
computer, cause the computer to perform the following operations: associate one of a
plurality of instructional courses with one of a plurality of teachers; create a calendar
schedule and assign the instructional course to a date and time on the calendar schedule
for display on the calendar schedule; assign one of a plurality of lesson-plans to the
instructional course at the date and time on the calendar schedule; and indicate on the
calendar schedule whether the instructional course for the date and time on the calendar
schedule has been assigned a completed lesson-plan.
[0012] Embodiments of the present invention enhance the entire instructional process by
providing teachers and administrators the efficiencies of using a computer system to
assign and access lesson-plans to a future calendar schedule of instructional courses.
Embodiments notify teachers and administrators when there are instructional courses on the
schedule that have not yet been assigned lesson-plans. Embodiments also enable teachers
and administrators to access lesson-plans from previous years on the computer system.
Embodiments further enable a number of sharing teachers to form a share-network to share
lesson-plans among each other on the computer system.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0013] Some of the features, advantages, and benefits of the present invention having been
stated, others will become apparent as the description proceeds when taken in conjunction
with the accompanying drawings, in which:
[0014] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a system to enhance organization and management of
curriculum information according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0015] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a computer program product to enhance organization and
management of curriculum information according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0016] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a computer program product to enhance organization and
management of curriculum information according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0017] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of operations of a system to enhance organization and
management of curriculum information according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0018] FIG. 5 is a block diagram of operations of a system to enhance organization and
management of curriculum information according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0019] FIG. 6 is a screen view (i.e., front plan view) from a user interface displaying a
home page and navigation toolbar of the organization and management system according to an
embodiment of the present invention;
[0020] FIG. 7 is a screen view displaying a teacher profile according to an embodiment of
the present invention;
[0021] FIG. 8 is a screen view displaying a schedule bank according to an embodiment of
the present invention;
[0022] FIG. 9 is a screen view displaying a week view of a calendar schedule according to
an embodiment of the present invention;
[0023] FIG. 10 is a screen view displaying a day view of a calendar schedule according to
an embodiment of the present invention;
[0024] FIG. 11 is a screen view displaying the calendar schedule of FIG. 9 having
instructional courses or other events applied to the calendar schedule according to an
embodiment of the present invention;
[0025] FIG. 12 is a screen view displaying a "Create New Lesson" page according to an
embodiment of the present invention;
[0026] FIG. 13 is a screen view displaying a "Lesson Bank" page according to an embodiment
of the present invention;
[0027] FIG. 14 is a screen view displaying a "Previous Years Lessons" page according to an
embodiment of the present invention;
[0028] FIG. 15 is a screen view displaying a "Custom Banks" page according to an
embodiment of the present invention;
[0029] FIG. 16 is a screen view displaying a "Shared Lessons" page according to an
embodiment of the present invention;
[0030] FIG. 17 is a screen view displaying a lesson-plan according to an embodiment of the
present invention;
[0031] FIG. 18 is a screen view displaying lesson objectives according to an embodiment of
the present invention;
[0032] FIG. 19 is a screen view displaying a particularized lesson objective according to
an embodiment of the present invention;
[0033] FIG. 20 is a screen view displaying lesson resources according to an embodiment of
the present invention;
[0034] FIG. 21 is a screen view displaying lesson strategies according to an embodiment of
the present invention;
[0035] FIG. 22 is a screen view displaying lesson assessments according to an embodiment
of the present invention;
[0036] FIG. 23 is a screen view displaying other lesson details according to an embodiment
of the present invention;
[0037] FIG. 24 is a screen view displaying a completed lesson plan according to an
embodiment of the present invention; and
[0038] FIG. 25 is a screen view displaying a "Lesson Bank" page including a completed
lesson therein according to an embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0039] The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference
to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate embodiments of the invention. This
invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as
limited to the illustrated embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are
provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the
scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements
throughout. The prime notation, if used, indicates similar elements in alternative
embodiments.
[0040] FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a system 10 to organize and manage curriculum
information according to an embodiment of the present invention, which can be arranged and
programmed to perform the functionality or method of embodiments of the present invention.
As shown, one of the embodiments of the system 10 includes a computer defining a server 15
interfaced with a communication network 25, a plurality of client computers 30 interfaced
with the communication network 25, and a plurality of potential users 40 or teachers 40,
for example, interfaced with the client computers 30. Also, FIG. 1 shows an administrative
computer 35 interfaced with the communication network 25, and a user 42 or administrator
42, for example, interfaced with the administrative computer 35. The client computers 30
and the administrative computer 35 are remote from and in communication with the server 15
through the communication network 25. The server 15 has a database 17 and memory 19
associated therewith. The memory 19 contains a computer program product 21 such as in the
form of program code or instruction blocks, as understood by those skilled in the art, to
perform some of the features or the functionality of the computer system 10.
[0041] The administrator 42 is responsible for establishing an instructional term
curriculum schedule through the administrative computer 35. The administrator 42
establishes a plurality of teachers as teaching a plurality of predetermined instructional
courses at a plurality of predetermined dates and times during a future instructional term
on an instructional term curriculum schedule for the future instructional term. The server
15 can communicate the instructional term curriculum schedule to each of the teachers 40
through the client computers 30. Alternatively, the administrator 42 can print out or
otherwise copy the instructional term curriculum schedule from the administrative computer
35, and deliver the instructional term curriculum schedule to each of the teachers 40 by a
procedure other than by through the client computers 30.
[0042] The users of the client computers 30 and administrative computer 35 can enter
information into the system 10 and view information from the system 10 by selecting from a
number of toolbar icons 215 on a toolbar 210 displayed on a graphical user interface (GUI)
from the internet/intranet server 15, as shown, for example, in the screen view of FIG. 6.
As understood by those skilled in the art, the instruction blocks 21 in the memory 19 can
provide instructions to implement a graphical user interface with a toolbar 210 having
toolbar icons 215. The instruction blocks 21 also provide instructions to disclose
information from the database 17 on the graphical user interface relating to subject
matter represented by the specific toolbar icons 215 on the toolbar 210. In addition, the
instruction blocks 21 in the memory 19 can provide instructions granting the user the
ability to access the information relating to the specific toolbar icons 215 on the
toolbar 210 of the graphical user interface, and can also provide instructions enabling
the user to input information into the graphical user interface or modify information
existing on the graphical user interface.
[0043] The server 15, the client computers 30, and the administrative computer 35, for
example, can be a personal computer, mid-range computer, or a mainframe computer. The
server 15, for example, can be a larger computer having more memory and features. The
client computers 30 and administrative computer 35, for example, can be personal computers
dispersed in an office environment and in communication with the server 15 through an
Internet or Intranet network, for example. Each of the computers 15, 30, 35 can include a
hard drive, a display or monitor such as a CRT, LCD, or other monitor screens. The
computers 15, 30, 35 can also include a database for storing information and memory in
which computer programs may be stored or reside. The computers 15, 30, 35 can also include
one or more user interfaces such as keyboards, mice, data collections, touch-screens,
graphical display toolbars and icons, or other devices, with which information and data
are transferred between the user and the computer. Other output devices may also be
included such as printers, facsimile machines, and other such devices as understood by
those skilled in the art.
[0044] The server 15, each of the client computers 30, and the administrative compute 35
preferably include a central processing unit (CPU), a read-only memory (ROM), and a
random-access memory (RAM), as understood by those skilled in the art. The computers 15,
30, 35 may be a stand-alone system or part of a network such as a local-area-network (LAN)
or a wide-area-network (WAN). The server 15, the administrative computer, and the client
computers 30 can be interconnected among each other via a global communication network 25
such as the Internet, or a local communication network 25 such as an Intranet that is
accessible only within a particular organization. Users may access the server 15 through
the client computers 30 via the communication network 25.
