Additional Helps: Course Descriptions   Curriculum Structure   Class Frequency   1st Year School/Transfer Student   Grade Level Expectations   High School Usage   Adult Programs   Educator Program

Curriculum Structure:

Frequency: The current structure is designed for as often as you need.  Normally, most schools use a once or twice per week technology class for each grade so one computer lab can handle all of your grade levels. (See why a computer lab is the only approach for a Christian school to use internet access on our Training Philosophy page.) Once per week classes will not give an entry level student (kindergartner) enough class time to complete all courses by 12th grade without requiring some homework after 5th grade.  Twice per week classes will normally allow students to complete all core courses by 12th grade. Once per week classes for K-2nd, twice per week classes for 3rd-5th, and thrice per week classes for 6th grade and above and will allow students to complete core courses plus most specialty courses while only requiring one computer lab. See more on frequency.

Instructor: New instructors will complete an online training to be equipped and familiar with the system. The instructor is more of a supervisory position. The instructor is responsible for control, monitoring progress and grades, making sure computers are ready, being available to verify lesson assignments, and entering passwords to allow students to quiz.   The Instructor Guide is a lesson number/screen numbered manual to quickly verify assignment work with a screenshot of what should be on the student's monitor when the student asks for a verification. The Instructor Guide also includes tips to help which covers the occasional misunderstandings that a student might have with a lesson.  Access to labtechhelp.com will also help the instructor keep the lab running properly.  Instructors can also take the Hardware, Networking, or other needed courses to strengthen maintenance skills.

Overall Course Structure: Students normally will complete 12 lessons and 12 quizzes (automatically scored) and then will complete a recap of the 12 lessons followed by a course test (automatically scored).  

Learning Structure: Each lesson starts with a short online Lesson Video (5-15 minutes), then the student completes a Video Drill that helps the student formulate the main points of the teaching video.  The student then completes an Enhancement Assignment which is usually an external program assignment. Students will raise their hand to get a verification from the local instructor to make sure the assignment was completed successfully.  The next part of the lesson is a Mastery Drill requiring all questions to be answered correctly. Students then need an instructor password to take the Lesson Quiz.  Students can be allowed to retake the quiz if they receive an unusually low score.  Retakes are averaged with their first attempt's score.  After twelve lessons, students will complete a Recap Drill and a Course Test that covers the last twelve lessons. The Recap Test can also be allowed to be retaken which will average the scores together.

Strengths for Students:  This mastery-based curriculum will yield encouraging grades. Students can work at their needed speed.  The curriculum uses a variety of approaches to reach different learning styles.  Students can also work from home to accelerate or catch up.  (They are required to take the quizzes at school.) 

Assessment: Traditionally. classes that meet only once or twice per week have tremendous barriers in accurate assessment because it is difficult when there is less than 1/4th the class time of other subjects. The burden of scoring quizzes or tests prevents most technology classes from having more than one or two grades that make up the quarterly assessment.  Since OCL scores, records, and averages grades, our system can offer 5-15 assessments to form the quarterly grade. Students can also see their ongoing grade throughout the year. Parents can also see their child's ongoing grade at home. This feature statistically improves grades from 8-10%.  At the end of a grading period, instructors can walk around the lab while students are logged in to easily view and write down all grades in minutes to give to the office or enter into the school's grading system.      

Structure Implementation:  Normally, it takes several years to fully implement lock-stepped technology classes because older students cannot be placed at grade level when the school first implements a technology curriculum.  Example: 8th grade students would struggle if placed in 8th grade curriculum without coming up through the curriculum.  OCL's First Year Student Record Card provides course placement by grade level for schools using OCL for the first time.  This is also used for students that have transferred to your school each year (or mid year). The First Year Student Record Card will place students so they are required to review foundational concepts to allow them to safely accelerate to where they should be.  The instructor will print First Year Student Record Cards at the beginning of the year which are used at the student's computer each class.  Printing the First Year Student Record Cards for a specific grade will automatically list proper courses.  Note: Students will use a generic Student Record Card in future years where only the course they left off with the previous year is listed.  Returning students proceed chronologically from there.  

Grade Combination Options for Smaller Schools:  Kindergarten and non-readers are really the only ones that need their own class, but the following combinations make it much easier for the instructor:  1st and 2nd can be in the same class.  3rd and 4th can be in the same class.  5th and up can be in the same class.   Smaller class sizes of 15-20 will help students accelerate.  The instructor may need an aid if you have 20-35.  top

Valuable Strengths

Quality: OCL has developed our K-12th scope and sequence through years of practical experience and research.  We constantly monitor national and individual state standards to ensure we meet or surpass objective recommendations or requirements.  We also include many additional concepts by monitoring technology trends and new/emerging technologies that are not yet listed in the national standards. Updated curriculum is delivered immediately via the web throughout the year so we can include the most recent concepts and literacy.