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Enter the Fortress of Solid Learning
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May 2009, Vol 8, Issue 9
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Field Studies Turn Real
Greetings from the Road,
During the week of April 27, I had the opportunity to visit three amazing schools and meet the teachers who have been responding to my inquiry about a Case Study at their location. My emphasis in doing these field studies was to learn: Who benefits most from using Castle Learning? How does it help you as an educator? Do your students do better by using Castle Learning? The results can be found at www.CastleSoftware.com under "Teachers Are Talking" > Case Studies.
Two of the schools I visited have already given permission for us to share their Case Studies-Iroquois [NY] CSD and Hilton [NY] CSD. The third school is Edwards-Knox CSD, a small school in the rural community of Russell, NY, with about 650 K-12 students. We are writing up the results of this latest study as you read this newsletter. I wanted to finally meet the teachers and thank them for taking the time to complete the survey and to share with them some of my experiences in teaching for more than 33 years.
Students were amazed to learn that Professor Bill is more than a caricature! I was invited to meet the students who are using Castle Learning Online and speak with their teachers about some of their innovations. It was great to be able to let them know that we appreciate the work they are doing. A bit embarrassing, some students had a print out of Professor Bill with sword and shield in his pose as the knight at the fortress of learning, along with a pen to autograph the drawing. They were having fun and I sensed they knew that we at Castle Software really care about how they use Castle Learning Online and want to hear how we can improve it. The best feedback was to hear that these students actually like reviewing and studying with this tool. Their teachers kept telling me that students are doing better on end-of-course exams. It was a great pleasure meeting my colleagues in the field.
It was the best week. Check out the results on our site.
Professor Bill
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New Feature
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Save Paper and Trees!
Two-Column Printing
One of our most requested features has been to provide two-column printing of assignments. Our new Format for Printing feature replaces the Create PDF feature, which was unable to support two-column operation. You will notice a few new options to give you control over the printing of your assignments:
Two-column and Maximum Image Compression
The checkbox enables or disables two-column output. Selecting two-column printing can reduce the number of pages that are printed. It may be necessary for the program to shrink some images in order to fit them into a column. This might make the image unreadable. The compression image option allows you to specify how much images can be compressed. Often, 20% is a good choice; depending on what is in the graphic, you may be able to use a higher percentage or you may need to use a lower value. The page will not use two columns if the images will not fit using the specified compression value.
Leave space for students to write their multiple-choice answers
Some page space can be saved by unchecking this option for situations where you want to print the exam without answers but also without spaces for the student to write answers.
Page Height and Page Width
Print formatting requires that the program knows how much vertical and horizontal space is available on a page. Default values have been determined and are used when you specify 0 in these fields. Although we don't expect that you will need to specify alternative height/width values, different browsers, operating systems, and page settings may require an adjustment.
To give you an idea of what alternate value to use, note the following height and width values used for various browsers when the height and width settings are set to 0 (default values):
Internet Explorer: height = 920, width = 700
Firefox (Windows): height = 920, width = 680
Firefox (Mac): height = 850, width = 680
Safari: height = 830, width = 700
Assignment Types Supporting Two-Column Printing
Short Answer assignments, Flash Card assignments, and printing Vocabulary Worksheets all support the two-column option. Constructed Response and DBQ assignments do not have the two-column option.
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Read how other
teachers are using Castle Learning
and share your
own experiences.
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Timely Reminders from Technical Services
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For Teachers: Summer 2009
Current 2008-09 student accounts will be available ONLY until approximately one week before the start of the 2009-10 school year. Students will NOT be able to work on summer assignments after that date, although teachers will still be able to pick up the results. If you have any questions or concerns regarding summer usage, please contact Technical Services (support@CastleLearning.com or 1-800-345-7606, x2).
For Administrators 2009-2010
Please send end new enrollment lists for 2009-10 one week before the start of the new school year. Details on file formats are available by on theDocuments page. Click Documents on the Administrator Home page and look under Information for Administrators. Check your email in June for additional details regarding enrollment procedures for the 2009-10 school year.