[0045] As understood by those skilled in the art, other computer system configurations can
also be employed to perform the functionality of the invention, and to the extent that a
particular system configuration is capable of performing embodiments of methods of the
present invention.
[0046] Once the computers are programmed or loaded with software or program product to
perform particular functions pursuant to instructions from program software that
implements the functionality or method of this invention, such computer systems in effect
become special-purpose computers particular to the functionality or method of this
invention and are also well known to those skilled in the art of computer systems.
[0047] In addition, computer programs or program product stored in a tangible computer
medium implementing the functionality or method of this invention will commonly be
distributed to users on a distribution medium, such as floppy disk, CD-ROM, or other
computer-readable media. The term "computer-readable medium" encompasses distribution
media, intermediate storage media, execution memory of a computer, and any other medium or
device capable of storing a computer program implementing the functionality or methods of
embodiments of the present invention for later reading by a computer system. The computer
program will often be copied from the computer-readable medium to a hard disk or a similar
intermediate storage medium. When the programs are to be run, they will be loaded either
from their distribution medium or their intermediate storage medium into the execution
memory of the computer, configuring the computer to act in accordance with the
functionality or method of this invention. All such operations are well known to those
skilled in the art of computer systems.
[0048] As understood by those skilled in the art, various software modules or program
product can be used within the computer system in the embodiments of the invention. The
client computers 30 have client software stored thereon that preferably includes software
modules such as a client graphical user interface (GUI), a data generator, a data
requester, a secure client connector, and a database of information, each of which is
understood by those skilled in the art. The data requester requests data from a user, and
the data generator generates the different user-specific employee forms displayed on the
GUI in which information may be entered about the human resource manning plan or the
employment development plan. The database is used to store the employee forms and other
information regarding the organization and its employees. The client computer GUI provides
a visually pleasing graphical user interface on a monitor to facilitate the input and
output of data by a user who is using the client software within the client computers 30.
The secure client connector establishes a private communication session between the client
computers 30 and the server 15, and between the administrative computer 35 and the server
15.
[0049] As also understood by those skilled in the art, the server 15 may include software
modules or program product such as a secure server connector, a client confirmer, a
security check, a data mover, and a transmission confirmer. The secure server connector
allows the client computers 30 to communicate with the server 15 while keeping the nature
of the communications private. The client confirmer and the security component confirm the
identity of the client computers 30, and effectively detect the specific user accessing
the server database 17 at a particular point in time. The data mover receives data from
the client computers 30, and transmits data among the several client computers 30 and the
server 15. The transmission confirmer, for example, can verify that particular information
in the database 17 has been transmitted to the several client computers 30.
[0050] As understood by those skilled in the art, the database 17 for embodiments of the
system 10, for example, can reside in a web-based internet/intranet server 15. The
database 17 within the server 15 may itself comprise several sub-databases, which contain
independent blocks of information. For example, one sub-database may include data relating
to the instructional term curriculum schedule, and another sub-database may include data
relating to the calendar schedule. The main database preferably resides within the server
15, but can also be in other ways associated with the server 15 such as by communication
with the server 15 via a LAN, via a global communications network such as the Internet, or
via a local communications network such as an organization's Intranet. Also, for example,
the server 15 can itself include one or more of a plurality of computers, each with a
sub-database residing thereon.
[0051] Program product 21 such as in the form of computer program code instruction blocks
is stored in the memory 19 of the server 15 to perform the functionality of the computer
system 10. As shown in FIG. 2, the instruction blocks 21 may be in the form of the
following: an instructional course associator 50 including instructional course
instructions, responsive to user input commands, to associate one of a plurality of
instructional courses with one of a plurality of teachers; a calendar scheduler 52
including calendar instructions, responsive to user input commands, to create a calendar
schedule and to assign the instructional course to a date and time on the calendar
schedule for display on the calendar schedule; a lesson-plan assigner 54 including
lesson-plan assignment instructions, responsive to the calendar schedule and user input
commands, to assign one of a plurality of lesson-plans 300 to the instructional course at
the date and time on the calendar schedule; and a lesson-plan indicator 56, responsive to
the calendar schedule and lesson-plan data, to indicate on the calendar schedule whether
the instructional course for the date and time on the calendar schedule has been assigned
a completed lesson-plan 300.
[0052] As shown in FIG. 3, other program code instruction blocks can also be included in
the computer program product 21 stored in the memory 19 of the server 15. Such instruction
blocks 21 can be in the form of the following: an instructional term curriculum scheduler
60 including establishing a plurality of teachers as teaching a plurality of predetermined
instructional courses at a plurality of predetermined dates and times during a future
instructional term on an instructional term curriculum schedule for the future
instructional term; an instruction communicator 62 including communicating the
instructional term curriculum schedule to each of the plurality of teachers; a profiler 64
including creating an individual teacher profile for each of the plurality of teachers; an
instructional course associator 66 including associating one of the plurality of
predetermined instructional courses from the instructional term curriculum schedule with
one of the plurality of teachers by assigning the predetermined instructional course to
one of the plurality of teacher profiles; a schedule storer 68 including creating a
schedule depository and to assign the predetermined instructional course to a day of the
week and time in the schedule depository for storage in the schedule depository; a
calendar scheduler 70 including creating a calendar schedule and assigning the
predetermined instructional course to the predetermined date and time on the calendar
schedule for display on the calendar schedule; a lesson-plan creator 72 including creating
a plurality of lesson-plans 300 for a particular teacher and a particular instructional
course; a lesson-plan storer 74 including creating a lesson-plan depository and assigning
the lesson-plans 300 to the lesson-plan depository for storage in the lesson-plan
depository; a lesson-plan accessor 76 including accessing one of the teacher's
lesson-plans 300 from at least one of a plurality of school years; a share-network creator
78 including creating a plurality of sharing teachers from the plurality of teachers on a
share-network, the sharing teachers having a plurality of shared lesson-plans 300 from one
of a plurality of school years to share with other sharing teachers through the
communication network; a lesson-plan assigner 80 including assigning one of the
lesson-plans 300 to the instructional course at the date and time on the calendar
schedule; and a lesson-plan indicator 82 including indicating on the calendar schedule
whether the instructional course for the date and time on the calendar schedule has been
assigned a completed lesson-plan 300.
[0053] The system can also include Microsoft, SAP, and Oracle web-based applications,
which can read from each other. The system 10 typically features a search engine for user
convenience. The system 10 also typically has a robust security system, as understood by
those skilled in the art.
[0054] FIGS. 4-5, for example, illustrate the flow or operation of embodiments of the
system 10 of the present invention. As will be understood by those skilled in the art,
FIG. 4 illustrates a more general embodiment of the operation, and FIG. 5 illustrates a
more detailed embodiment of the operation. The user interacts with the system 10 through a
graphical user interface (GUI), which may feature varying screen views or front plan views
displayed on a monitor of a computer. Some screen view images of an embodiment of the
invention are illustrated in FIGS. 6-25. The particular features of the GUI screen views
depend upon the relative phase of the process being used or implemented by a user.
[0055] As shown in FIG. 4, a more general embodiment of the invention is shown. The
process starts with associating an instructional course with a teacher (see block 110).
Then the system 10 creates a calendar schedule and assigns the instructional course to a
date and time on the calendar schedule (see block 112). Then the system 10 assigns a
lesson-plan 300 to the instructional course at the date and time on the calendar schedule
(see block 114). Then the system 10 indicates on the calendar schedule whether the
instructional course for the date and time on the calendar schedule has been assigned a
completed lesson-plan 300 (see block 116).
