The transformative potential of the internet has been largely focused on speed and supply to a large number of participants over quality of content. In 2014, Texas A&M University developed www.myimsservices.com to serve secondary education programs by improving connections to content standards, assessment, management tools and the ability to customize content.
In our technology driven world, the use of online resources has increased but it is crucial and timely to improve the process for users versus over supplying content in an unorganized platform. The transformative potential of the internet has been largely focused on speed and supply to a large number of participants over quality of content. Some curriculum content providers have focused on supplying innovative content, but that content seldom allows for users to integrate their own content, which in some cases can alienate users and move away from technological opportunities.
In 2014, Texas A&M University developed an online curriculum platform (www.myimsservices.com) to serve secondary education programs with four specific goals. First was to develop a structure that aligned to state and national content standards to assist teachers in the adoption of educational standards. Second was to create a platform to share content and follow a specific path for complete topics, which include the content and related lesson plans, presentation materials and assessment materials. A third goal was to provide teachers the ability to create their own custom content area to encourage supplemental materials or complete topic development. A final fourth goal was the develop an online management area for teachers to organize content into their own folders and manage their students to complete task such as content sharing and online testing.
The primary focus of this educational session is to share the development of the site and lessons learned as the new features were added. This session will provide a review of the entire online educational system and related educational resources. The primary focus is the online management area and online testing (MyIMS), which offer the uniqueness of the site, especially considering the handling of custom content loaded by teachers. This unique platform provides a methodology that could be used in other educational areas or professional development to improve user engagement, assist in developing of similar sites and how to embed assessment tools that can help track use.