Systems, program products, and methods of organizing and managing curriculum information

• US 20060035206A1
• Filed: 03/09/2005
• Published: 02/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: KATY Independent School District
• Original Assignee: KATY Independent School District
• Inventors: Black, Tom, Adams, Stephen, Mathis, John, Helbach, Linda, Clark, Elizabeth A., Pollard, Darla, Lambson, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,172,578 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 434/350
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06393 Score-carding, benchmarking or key performance indicator [KPI] analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/02 of the type wherein the student is expected to construct an answer to the question which is presented or wherein the machine gives an answer to the question presented by a student
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 706/927 Education or instruction

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.

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.