[0056] As shown in FIG. 5, a more detailed embodiment of the invention is shown. The
process starts with establishing teachers as teaching predetermined courses at date and
time during the term [see block 120]. Then the system 10 communicates the instructional
term to the teacher [see block 122]. Then the system 10 creates an individual teacher
profile [see block 124]. Then the system 10 associates an instructional course from the
schedule with the teacher by assigning the course to a teacher profile [see block 126].
Then the system 10 creates a schedule depository and assigns an instructional course to a
day of the week and time in the schedule depository. [see block 128] Then the system 10
creates a calendar schedule to assign the instructional course to the date and time on the
calendar [see block 130]. Then the system 10 creates lesson-plans 300 for a teacher and an
instructional course [see block 132]. Then the system 10 creates a lesson-plan depository
an assigns lesson-plans 300 to the depository [see block 134]. Then the system 10 accesses
teachers lesson-plans 300 from at least one school year [see block 136]. Then the system
10 creates sharing teachers from the share-network whereby sharing lesson-plans 300
through a communication network [see block 138]. Then the system 10 assigns a lesson-plan
300 to an instructional course at a date and time on the calendar [see block 140]. Then
the system 10 indicates on the calendar schedule the date and time of the completed
lesson-plan 300 [see block 142].
[0057] In general, the system 10 is responsive to commands from a teacher 40 through the
communication network 25. A schedule is provided in the system 10 corresponding to dates
and times within the calendar year. The teacher 40 inputs information into the system 10,
which is received and stored by the system 10. The teacher 40 may be an educational
teacher 40, administrator 42, or other individual. For simplicity, the term teacher 40 is
used for all possible users of the system 10. An instructional course is assigned to the
appropriate dates and times within the schedule in the system 10. Then lesson-plans 300
are assigned to the instructional course in the system 10 for the dates and times the
instructional course appears in the schedule.
[0058] The teacher 40 can access the web site by entering the proper internet or intranet
web site address, where the teacher 40 is then prompted to login via a username and
password. After the teacher 40 has successfully logged onto the web site, the teacher 40
is directed to the homepage of the web site, as shown in FIG. 6. When the teacher 40
selects or clicks one of the toolbar icons 215 or web pages on the toolbar 210, the
instruction blocks 21 of the computer program product 21 in the memory 19 instruct the
system 10 to show the information relating to that particular icon 215 or web page on the
graphical user interface.
[0059] The teacher 40 establishes a teacher profile 240 to utilize the organization and
management system 10. The teacher profile 240 is used to associate a specific teacher 40
with the particular instructional courses the teacher 40 is teaching for a particular
school year. The term "instructional course" comprises both the subject matter or content
area 242 of the course, and the particular grade level 244 or level of difficulty for the
course. After the teacher profile 240 is created, the teacher 40 is then able to enter
instructional courses and lesson-plans 300 into a schedule.
[0060] To build the teacher profile 240 in the system 10, the teacher 40 selects a "My
Profile" icon 224, as shown in FIG. 6, located on the navigation toolbar 210 on the
opening page or homepage of the web site. As shown in FIG. 7, the database 17 contains
preselected administrative information that is reflected in the "My Profile" web page, for
example, from which the teacher 40 may select the content area 242 and grade level 244 for
the instructional course. Also, for example, the teacher's 40 campus within the school
district is pre-assigned and is displayed within the "My Profile" page. Also, for example,
the teacher 40 may edit the preselected classroom number for the homeroom in which the
teacher 40 teaches. An administrator 42 with the appropriate level of access rights may
view the teacher's 40 "My Profile" page to identify the classroom where the teacher 40 is
located. This menu is populated with preselected content areas 242 and grade levels 244,
and the teacher 40 may select from a drop-down menu the content area 242 and grade level
244 for each of the instructional courses the teacher 40 is teaching.
[0061] The preselected contents list displayed from the drop-down box for both the subject
matter content area 242 and grade level 244 of the instructional course can be maintained
and managed by an administrator 42 such as a curriculum specialist. After selecting the
desired content from the preselected content list, a number of grade level 244 choices
that are specific to the content area 242 are made available for choosing by the teacher
40. When the teacher 40 is satisfied with the content area 242 and grade level 244
selections, the teacher 40 may add this instructional course selection to the teacher's 40
instructional courses list. After selecting the content area 242 and grade level 244 from
the drop-down boxes, the teacher 40 selects "Add Course" and repeats the process until the
teacher 40 has selected and added all the instructional courses taught by the teacher 40.
[0062] As shown in FIG. 7, the "My Profile" page also includes an optional feature of
including the teacher 40 as a member of a share-network. The system 10 allows the teacher
profile 240 to be added to a share-network to establish a specific group of share-network
members who can share lesson-plans 300 with other members of the share-network. Membership
with the share-network enables teachers 40 to share not only lesson-plans 300 from the
current school year, but also lesson-plans 300 from previous school years as well. If the
teacher 40 would like to share lesson-plans 300 with other teachers 40 having access to
the system 10 through the communication network 25, the teacher 40 can click the "Join
share-network" box within the "My Profile" page, after which the display changes to
"share-network Member," indicating the teacher's 40 selection has been made successfully.
The teacher 40 may change or modify the teacher profile 240 whenever necessary. In this
manner, other teachers 40 belonging to the same share-network can view lesson-plan
information and share information. In this manner, the system 10 creates a comprehensive
network of information and knowledge throughout an entire network of teachers 40.
[0063] The share-network can be an individual school share-network of teachers 40 within
an individual school, or a school share-network of teachers 40 within a particular campus
of a school or school district, or a school district share-network of teachers 40 within
an entire school district, or a city school share-network of teachers 40 in a particular
city, or a county school share-network of teachers 40 in a particular county, or a
statewide school share-network of teachers 40 in a particular state, or a nationwide
school share-network of teachers 40 in a particular country.
[0064] After creating the teacher profile 240, the teacher 40 may then proceed to the
subsequent steps of building a schedule, applying the schedule to dates and times on a
calendar, and building and assigning lesson-plans 300 to each of the dates and times on
the calendar schedule 250. The schedule may be built in the schedule depository 246 from
the "Schedule Builder" icon 228 on the navigation toolbar 210, or directly on the calendar
on a particular day from the "Calendar" icon 230 on the navigation toolbar 210. Similarly,
lesson-plans 300 may be created in the lesson depository 262 from the "My Lessons" icon
232 on the navigation toolbar 210, or directly on the calendar on a particular day from
the "Calendar" icon 230 on the navigation toolbar 210.
[0065] To begin building a schedule depository 246, the teacher 40 clicks the "Schedule
Builder" icon 228 on the navigation toolbar 210. This presents the teacher 40 with a
selection of days, for example Monday to Friday, as shown in FIG. 8. Alternatively, the
days of the week could be Monday through Sunday. The teacher 40 selects a day from Monday
through Friday, and then clicks on "Add Event" for that particular day. The schedule
builder is flexible to allow for selection of individual days for those teachers 40 who
teach a different curriculum on each day of the week. After clicking "Add Event", the
teacher 40 types in the event description, which may be an instructional course, or
alternatively another event such as a teacher 40 advisory period, on-duty period, study
hall, lunch break, or planning period. The teacher 40 also types in the classroom location
of the event or instructional course, along with any miscellaneous accommodations that may
be necessary to properly teach or otherwise lead the event. It is particularly useful to
note accommodations when children with special needs are involved in the selected
instructional course. The teacher 40 also selects a start time and an end time for the
event or instructional course. If the event is a particular instructional course that will
require lesson-plans 300 to be assigned to a day and time, the teacher 40 should indicate
this by selecting the "Lessons will be created for this event" box, after which the
teacher 40 selects an instructional course from the preselected menu options of a
drop-down box. Finally, the teacher 40 clicks "Add," and repeats the process for each of
the days Monday through Friday, until the teacher 40 has fully completed building his
daily or weekly schedule in the schedule depository 246. A completed schedule depository
246 illustrating Monday is shown in FIG. 8. The schedule depository 246 operates as a
daily or weekly default schedule that may be applied throughout the dates of the years.
