Per request I’ve added a field to Coaching Calendar to let teachers specify the room in which they’d like to meet for coaching. Teachers can also edit previously-scheduled appointments to add this information. Let me know if you see any problems.
Speaking of Coaching Calendar–I know I owe you all a couple more updates. Those will be coming soon.
Many folks don’t realize it, but most of the services we provide–Depot, Dossier, Coaching Calendar, etc.–have accompanying Guidebooks. Each guidebook includes tutorials to help you get up and running with our stuff and make the most out of it in professional development and strategic instruction.
Of course, I’m never one to leave well enough alone, and when a new tool called ScreenSteps came along, making documenting procedures on a computer incredibly easy, Amber and I sat down, went through our materials, and essentially developed entirely new versions of our Guidebooks. And since Stratepedia.org just got a fresh coat of paint, we’re treating the new guidebooks in kind.
The result: It’s very pretty, and much easier to navigate. All guides are available in HTML format, for viewing in your web browser, as well as PDF format, for saving a local copy and/or printing (some of these are lengthy documents, though–I think the Coaching Calendar Guidebook is upwards of 40 or 50 pages–so think about a tree before printing, OK?).
Without further ado, here are a couple of screen shots:
First, the front page makes it simple to select the guide and format of your choice. Since these guides can can change, we include the dates each was last updated for your convenience.
Next up: Here’s a table of contents, HTML version. Select what you want to do, and click the tutorial for it.
Here’s an individual tutorial or lesson. We’ve gone back and broken steps into their simplest, most concrete forms to make it easy for newcomers to follow along.
Here’s a look at the PDF version of the same tutorial, using the Preview PDF viewer built into Mac OS X. Some nice features: Each PDF version also has a browsable table of contents (see the right-hand column here; this will show up along the left in Adobe Acrobat) and is keyword searchable.
We’ve got the new site up and running while we finish the remaining guides and final touches. You can see it for yourself, right now, but you have to visit our Twitter feed to get the address. Twitter is a great way to keep up with what’s going on at Stratepedia, so check it out and add us to the feeds you follow!
I pushed out a few updates to Coaching Calendar today. Nothing major, but this update does address a few requests I’ve received from the Virginia schools:
I’m happy to begin taking the wraps off of Stratepedia’s latest project: Coaching Calendar. For the most part, Coaching Calendar is exactly what it sounds like it is–an easy way for teachers to schedule instructional coaching appointments.
Coaching Calendar is a significant overhaul to the previous version, which was limited to two schools in the Virginia CLC implementation project. Now based on a more solid framework, teachers and coaches can view customized schedules and record session information privately and securely. Site coordinators can quickly schedule coaching dates with time slots custom to the school, and have access to coaching histories for both the site and individuals.
Since this is a pre-preview and not a full-on demonstration, I’ll share one image with you:
We began rolling this new version out last week, migrating two schools from the previous version to this new one. Next we’ll be working with two other schools, who have never used an online solution for coaching scheduling. My personal goal is to work with these schools over the course of the school year to make Coaching Calendar as useful as possible, then make it available to other sites beginning in Summer 2009.
When time allows–hopefully in the next few weeks–I’ll sit down and do a more thorough, video-based introduction to Coaching Calendar. In the meantime, let me know if you’d like more information.
