The educators digital assistant: An information management solution for teachers and adminstrators

Teaching, as a profession, makes many demands upon teachers. In addition to the many other tasks that a teacher must perform everyday, every teacher must manage information from many and varied sources. Teachers must keep on top of lesson plans, assignments, assessments, rubrics, curriculum standards, Best Practices, student portfolios, parent emails, materials, directives, schedules, tests, and so much more. Practica Research proposes to build a solution designed in collaboration with teachers, for teachers, to manage the information overload. The objective of the Phase I effort is to design an information management solution that will integrate into the current classroom environment, will require only moderate levels of training to learn to use effectively, and will decrease the information workload for teachers. The Phase I effort will investigate the needs of teachers through classroom observation, discussion groups and questionnaires. Then, working hand in hand with teachers, we will design a solution that meets their information management needs. Finally, the Phase I effort will evaluate the success of the design by conducting usability experiments with teachers. The results of the Phase I effort will guide the creation, deployment, and evaluation of the information management solution in Phase II.