[0066] To expedite the process, after the teacher 40 has completed the schedule for one
day, the teacher 40 can copy that same schedule for one day to another day by clicking on
a "copy schedule" icon, as shown in FIG. 8, and then selecting the day to which the
schedule should be copied. For example, if the teacher 40 has the same schedule for both
Monday and Tuesday, the teacher 40 can click on the "copy schedule" icon when in the
Monday schedule, and then select Tuesday as the day to which the same schedule should be
applied in the schedule depository 246.
[0067] In order to apply the schedule to the calendar, the teacher 40 clicks on the
"Calendar" icon 230 on the navigation toolbar 210. The calendar view illustrates a
schedule showing the particular dates of the year in the calendar. After the teacher 40
has completed the schedule for all the days in the schedule depository 246, the teacher 40
can apply the schedule by applying the schedule depository 246 to a date or week in the
calendar by accessing a particular date or week on the "Calendar" page and clicking on the
"Apply Schedule" icon for that date or week, as shown in FIG. 9.
[0068] To apply the schedule to the calendar, the teacher 40 can apply the schedule to the
calendar date-by-date or alternatively week-by-week. To apply the schedule date-by-date,
the teacher 40 selects a date on the calendar, and may click on "Apply Schedule" for that
date in order to automatically enter the daily schedule from the schedule depository 246.
Alternatively, after selecting a date on the calendar, the teacher 40 may select "Add
Calendar Event", and enter an event or instructional course directly on the calendar that
may or may not be present in the schedule depository 246. To apply the schedule
week-by-week, the teacher 40 selects a week on the calendar, and clicks on "Apply
Schedule" for that week in order to automatically enter the weekly schedule from the
schedule depository 246. The instructional courses or other events for those particular
days in the schedule depository 246 will appear for the particular dates of the year on
the calendar. When the teacher 40 desires to view the calendar schedule 250, the teacher
40 may view the schedule date-by-date as shown in FIG. 10, week-by-week as shown in FIG.
11, or by viewing six-week increments on the calendar, or in other alternative
arrangements on the calendar.
[0069] The teacher 40 may change, modify, or delete the schedule on the calendar whenever
necessary. If the teacher 40 makes an error applying the schedule to the calendar, or
desires to modify the schedule on the calendar, the teacher 40 may click "Delete Schedule"
to delete the schedule for a particular date as shown in FIG. 10, or may click "Delete
Week Schedule and Lessons" to delete the schedule for a particular week as shown in FIG.
11.
[0070] The teacher 40 may desire to add a computer student training workstation, such as
to establish a computer corner training activity for students, as shown in FIGS. 10-11. To
add a student training workstation, the teacher 40 clicks on the "Workstations" icon on
the "Schedule Builder" pages and then the teacher 40 clicks on the "Add Workstation" icon.
The teacher 40 can type a title and an activity for the student training workstation, and
then clicks on "Add." To assign the student training workstation to the calendar, the
teacher 40 clicks on the "Add Workstation" icon on the "Calendar" page. The teacher 40 may
wish to assign lesson objectives to a student training workstation. To assign lesson
objectives to a student training workstation, the teacher 40 clicks on the name of the
student training workstation on the "Calendar" page. The teacher 40 then clicks on "Add
Objectives," selects the objectives desired, and clicks on "Add to Workstation." The
teacher 40 may also wish to copy an existing student training workstation to another week
on the calendar. To do so, the teacher 40 clicks on the name of the student training
workstation to be copied on the "Calendar" page. The teacher 40 clicks "Copy to another
week," and selects a date to which the student training workstation will be copied. As a
result, a copy of the student training workstation and its lesson objectives will be
placed on that calendar week.
[0071] The teacher 40 can provide the administrator 42 of the system 10 with feedback
information by clicking the "Feedback" icon 226 on the navigation toolbar 210. The
feedback provided can relate to the improvement of topics such as, for example, the
communication network 25, the instructional term curriculum schedule, the teacher profile
240, the schedule depository, the calendar schedule 250, the lesson-plans 300, the
lesson-plan depository, the share-network, the importation of lesson-plans 300 from the
share-network, the assignment of lesson-plans 300 to the calendar schedule 250, and the
indication of completed lesson-plans 300 on the calendar schedule 250.
[0072] After building the schedule and applying it to the calendar, the teacher 40 may
wish to build lesson-plans 300 for each instructional course or other event on the
schedule. Lesson-plans 300 can be created either by clicking on the "My Lessons" icon 232
or through the calendar schedule 250 by clicking on the "Calendar" icon 230. After
clicking the "My Lessons" icon 232 on the navigation toolbar 210, or alternatively after
clicking on the instructional course for a particular date and time on the calendar
schedule 250 after clicking on the "Calendar" icon 230, the teacher 40 may select from
several icons labeled Create New Lesson 260, Lesson Depository 262, Previous Year Lessons
264, Custom Banks 266, and Shared Lessons 268. In the Create New Lesson page 270, as shown
in FIG. 12, the teacher 40 may create a new lesson-plan 300 for a particular instructional
course. In the Lesson Bank page 272, as shown in FIG. 13, the teacher 40 can access, view,
and assign lesson-plans 300 to the calendar schedule 250 for a particular course for the
current school year that have yet to be assigned to the calendar schedule 250. In the
Previous Year Lessons page 274, as shown in FIG. 14, the teacher 40 may access, view, and
import a lesson-plan 300 for a particular instructional course for the previous school
year. In the Custom Banks page 276, as shown in FIG. 15, the teacher 40 may create a
customized description for an objective 280, resource 282, strategy 284, or assessment
286. The teacher 40 may then apply the custom objectives 280, custom resources 282, custom
strategies 284, or custom assessments 286 to several other lesson-plans 300 as desired by
the teacher 40. In the Shared Lessons page 278, as shown in FIG. 16, the teacher 40 may
access, view, and import a particular lesson-plan 300 used by another teacher 40 on the
share-network when the other teacher's 40 lesson-plans 300 are accessible from the
share-network database 17.
[0073] When accessing the Create New Lesson page 270 and inputting the selected
instructional course for which a new lesson-plan 300 is created, several fields within the
lesson-plan 300 are required to be completed by the teacher 40 in order to properly build
the lesson-plan 300. FIG. 17 shows a lesson-plan 300 form that has yet to be completed by
the teacher 40. The required fields in the lesson-plan 300 are the lesson objectives 280,
resources 282, strategies 284, assessments 286, and activities 288 fields.
[0074] Many of the objectives 280, resources 282, strategies 284, and assessments 286 are
predetermined and entered into the system 10 as options for the teacher 40 to choose from
when creating lesson-plans 300. The predetermined objectives 280, resources 282,
strategies 284, and assessments 286 are described in sufficient detail for the teacher 40
when the teacher 40 inputs or selects from the predetermined options to complete the
lesson-plan 300.
[0075] To enter a lesson objective 280 into the lesson-plan 300, the teacher 40 clicks the
"Objectives" 280 icon and selects from a list of predetermined lesson objectives 280 for
that particular instructional course, as shown in FIG. 18. The presentation of preselected
lesson objectives 280 from which the teacher 40 may choose ensures that the school or
school district is meeting appropriate federal, state, or local requirements. Each lesson
objective 280 in the list describes a different objective 280 for the instructional
course. The details for the particular objective 280 are shown, for example, in FIG. 19.
The teacher 40 may view the details of the objective 280 before selecting it for the
instructional course. After selecting each lesson objective 280 desired by the teacher 40,
the teacher 40 clicks "Add to Lesson" to assign the lesson objective 280 to the
lesson-plan 300 for the instructional course. The teacher 40 may also create customized
lesson objectives 280 for the lesson-plan 300 by clicking on the "Custom Fields" icon 298,
selecting "Objectives," describing the new lesson objective 280, and clicking "Apply."