Helping Students with 'Forgotten' IDs and Passwords
"Help! I've forgotten my ID and password!" Hands down, this is the most frequently asked question that our Technical Services team hears. As we approach the end of the school year, the pressure is on for students to prepare for end of quarter and semester tests, final exams, and state assessments. Castle Learning Online is a tool proven to help students succeed, but even the best product can't help if the student can't access it.
One of the best ways teachers can ensure that their students can access Castle Learning Online is to walk them through the steps. If possible, bring your students into the computer lab at school NOW, before the crunch begins. Show students the sign in page <www.CastleLearning.com>. Explain the login pattern for your school, and make sure that every student can sign in. Have them check their accounts for an up-to-date email address in case they "forget" their sign-in information later.
· If the student has previously set an email address into his/her account, the address is displayed just below his/her name at the top left of the Student Home page.
· If the address is not correct, click change.
· If the student has NOT SET an email address into his/her account, click set email address.
· On the Set Your Email Address page, the student should enter his/her password and current email address at the prompts and click OK to save the information.
Castle Learning Online provides several ways to assist students who have forgotten their sign-in information:
· Students who have previously signed into Castle Learning Online and set an email address into their account profile can click Forgot your password on the sign-in page. On the Forgot My ID or Password page, enter the email address at the prompt. If it matches the address recorded in the account profile, the login ID and password will be sent to that email address. (This is why it is so important for students to check for a correct email address in their account profile!)
· Teachers can look up login IDs and reset (clear) passwords for students enrolled in one of their Castle Learning Online classes.* From the Teacher Home page, click Classes. Locate the class that the student is in and click its name. The Class Details page, Class Management tab, displays student names, login IDs, and identification number if that information was supplied at enrollment time. Locate the student and click the red X to clear his/her password.
*Teachers who do not see this option should ask an administrator account holder to check the Preference to "Allow teachers to view IDs and clear passwords for students in their classes."
· Administrator account holders can also look up login IDs and reset passwords for any student in the school (or district, if the administrator account has district rights). From the Administrator Home page, click Accounts. On the Accounts page, locate the student account and click its Edit icon (yellow pencil). On the Edit Account page, click the Clear button and then Save.
· Outside of school hours, students can contact Castle Learning Online Technical Services to request their login ID and password. The telephone number is listed on the Forgot My ID or Password page. Students must identify themselves with their full name, grade, and the name of the school that they attend. If there is any doubt as to the student's identity, the technician may ask to speak to a parent or guardian.
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May Mailbag
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FOR TEACHERS: PERSONAL CONTENT QUESTIONS
Question:
I created some Personal Content math questions that use Short Answer Fill-in format. Even though the students seem to enter what I have as the answer, the program still counts it wrong. Any suggestions?
Answer:
Thank you for sharing with us your experiences regarding Personal Content Sets. This is actually a rather advanced feature, so we applaud your efforts to use it to create your own questions and answers.
Castle Learning Online supports two types of unprompted or free-response question-and-answer formats for content that you create yourself (Personal Content Sets or PCS).
· Short Answer Fill-in format-This format expects the student to enter an exact match to the answer that you specify. It works best for exact numeric answers or for short text answers that require correct spelling.
· Constructed Response format-This format allows more flexibility in student responses because you, the assigning teacher, create a model answer and actually score the responses. It works best for approximate numeric answers where there is a range of acceptable responses, and for longer text responses that include long hard-to-spell words, short phrases, or even a few sentences.
Here are some examples that may help you decide when to use which format when creating Personal Content.
The first example involves a simple trigonometry problem.
In triangle ABC with a right angle at C, the hypotenuse is 15 units and the leg adjacent to angle B is 13 units. What is the measure of angle B?
