Members of the Digital Content Provider Review Task Force Team met Tuesday, November 5 , for the purpose of identifying and recommending digital content providers to Westerville City School’s Curriculum Council for consideration in December 2013.
Members of the Digital Content Provider Review Task Force Team met on Tuesday, November 5, at the Early Learning Center. The group is charged with identifying and recommending digital content providers to Westerville City School’s Curriculum Council for consideration in December 2013. Digital content is being utilized to further enhance blended-learning opportunities for students within the Westerville Schools, as well as provide highly engaging instructional resources that will complement teaching and more specialized learning in the traditional classroom. Digital content provides enhanced opportunities to support multiple learning styles, strategies, and preferences.
Team members developed a rubric that was research-based and subsequently peer-reviewed to initially evaluate each digital content provider. The rubric is now being recognized, accepted, and utilized by other school districts undertaking similar reviews as it is seen as a valuable model to initially and more objectively evaluate digital content providers. Specific categories for review include rigor, content/instructional design, materials/course offerings, teacher use, navigation/ease of use, multimedia, evaluation/assessment, learner support and resources.
A Quality Matters rubric, in which some task force members have been trained, will now be used to further evaluate the content prior to the Task Force Team’s recommendations. The Quality Matters rubric is a set of eight general standards and 41 specific standards used to evaluate the content and design of online and blended courses.
The 24-member Task Force includes:
- Four district level administrators – Dr. Scott Ebbrecht, chair/alternative education; Jennifer Knapp, curriculum; Stephanie Donofe, technology integration; and Amy Tankovich, English as a Second Language.
- Nine high school teachers – Amy Anglin, English language arts (Academic Enrichment Center (AEC)); Tom Cook, social studies (AEC); Candice Hall, intervention (Westerville South); Susannah Lee, English language arts (Westerville Central); Jill McMasters, math (AEC); Janet Pritchard, science (Westerville South); Steve Rovtar, science (AEC); Ty Stover, intervention (Westerville Central); and Melissa Tucker, intervention (Westerville North).
- Two middle school teachers – Kylie Chonko, science (Blendon); and Tonya Salisbury, English language arts (Heritage).
- Two elementary teachers – Angie Heath, grade 3 (Emerson); and Amy Hinz, grade 2 (Cherrington).
- One media specialist – Deborah King (Westerville South).
- Three elementary instructional technology specialists – Jennifer Fry, Daphne Irby, and Kim Niles.
- Three principals – Kurt Yancey (Westerville North High School); Leslie Kelly (Walnut Springs Middle School); and Andy Heck (Cherrington Elementary School).