[0076] When building a lesson-plan 300, the teacher 40 is able to view the number of times
a particular objective 280 has been selected for a date and time on the calendar schedule
250, so that a teacher 40 can distinguish from those objectives 280 that have already been
assigned to lesson-plans 300 from those objectives 280 that have not yet been assigned to
lesson-plans 300. If the teacher 40 has previously selected an objective 280 for a
lesson-plan 300, a number will appear next to that objective 280 showing the number of
times that objective 280 has been assigned to a lesson-plan 300. The absence of a number
next to the objective 280 indicates that the objective 280 has not yet been assigned to a
lesson-plan 300.
[0077] To enter resources 282 into the lesson-plan 300, the teacher 40 clicks the
"Resources" 282 icon and selects from a list of predetermined resources 282 for each
particular lesson objective 280, as shown in FIG. 20. Each resource 282 from the list
describes a different resource 282 for the lesson objective 280. In this manner,
organizational knowledge is maximized as new teachers 40 or even experienced teachers 40
can quickly determine resources 282 available to meet the specific objective 280. After
selecting each resource 282 desired by the teacher 40, the teacher 40 clicks "Add to
Lesson" to assign the resource 282 to the lesson objective 280 in the lesson-plan 300. The
teacher 40 may also create customized resources 282 for the lesson objective 280 by
clicking on the "Custom Resource" icon 283 next to each lesson objective 280 and entering
the resource 282 category, type, name, description of the resource 282, and clicking
"Apply."
[0078] To enter a strategy 284 into the lesson-plan 300, the teacher 40 clicks the
"Strategies" 284 icon and selects from a list of predetermined strategies 284 for that
particular instructional course, as shown in FIG. 21. Each strategy 284 in the list
describes a different technique for teaching the instructional course. After selecting
each strategy 284 desired by the teacher 40, the teacher 40 clicks "Add to Lesson" to
assign the strategy 284 to the lesson-plan 300 for the instructional course. The teacher
40 may also create customized strategies 284 for the lesson-plan 300 by clicking on the
"Custom Fields" icon 298, selecting "Strategies," describing the new strategy 284, and
clicking "Apply."
[0079] To enter an assessment 286 into the lesson-plan 300, the teacher 40 clicks the
"Assessments" 286 icon and selects from a list of predetermined assessments 286 for that
particular instructional course, as shown in FIG. 22. Each assessment 286 in the list
describes a different evaluation method for the instructional course, varying from the
traditional testing type of assessment 286 to more objective assessment methods. After
selecting the assessment type desired by the teacher 40, the teacher 40 types in the
substantive content of the description by the teacher 40 of that assessment. The teacher
40 clicks "Add to Lesson" to assign the assessment to the lesson-plan 300 for the
instructional course. The teacher 40 may also create customized assessments 286 for the
lesson-plan 300 by clicking on the "Custom Fields" icon 298, selecting "Assessments,"
describing the new assessment 286, and clicking "Apply."
[0080] The final required field, for example in this exemplary embodiment, is the
activities 288 field. To enter an activity 288 into the lesson-plan 300, the teacher 40
clicks the "Lesson Detail" icon 296, and types the description of the activity 288 to be
followed during the lesson into the activity 288 field, as shown in FIG. 23. The teacher
40 clicks "Apply" to assign the activity 288 to the lesson-plan 300 for the instructional
course. Many other topics may optionally be added to the lesson-plan 300, such as
instructional materials 290, homework 292, and notes 294, also shown in FIG. 23. To enter
any of these topics into the lesson-plan 300, the teacher 40 clicks the "Lesson Detail"
icon 296, and types the description of the optional topic into the topic field. The
teacher 40 clicks "Apply" to assign the optional topic to the lesson-plan 300 for the
instructional course.
[0081] To remove or delete one of the lesson objections, resources 282, strategies 284, or
assignments 286 from the lesson-plan 300, the teacher 40 may click the "Remove" icon 285
next to the respective lesson objectives 280, resources 282, strategies 284, or
assignments to be removed or deleted.
[0082] Before the lesson-plan 300 is completed, the teacher 40 must enter a unique keyword
306 from which to reference the lesson-plan 300. The teacher 40 can edit the default
keyword 306 by clicking on the "Edit" link next to the default keyword 306 typing in the
new keyword 306, and clicking "Apply". After all topics for the lesson-plan 300 have been
completed, the teacher 40 clicks on the "Lesson Complete" box 302 to establish that the
lesson is complete. If the teacher 40 wishes to share the completed lesson-plan 300 with
other teachers 40 having access to the share-network database 17 through the communication
network 25, the teacher 40 clicks on the "Share Lesson" box 304 before finalizing the
lesson-plan 300. An exemplary embodiment of a completed lesson plan is illustrated in FIG.
24.
[0083] After the lesson-plan 300 has been fully completed, the teacher 40 may either store
the lesson-plan 300 in the lesson bank 262 or alternatively assign the lesson-plan 300 to
one or more dates and times for an instructional course on the calendar schedule 250. The
default option is storage in the lesson bank 262, so the lesson-plan 300 automatically
saves into the lesson bank 262 during or after completion of the lesson-plan 300. To
remove the lesson-plan 300 from the lesson bank 262 and assign the lesson-plan 300 to the
calendar schedule 250, the teacher 40 assigns the lesson-plan 300 by clicking on the
"Assign Lesson" icon 299 and then assigning the lesson-plan 300 to each date and time on
the calendar schedule 250 for which that particular lesson-plan 300 will be utilized for
the instructional course, and then clicking "Apply." After this process is fully
completed, the color-coded-indicator 254 on the "Calendar" page should change colors to
indicate the successful assignment of the lesson-plan 300 to the dates of the year on the
calendar schedule 250.
[0084] Lesson-plans 300 remain in the lesson bank 262 until assigned to an instructional
course on the calendar schedule 250. The teacher 40 can edit or delete any lesson-plan 300
in the lesson bank 262 to reflect new or changed information at any time. Also, the
teacher 40 at any time can assign any lesson-plan 300 in the lesson bank 262 to dates and
times of instructional courses on the calendar schedule 250. By maintaining a centralized
and permanent record of lesson-plans 300, the lesson bank 262 facilitates more efficient
creation of future lessons by teachers 40. It also acts to allow institutional knowledge
sharing and it acts as a historical database 17 showing exactly what curriculum was
actually taught.
[0085] Within the "Lesson Bank" 262 page, as shown in FIG. 25, it is possible to assign a
completed lesson-plan 300 from the lesson bank 262 to a particular date and time on the
calendar schedule 250. To remove the lesson-plan 300 from the lesson bank 262 and assign
the lesson-plan 300 to the calendar schedule 250, the teacher 40 first selects the
applicable instructional course from the "Lesson Bank" 262 page and clicks "Get Lessons"
to retrieve all of the lessons remaining in the lesson bank 262 for that instructional
course. Alternatively, if the teacher 40 knows specifically which lesson-plan 300 to draw
from the lesson bank 262, the teacher 40 can simply enter the keyword for the lesson-plan
300 and click "Get Lessons" to retrieve that particular lesson-plan 300. Another
alternative is to simply leave the keyword entry blank and leave the instructional course
entry unselected, and upon clicking "Get Lessons" to retrieve the lesson-plans 300, all
lesson-plans 300 for all instructional courses in the lesson bank 262 are displayed for
the teacher 40.