In this case, angle B measures 29.926...°. This math question is a candidate for Short Answer Fill-in format, with two modifications. First, tell the student how to round the response (for example, to the nearest tenth or hundredth of a degree). Secondly, because the degree sign does not appear on the keyboard, do not expect the student to try to enter it as part of his/her response. Enter it yourself, right after the answer area. Here is a good way to enter this problem in the Question area of a Short Answer Personal Content Set:
In triangle ABC with a right angle at C, the hypotenuse is 15 units and the leg adjacent to angle B is 13 units. What is the measure of angle B, to the nearest tenth of a degree?
Answer: ~~1~~°
Remember that the placeholder ~~1~~ shows where you expect the student to respond. Use the Insert Special Character command to display a degree sign after the answer area, indicating the unit of measurement. (Alternatively, simply type "degrees" after the answer area.) In the Answer area, click Fill-in for the answer format. Specify 29.9 as the correct answer. The Answer Box Width must be at least 4 characters wide to accommodate the correct answer; the default of 10 is fine, but you could make it a little smaller.
This second example involves a slightly different trigonometry problem.
In triangle ABC with a right angle at C, the hypotenuse is 30 units and the leg adjacent to angle B is 26 units. Write an expression for the cosine of angle B.
You are looking for a response such as cos B = 26/30, cos B = 13/15, or even a fuller response such as cos B = adjacent/hypotenuse = 26/30 = 13/15. You might want to consider giving partial credit for a response such as cos B = adjacent/hypotenuse, cos B = adj/hyp, or cos B = a/c. There are many variants to the correct answer. Short Answer Fill-in format is too restrictive, because it would be difficult to instruct the student to type any one of these variants exactly, right down to spaces and punctuation.
This question is more suited to Constructed Response format. Add it to a Constructed Response Personal Content Set. You can use the original phrasing as is in the Question area. (DO NOT user the placeholder ~~1~~ for the response. This is only for Short Answer Fill-in format.) In the Answer area, where you compose your model answer, you might want to show your students what you consider to be a full-credit or partial credit response by typing something like the following:
Here are some responses for full credit: · cos B = adjacent/hypotenuse = 26/30 = 13/15
· cos B = 26/30
· cos B = 13/15
Here are some responses for partial credit: · cos B = adjacent/hypotenuse
· cos B = adj/hyp
· cos B = a/c
In the Options area, allow sufficient room for students to enter their response; usually 1 or 2 lines is sufficient. Also, allow a maximum of 2 points for the question; that way you can easily give 1 point for partial credit responses when you score the assignment.
Now let's look at a question in Short Answer Fill-in format with a text answer.
Sara's garden is in the shape of a rectangle. She wants to install a fence that completely surrounds her garden. In order to determine how much fencing she needs, Sara must know the ~~1~~ of her garden.
The response that you are looking for is perimeter. You could pose this question in Short Answer Fill-in format as above, but remember that a misspelled response such as permeter or peremeter will be scored as incorrect. If you want to give students some leeway in the spelling, consider creating this question in Constructed Response format, as follows.
Sara's garden is in the shape of a rectangle. She wants to install a fence that completely surrounds her garden. In order to determine how much fencing she needs, which measurement must Sara know about her garden?
In the model answer, you will want to include perimeter. You might also want to indicate that length and width is acceptable, or even that length or width individually are partially correct.
Here are some responses for full credit: · perimeter
· length AND width
Here are some responses for partial credit: · length
· width
In your model answer, you don't have to actually list all the possible misspellings of perimeter that you will accept. It's up to you when scoring the responses how to interpret and assign credit for the students' responses.
Do you have questions for the Monthly Mailbag? Send them to support@castlelearning.com
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Newsletter Schedule |
Thank you for reading our newsletter. We hope that the information provided here is of help to you.
Next Issue
JUNE ISSUE ... June 1, 2009
If you have comments or would like to share your experiences with Castle Learning Online, email profbill@CastleLearning.com
If you have questions for the Monthly Mailbag, send them to support@castlelearning.com
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Contact Information
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Castle Software, Inc., 626 Layport Dr., Ste. 100, Sebastian, FL 32958
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