Solution: Kindergarten Readiness Assessment
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Kindergarten Entry Assessment in Maryland and OhioKindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA)

No.Inc partnered with Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Technology in Education to plan, design, and develop the technology to support the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment for Maryland and Ohio. Administered to about 400,000 kindergarteners in multiple states, the assessment is used daily by more than 11,000 teachers and administrators. A combination of hands on mobile apps, teacher assisted activities, and observations are used to administer 50 items.

The Challenges

  • Accommodate many concurrent users; currently 11,000 users and 400,000 students
  • Rapidly implement nine cross-platform user interfaces including mobile iOS and Android
  • Decentralize data management to respect school district autonomy
  • Address wide range of audience technical familiarity
  • Support an entirely new process without precedent

Our Approach

  • Gather requirements from multiple states and create a single system
  • Pilot a prototype and collect user feedback
  • Create scalable system using the Amazon Cloud
  • Include interactive games developed for young children
  • Provide sophisticated data management tools for loading and managing data by district
  • Build a system flexible enough to adapt as the process evolves
  • Utilize the Electronic Learning Community to provide integrated professional development

The Results

  • Successful completion in multiple states in 2014 and 2015
  • Baseline results reported in each state by subgroups

 

Screenshot of KRA Screenshot of KRA Screenshot of KRA

Solution: Early Learning Assessment
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Formative Assessment for Early Care & Education in Maryland and OhioEarly Learning Assessment

No.Inc partnered with Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Technology in Education to plan, design, and develop the technology to support the statewide Early Learning Assessment in Maryland and Ohio. The formative assessment will be administered to about 1,000,000 early learners across both states and will be used daily by over 20,000 teachers and administrators. Teachers plan, score, and collect artifacts on any combination of up to 50 items in a special activity workspace built into the solution.

The Challenges

  • Collaborate with content experts, stakeholders, and decision makers
  • Accommodate many concurrent users; 120,000 users and 1,000,000 students
  • Meet special education requirements regarding Child Outcomes Summary
  • Decentralize data management to respect school district autonomy

Our Approach

  • Develop a cross-platform mobile app
  • Integrate with existing classroom process and flow using activity planner approach
  • Speed data entry using recognizable browser based spreadsheet style data entry
  • Build on platform developed for Kindergarten Readiness Assessment
  • Gather requirements from both states and create one system
  • Create scalable system using the Amazon Cloud
  • Provide sophisticated data management tools for loading and managing data by district

The Results

  • Targeted implementation in both states for 2016
  • An extremely useful and widely used tool for teachers that is useful in the classroom as well as at local and state agency levels

 

Screenshot of ELA iPad App Screenshot of ELA iPad App

Solution: Student Compass
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Special Education Progress MonitoringStudent Compass

No.Inc partnered with Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Technology in Education to create the user interface design for a learner-centric progress monitoring system that integrates with the state’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) system, Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP) system, Child Outcomes Summary (COS) system, and Special Services Information System (SSIS). This instructional support tool allows teachers, case managers, and service providers to view and track the student’s learning data from all of the integrated systems in one place. The most powerful feature of the tool is its ability to allow users to map student goals with curriculum, services, and interventions, and log progress on a timeline against a measurable target date and level of progress.

The Challenges

  • Support several user groups with varying goals and tasks
  • Make it easy enough to minimize significant classroom training
  • Accommodate advanced and beginner users equally

Our Approach

  • Use case and task flow development
  • Wireframe prototyping and design
  • Develop high-fidelity prototype and design
  • Build in user flexibility to accommodate experienced and new users

The Results

  • Sleek, modern, and thoroughly professional UI design
  • Wide adoption and plans to grow the tool

 

Screenshot of Student Compass Screenshot of Student Compass Screenshot of Student Compass

Solution: Digital Portfolio
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Portfolio Based AssessmentSpecial Education Transition Portfolio

No.Inc partnered with Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Technology in Education to plan, design, and develop a portfolio system for special education students.  The Transition Portfolio is a learning tool that outlines a pathway toward the completion of student transition goals.  Students submit artifacts (media, images, written work, etc.) in response to teacher assignments, and then work on those artifacts by collecting and responding to feedback from teachers, parents, and peers.  Once the artifacts have been refined, students assemble public portfolios to share with others.

The Challenges

  • Create a flexible online space for student use and curriculum delivery
  • Accommodate students with disabilities
  • Support various curriculum and transition pathways depending on learner type
  • Provide easy-to-use interface to encourage teacher driven management

Our Approach

  • Take a universal design approach to make the system accessible by students with disabilities
  • Implement responsive design for maximum usability on mobile devices
  • Enhance student control by separating public portfolio from curricular work

The Results

  • Pilot launch fall 2015
  • Special Education Transition Portfolio system available to all Maryland transition students beginning 2016

 

Screenshot of Transition Portfolio Screenshot of Transition Portfolio Screenshot of Transition PortfolioScreenshot of Transition Portfolio

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Solution: Pathevo
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STEM Career Planning ToolPathevo

No.Inc partnered with Owen Software to plan and design a STEM career planning tool. Called Pathevo, the system helps students and advisors plan the steps along career paths for STEM subjects. The system starts off broad with an academic starting point and a desired outcome. It gradually gets more detailed about milestones such as class and credit requirements for a computer science degree.

Pathevo is designed to act as a guide for documenting achievements and milestones and presenting education options that help direct students along a path from high school through college.

The Challenges

  • Manage infinite career path options
  • Create a system that stays with a user through high school and beyond
  • Create one system for students, faculty, parents, and advisors

Our Approach

  • Conduct user interviews and create personas to guide interface decisions
  • Design, prototype, and refine wireframes

The Results

  • Successful product used in more than 30 schools

 

Screenshot of Pathevo

Solution: STEMnet
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Maryland’s STEM Innovation NetworkSTEMNet

No.Inc partnered with the Maryland Business Roundtable to redesign its STEMnet website that connects teachers in the classroom with professionals in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Serving as a meeting place for educators and professionals, STEMnet users schedule experienced professionals into classes with students so they can see firsthand the connection between classroom subjects and real world STEM careers. Redesigning the site and workflows provided easier access to resources, reports, and professional connections. On the administrative side, we created several reporting tools that facilitate monitoring activities and status of speakers in classrooms.

The Challenges

  • Support multiple program types and workflows within the same onboarding and reporting framework
  • Optimize an older Drupal theme
  • Add and change features of an active system

Our Approach

  • Establish clear goals
  • Focus on key interfaces for improvements
  • Optimize code and UI wherever possible

The Results

  • Improved speed and performance
  • Better user tracking and reporting
  • Site enhancements

 

Screenshot of STEMnet