[0086] When the lesson-plan 300(s) are displayed, the teacher 40 assigns the lesson-plan
300 by clicking on the "Assign Lesson" icon on the "Lesson bank" page, and then assigning
the lesson-plan 300 to each date and time on the calendar schedule 250 for which that
particular lesson-plan 300 will be utilized for the instructional course, and then
clicking "Apply." Once the lesson-plan 300 has been assigned to the calendar schedule 250,
the lesson-plan 300 is removed from the lesson bank 262.
[0087] After a lesson-plan 300 is assigned to a date and time on the calendar schedule
250, it is possible to unassign or move the lesson-plan 300 from one date and time on the
calendar schedule 250 to another date and time on the calendar schedule 250. From the
calendar schedule 250, the teacher 40 clicks on the keyword for the lesson-plan 300 as it
is displayed on the calendar schedule 250, which then displays the lesson-plan 300. The
teacher 40 clicks on the "Assign Lesson" icon, and can unselect or remove the lesson-plan
300 from one date and time and select or assign the lesson-plan 300 to another date and
time on the calendar schedule 250, and then clicks "Apply."
[0088] Referring to FIGS. 10-11, the calendar may contain a Course Status Indicator 254,
of which in this embodiment three separate color indication systems exist. One
color-status indicator 254 is in the form of a color-coded bar beside each instructional
course assigned to a date and time on the calendar schedule 250 to indicate whether or not
the supporting lesson-plan 300 for that date of the year on the calendar has been
completed and applied to the calendar schedule 250. In similar style, the calendar also
may optionally contain a color-coded Day Status Indicator 256 and Week Status Indicator
258 that indicate whether all lesson-plans 300 for that day or week of the calendar have
been completed and applied to the calendar schedule 250. Typically, red indicates that no
lesson-plan 300 has been completed, and green indicates that a lesson-plan 300 has been
completed. This reminds the teacher 40 which lesson-plans 300 for which instructional
courses on which dates need to be completed. Similarly, it allows an administrator 42 to
review schedules in a time-efficient manner. Lesson-plans 300 must be completed and
associated to an instructional course or other event on all of the instructional courses
on the calendar in order for the color-coding indicators 254 on the calendar to indicate
that the schedule is complete.
[0089] It is possible for the teacher 40 to delete, unassign, change, and modify the
lesson-plans 300 applied to the calendar schedule 250. To delete the lesson-plan 300, the
teacher 40 clicks on the "Calendar" page and locates the lesson to be deleted. Then the
teacher 40 clicks on an "x" symbol adjacent to the keyword of the lesson-plan 300 to be
deleted. This not only removes the lesson-plan 300 from the calendar schedule 250, but
also completely deletes the lesson-plan 300 from the database 17.
[0090] The teacher 40 has the option to "unassign" the lesson-plan 300 from the calendar
schedule 250, which removes the lesson-plan 300 from the calendar schedule 250, but does
not entirely delete the lesson-plan 300 from the database 17. When the teacher 40
unassigns a lesson-plan 300, the teacher 40 effectively returns the lesson-plan 300 to the
lesson bank 262. To unassign the lesson-plan 300, the teacher 40 clicks on the "Calendar"
page and locates the lesson to be unassigned. Then the teacher 40 clicks on the keyword of
the lesson to be unassigned, after which the lesson-plan 300 page appears. The teacher 40
then clicks on the "Assign Lesson," icon, unchecks the box for each date and time on the
calendar schedule 250 for which the teacher 40 desires to unassign the lesson-plan 300,
and clicks "Apply."
[0091] Each time the teacher 40 unassigns a lesson-plan 300, the lesson-plan 300 returns
to the lesson bank 262, even if the exact same lesson-plan 300 is being unassigned for
several dates and times on the calendar schedule 250. As such, when unassigning a
particular lesson-plan 300 existing on more than one date and time in the calendar
schedule 250, the teacher 40 should unassign only one appearance of the lesson-plan 300
for a single date and time in the calendar schedule 250. Then the teacher 40 should use
the delete function to remove all the other exact same lesson-plan 300 appearances on the
calendar schedule 250. This will prevent several appearances of the same exact lesson-plan
300 from returning to the lesson bank 262.
[0092] To modify a lesson-plan 300, the teacher 40 clicks on the "Calendar" page and
locates the lesson to be modified. Then the teacher 40 clicks on the keyword of the lesson
to be modified, after which the lesson-plan 300 page appears. The teacher 40 then clicks
on the particular topic the teacher 40 wishes to modify, such as "Objectives" 280,
"Resources" 282, "Strategies" 284, "Assessments" 286, or "Lesson Detail" 296. The teacher
40 modifies the appropriate content for the selected topic of the lesson-plan 300, and
clicks "Apply."
[0093] To view a lesson-plan 300 from the calendar schedule 250, the teacher 40 clicks on
the "Calendar" page and locates the lesson-plan 300 to be viewed. Then the teacher 40
clicks on the "View" link adjacent to the keyword of the lesson-plan 300 to be viewed.
Individual lesson-plans 300 can be printed directly from the lesson view page. If the
teacher 40 desires to print the lesson-plan 300, the teacher 40 utilizes the Windows Print
function from a computer to print the lesson-plan 300 shown on the lesson view page. After
a number of lesson-plans 300 are created and assigned to dates and times for instructional
courses on the calendar schedule 250, the teacher 40 can electronically submit the
lesson-plan 300 to an administrator 42.
[0094] Referring to FIG. 12 and FIG. 16, the teacher 40 may also import lesson-plans 300
from the "My Lessons" page. To import lesson-plans 300 from other teachers 40 on the
share-network, the teacher 40 clicks the "Shared Lessons" icon 268 to enter the "Shared
Lessons" page 278. Then the teacher 40 selects the particular teacher 40 and school year
of the desired lesson-plan 300 to be imported, after which all lesson-plans 300 available
for import will appear. The teacher 40 selects the check-box adjacent to each lesson the
teacher 40 desires to import, and clicks "Apply." The imported lessons are accessible
through the teacher's 40 lesson bank 262 within the "My Lessons" page and are thus
available for assigning to dates and times on the teacher's 40 calendar schedule 250.
[0095] In another embodiment of the invention, another method of importing lessons from
other teachers 40 having access to the share-network database 17 through the communication
network 25 involves the teacher 40 clicking on the "Calendar" page of the share-network
and locating the lesson-plan 300 to be viewed. Then the teacher 40 clicks on the "View"
link adjacent to the keyword of the lesson-plan 300 to be viewed. From the lesson-plan 300
the teacher 40 selects "Shared Lessons," and selects the particular lesson-plan 300 the
teacher 40 desires to import.
[0096] Referring to FIG. 10 and FIG. 14, the teacher may also import the teacher's 40 own
lesson-plans 300 from previous years. To import previous years lesson-plans 300, the
teacher 40 clicks the "Previous Years Lessons" icon 264 to enter the "Previous Years
Lessons" page 274. Then the teacher 40 selects the particular instructional course and
school year of the desired lesson-plan 300 to be imported, after which all lessons
available for import will appear. The teacher 40 selects the check-box adjacent to each
lesson the teacher 40 desires to import, and clicks "Apply." The imported lessons are
accessible through the teacher's 40 lesson bank 262 within the "My Lessons" page and are
thus available for assigning to dates and times on the teacher's 40 calendar schedule 250.
[0097] The organization and management system 10 includes several other features that
enhance the operation. Clicking on a search icon 220 from the navigation toolbar 210
enables the teacher 40 to search the database 17 for instructional courses, lesson-plans
300, lesson objectives 280, resources 282, and other information. Clicking on a feedback
icon 226 from the navigation toolbar 210 enables the teacher 40 to report feedback
information to improve the system 10 or offer other recommendations. The system 10 also
includes a reports feature that provides recent announcements from the educational
institution by clicking on the reports icon 236. The system 10 also allows the educational
institution to place informational documents onto the database 17 that are to be viewed by
the teachers 40 or administrators 42 by accessing the informational documents through the
communication network 25 by clicking on the documents 234 icon. The informational
documents may be reports, grading and reporting handbooks, discipline management plans,
campus improvement plans, or other such documents. Because the system 10 is to be used
within the educational institution, teachers 40 and administrators 42 would have access to
the database 17, but parents of the children being taught would not have access to the
database 17.
[0098] As illustrated in FIGS. 1-5, and as described herein, embodiments of the present
invention include a system 10 to enhance organization and management of lesson-plans 300,
including a computer defining a server 15 and having a database 17 and memory 119
associated therewith and interfaced with a communication network 25, an administrative
computer 35 adapted to remotely interface with the communication network 25 and a user 42,
several client computers 30 adapted to remotely interface with the communication network
25 and a user 40, and a computer program product 21 stored in the memory of the server 15
adapted to remotely interface with communication network 25. An embodiment of a computer
program product 21, for example, includes an instructional term curriculum scheduler [see
block 60], a communicator [see block 62], a profiler [see block 64], an instructional
course associator [see block 66], a schedule storer [see block 68], a calendar scheduler
[see block 70], a lesson-plan creator [see block 72], a lesson-plan storer [see block 74],
a lesson-plan accessor [see block 76], a share-network creator [see block 78], a
lesson-plan assigner [see block 80], and a lesson-plan indicator [see block 82].
[0099] The computer program product 21 can also advantageously include an objectives
storer responsive to several predetermined objectives 280 and user input commands which
create an objectives depository to store the objectives 280 and from which the objectives
280 are assigned to one of the lesson-plans 300, and an objectives indicator responsive to
the objectives depository and user input commands to indicate whether the objectives have
been assigned to a lesson-plan 300.
[0100] The computer program product 21 can also advantageously include a schedule
depository responsive to user input commands which copies the instructional courses from
one day of the schedule depository onto another day of the schedule depository, and
depository assignment instructions responsive to the schedule depository and user input
commands which assigns data from one day of the schedule depository to a date and time on
the calendar schedule 250 for display on the calendar schedule 250 and which assigns data
from one week of the schedule depository to one week of dates and times on the calendar
schedule for display on the calendar schedule.
[0101] The computer program product 21 can also advantageously include a share-network
including an individual school share-network, a school share-network, a school district
share-network, a school city share-network, a school county share-network, a statewide
share-network, and a nationwide share-network.
[0102] The computer program product 21 can also advantageously include a lesson-plan 300
including one or more topics selected from the group including objectives 280, resources
282, strategies 284, assessments 286, activities 288, instructional tools 290, and
homework assignments 292.
[0103] The computer program product 21 can also advantageously include a lesson-plan
indicator which indicates on the calendar schedule 250 whether several instructional
courses for a particular date on the calendar schedule 250 have been assigned a completed
lesson-plan 300, indicates whether several instructional courses for a particular week on
the calendar schedule 250 have been assigned a completed lesson-plan 300, and indicates on
the calendar schedule 250 by using a color-coded indicator 254 communicated to the user
through the communication network 25.
[0104] The computer program product 21 can also advantageously include a program product
21 including feedback instructions to provide an administrator 42 of the system with
feedback information relating to improvement of a topic selected from the group including
the communication network 25, the instructional term curriculum schedule, the teacher
profile 240, the schedule depository 246, the calendar schedule 250, the lesson-plans 300,
the lesson-plan depository, the share-network, the importation of lesson-plans 300 from
the share-network, the assignment of lesson-plans 300 to the calendar schedule 250, and
the indication of completed lesson-plans 300 on the calendar schedule 250.
[0105] As illustrated in FIGS. 1-5, and as described herein, embodiments of the present
invention also include a computer program product 21 embodied in a computer-readable
medium 19 to enhance organization and management of lesson-plans. An embodiment of a
computer program product 21, for example, includes an instructional course associator [see
block 50], a calendar scheduler [see block 52], a lesson-plan assigner [see block 54], and
a lesson-plan indicator [see block 56].
[0106] The computer program product 21 can also advantageously include an instructional
term curriculum schedule instructions responsive to administrative user 42 input commands
establishing several teachers 40 as teaching several predetermined instructional courses
at several predetermined dates and times during a future instructional term on an
instructional term curriculum schedule for the future instructional term, communication
instructions responsive to the instructional term curriculum schedule communicating the
instructional term curriculum schedule to each of the several teachers 40, profile
instructions responsive to the instructional term curriculum schedule creating an
individual teacher profile 240 for each of the several teachers 40 and wherein the
instructional course instructions further comprise instructions to associate one of
several predetermined instructional courses from the instructional term curriculum
schedule with one of the several teachers 240 by assigning the predetermined instructional
course to one of the several teachers 240, schedule storage instructions responsive to the
instructional term curriculum schedule and the teacher profile 240 and user input commands
to create a schedule depository 246 and to assign the predetermined instructional course
to a day of the week and time in the schedule depository 246 for storage in the schedule
depository 246 and wherein the calendar instructions further comprise instructions to
create a calendar schedule 250 and to assign the predetermined instructional course to the
predetermined date and time on the calendar schedule 250 for display on the calendar
schedule 250, lesson-plan storage instructions responsive to the lesson-plans 300 and user
input commands to create a lesson-plan depository 262 and to assign the lesson-plans 300
to the lesson-plan depository 262 for storage, lesson-plan 300 access instructions
responsive to user input commands to access one of the teacher's 40 lesson-plans 300 from
one of several school years, share-network instructions responsive to user input commands
to create several sharing teachers 40 from the several teachers on a share-network, import
instructions responsive to the share-network and user input commands, and to import the
shared lesson-plans 300 through the communication network 25 from one participating
teacher on the share-network to another participating teacher on the share-network wherein
the lesson-plan assignment instructions further include instructions to assign one of the
lesson-plans 300 to the instructional course at the date and time on the calendar schedule
250.
[0107] The computer program product 21 can also advantageously include an objectives
storer responsive to several predetermined objectives and user input commands to create an
objectives depository to store the objectives 280 and from which the objectives 280 are
assigned to one of the lesson-plans 300, and an objectives indicator responsive to the
objectives depository and user input commands to indicate whether the objectives 280 have
been assigned to a lesson-plan 300.
[0108] The computer program product 21 can also advantageously include a schedule
depository 246 responsive to user input commands to copy the instructional courses from
one day of the schedule depository 246 onto another day of the schedule depository 246,
and depository assignment instructions responsive to the schedule depository 246 and user
input commands to assign data from one day of the schedule depository 246 to a date and
time on the calendar schedule 250 for display on the calendar schedule 250 and to assign
data from one week of the schedule depository 246 to one week of dates and times on the
calendar schedule 250 for display on the calendar schedule 250.
[0109] The computer program product 21 can also advantageously include a lesson-plan
indicator which further indicates on the calendar schedule 250 whether all the several
instructional courses for a particular date on the calendar schedule 250 have been
assigned a completed lesson-plan 300 and further indicate on the calendar schedule 250
whether all the several instructional courses for a particular week on the calendar
schedule 250 have been assigned a completed lesson-plan 300 and further indicate on the
calendar schedule 250 by using a color-coded indicator 254 communicated to the user
through the communication network 25.
[0110] The computer program product 21 can also advantageously include feedback
instructions to provide an administrator 42 of the system 10 with feedback information
relating to improvement of a topic selected from the group consisting of the communication
network 25, the instructional term curriculum schedule, the teacher profile 240, the
schedule depository 246, the calendar schedule 250, the lesson-plans 300, the lesson-plan
depository, the share-network, the importation of lesson-plans 300 from the share-network,
the assignment of lesson-plans 300 to the calendar schedule 250, and the indication of
completed lesson-plans 300 on the calendar schedule 250.
[0111] As illustrated in FIGS. 1-5, and as described herein, embodiments of the present
invention also include a method to enhance organization and management of lesson-plans 300
including associating one of several instructional courses with one of several teachers
40, creating a calendar schedule 250 and assigning the instructional courses to a date and
time on the calendar schedule 250 for display, assigning one of several lesson-plans 300
to the instructional course at the date and time on the calendar schedule 250, and
indicating on the calendar schedule 250 whether the instructional course for the date and
time on the calendar schedule 250 has been assigned a completed lesson-plan 300.
[0112] As illustrated in FIGS. 1-5, and as described herein, embodiments of the present
invention also include establishing several teachers 40 as teaching several predetermined
instructional courses at a plurality of predetermined dates and times during a future
instructional term on an instructional term curriculum schedule for the future
instructional term. An embodiment of the present invention, for example, includes
communicating the instructional term curriculum schedule to each of the several teachers
40, creating an individual teacher profile 240 for each of the several teachers 40,
associating one of the several predetermined instructional courses from the instructional
term curriculum schedule with one of the several teachers 40 by assigning the
predetermined instructional course to one of the several teacher profiles 240, creating a
schedule depository 246 and assigning the predetermined instructional course to a day of
the week and time in the schedule depository 246 for storage in the schedule depository
246, creating a lesson-plan depository 262 and assigning the lesson-plans 300 to the
lesson-plan depository 262 for storage in the lesson-plan depository 262, accessing one of
the teacher's 40 lesson-plans 300 from one of a plurality of school years, creating
several sharing teachers from several teachers 40 on a share-network from shared
lesson-plans 300 from one of several school years to share with other sharing teachers
through the communication network 25, and importing the shared lesson-plans 300 through
the communication network 25 from one participating teacher on the share-network to
another participating teacher on the share-network.
[0113] The method can also advantageously include creating an objectives depository to
store the objectives 280 and from which the objectives 280 are assigned to one of the
lesson-plans 300, and indicating whether the objectives 280 have been assigned to a
lesson-plan 300.
[0114] The method can also advantageously include copying the instructional courses from
one day of the schedule depository 246 onto another day of the schedule depository 246 and
assigning data from one day of the schedule depository 246 to a date and time on the
calendar schedule 250 for display on the calendar schedule 250 and assigning data from one
week of the schedule depository 246 to one week of dates and times on the calendar
schedule 250 for display on the calendar schedule 250.
[0115] The method can also advantageously include indicating on the calendar schedule 250
whether all the several instructional courses for a particular date on the calendar
schedule 250 have been assigned a completed lesson-plan 300 and indicating on the calendar
schedule 250 whether all the several instructional courses for a particular week on the
calendar schedule 250 have been assigned a completed lesson-plan 300 and indicating on the
calendar schedule 250 by using a color-coded indicator 254 communicated to the user
through the communication network 25.
[0116] The method can also advantageously include providing an administrator 42 of the
system 10 with feedback information relating to improvement of a topic selected from the
group including the communication network 25, the instructional term curriculum schedule,
the teacher profile 240, the schedule depository 246, the calendar schedule 250, the
lesson-plans 300, the lesson-plan depository, the share-network, the importation of
lesson-plans 300 from the share-network, the assignment of lesson-plans 300 to the
calendar schedule 250, and the indication of completed lesson-plans 300 on the calendar
schedule 250.
[0117] Still further embodiments of the present invention can include a computer-readable
medium 19 that is readable by a computer, the computer-readable medium 19 containing a set
of computer-executable instructions that when executed by the computer cause the computer
to perform the following operations: associating one of a plurality of instructional
courses with one of a plurality of teachers 40, creating a calendar schedule 250 and
assigning the instructional course to a date and time on the calendar schedule 250 for
display on the calendar schedule 250, assigning one of several lesson-plans 300 to the
instructional course at the date and time on the calendar schedule 250, and indicating on
the calendar schedule 250 whether the instructional course for the date and time on the
calendar schedule 250 has been assigned a completed lesson-plan 300.
[0118] An embodiment of a computer-readable medium 19 can further include the
computer-executable instructions that cause the computer to perform the following
operations: establishing several teachers 40 as teaching several predetermined
instructional courses a several predetermined dates and times during a future
instructional term on an instructional term curriculum schedule for the future
instructional term, communicating the instructional term curriculum schedule to each of
several teachers 40, creating an individual teacher profile 240 for each of several
teachers 40, associating one of several predetermined instructional courses from the
instructional term curriculum schedule with one of several teachers 40 by assigning the
predetermined instructional course to one of several teacher profiles 240, creating a
schedule depository 246 and assigning the predetermined instructional course to a day of
the week and time in the schedule depository 246 for storage in the schedule depository
246, creating a lesson-plan depository 262 and assigning the lesson-plans 300 to the
lesson-plan depository 262 for storage in the lesson-plan depository 262, accessing one of
the teacher's 40 lesson-plans 300 from one of several school years, creating several
sharing teachers from several teachers 40 on a share-network that have a plurality of
shared-lesson-plans 300 from one of several school years in order to share with other
sharing teachers through the communication network 25, and importing the shared
lesson-plans 300 through the communication network 25 from one participating teacher on
the share-network to another participating teacher on the share-network.
[0119] An embodiment of a computer-readable medium 19 can further include
computer-executable instructions that cause the computer to create an objectives
depository to store the objectives 280 and from which the objectives 280 are assigned to
one of the lesson-plans 300 and indicate whether the objectives 280 have been assigned to
a lesson-plan 300.
[0120] An embodiment of a computer-readable medium 19 can further include copying the
instructional courses from one day of the schedule depository 246 onto another day of the
schedule depository 246 and assigning data from one day of the schedule depository 246 to
a date and time on the calendar schedule 250 for display on the calendar schedule 250 and
assigning data from one week of the schedule depository 246 to one week of dates and times
for display on the calendar schedule 250.
[0121] An embodiment of a computer-readable medium 19 can further include indicating on
the calendar schedule 250 whether all the several instructional courses for a particular
date on the calendar schedule 250 have been assigned a completed lesson-plan 300,
indicating on the calendar schedule 250 whether all the several instructional courses for
a particular week have been assigned a completed lesson-plan 300, and indicating on the
calendar schedule 250 by using a color-coded indicator 254 communicated to the user
through the communication network 25.
[0122] An embodiment of a computer-readable medium 19 can further include providing an
administrator 42 of the system 10 with feedback information relating to improvement of a
topic selected from the group consisting of the communication network 25, the
instructional term curriculum schedule, the teacher profile 240, the schedule depository
246, the calendar schedule 250, the lesson-plans 300, the lesson-plan depository 262, the
share-network, the importation of lesson-plans 300 from the share-network, the assignment
of lesson-plans 300 to the calendar schedule, and the indication of completed lesson-plans
300 on the calendar schedule 250.
[0123] The organization and management system 10 offers important advantages. The system
10 preserves physical space in the educational facility that previously has been used for
storing boxes of notebooks and file cabinets of instructional files. The educational
institution can then utilize this physical space more resourcefully. Further, the system
10 provides a more efficient and graceful means of organizing, managing, and distributing
calendar schedules 250 of lesson-plans 300 and lesson objectives 280 to administrators 42
and teachers 40 working at the educational institution. It allows for unobtrusive
supervision by the administrators 42 and assurances that federal, state, and/or local
educational requirements are being met.
[0124] In the drawings and specification, there have been disclosed embodiments of the
present invention, and although specific terms are employed, the terms are used in a
descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention
being set forth in the following claims. The invention has been described in considerable
detail with specific reference to the illustrated embodiments. It will be apparent,
however, that various modifications and changes can be made within the spirit and scope of
the invention as described in the foregoing specification.
* * * * *