“It’s an incredible honor as well as an incredible opportunity,” says Citlau. “It gives me a platform from which to spread the message of the great potential for educational advancement through online learning.”

Citlau, who has taught at Cypress for 18 years, pioneered the first online course at the school seven years ago. In 2008, she was named Cypress High School Teacher of the Year, and she is now the lead online teacher for the Anaheim Union High School District. Her course load includes classes in business, accounting and web page design. Citlau’s online learning platform of choice is Haiku Learning Management System.

Haiku Learning is a leading online learning management system that was originally developed in 2006 by a team of three web developers who saw a deep need for a program that would allow all educators, regardless of their technological backgrounds, to easily put their curriculum content on the web.  Since its inception in 2006, Haiku Learning has grown to a staff of nearly 30 serving more than one million teachers and students.

“Over the years, as I developed my online classes, I tried various online learning platforms,” says Citlau. “But for the last four years, I’ve used Haiku Learning exclusively throughout the district. The features are so user-friendly and my students love the ability to collaborate in the Discussions and Wikiprojects sections. It really opens up the lines of communication between the students and me and also the students with each other. I can create a cartoon or animation, use images or word analogies or add audio to help a student have a ‘light bulb’ moment where the lesson suddenly makes sense. The teachers like the Embedded Content and Pull features too. And now, with the introduction of a Haiku mobile app, the reach increases even more.”

With more than one thousand students across the school district taking one or more online class, the potential of online learning systems continues to expand the educational, emotional and social reach of its students. “I have especially noticed a marked impact on special needs students,” remarks Citlau. “I have one special education student who literally went from an ‘F’ to an ‘A’ after enrolling in a Haiku Learning course. When I asked him what changed, he said that he could go home and go over the lesson as many times as he needed to until it made sense to him. I’ve also seen shy students participating in the Discussions Forums who would never raise their hands in a traditional classroom.”

“Another group served especially well by online learning are the English learners,” she continues. “It improves their note-taking skills. And the ability to self-evaluate and critique each other’s work improves collaboration, interaction and motivation. And students are collaborating not just across a classroom, but across the entire school district, which means overcoming not just geographic but also cultural barriers which might otherwise keep them apart.”

Citlau, who holds a master’s degree in online education from Pepperdine University, views online learning technology as a two-way street. “There are so many tools and resources at educators’ disposal right now, but educators need to understand and embrace them. That’s why it’s important to have a user-friendly learning management system in place.”

As a result of her award, Citlau recently traveled to Washington, DC where she made a presentation to Richard Culatta, the Acting Director of the Office of Educational Technology for the US Department of Education. She stressed to him the importance of the role that online learning management systems such as Haiku Learning will play in the future of K-12 education and beyond. In her capacity as National Online Teacher of the Year, she will also visit San Antonio, Atlanta, Las Vegas and Costa Mesa.

“But,” concludes Citlau, “the best part of using Haiku Learning is that, wherever I travel, I take my students with me.”

Ever wanted to bring Khan Academy, BrainPop, or other third party activities into Haiku? If the third party service offers LTI integration, you can add it to Haiku! Don’t know where to start? Check out these examples, this great list of Edu Apps, or this collection from IMS Global! Once these apps are added to Haiku in the domain control, your teachers can add content and activities to their classes.

Email your Rosters by Section!

In our last release, we brought you our new form-based Email Roster feature. This release, we have made the tool even better by adding the ability to email your roster by section!

Print your Gradebook!

The ability to cleanly print your gradebook is here! Teachers can now print the gradebook under the Manage Gradebook menu.

Think those are cool? The good news is, there’s even more!

Changes

• Gradebook Entries are now hyperlinked to their corresponding activity in Haiku!

• You can now use up to 4 characters in Grade Notations and Special Score Notations. (Previously, the limit was 3 characters.)

• Entering a score starting with a decimal is now accepted. No more typing “0.5″!

• The student Display ID only displays to teachers and admins now. (Read more about the Display ID.)

• We’ve rearranged the Applications tab just a bit! (Don’t worry! Everything’s still there, it just looks different.) Because of our LTI release, we now have divided the Applications tab into sub-tabs, organized by Haiku Apps, Partner Apps, and LTI Tools.

Fixes

• New Theme and Library images should now consistently render correctly (even if they use web fonts).

• Teachers without an email can now access classes they teach via the Navbar without an error.

• HTTPS YouTube URLs should no longer return an “Invalid URL” error in the YouTube block.

Let us know if you have questions! And for those of you whose school year is coming to an end, best of luck, and congratulations!

New feature: Progress Reports for Teachers!

Many teachers have been looking for a way to create semester, quarter, or even spur of the moment grade reports to share with students. The new Haiku Learning Progress Reports feature allows teachers to generate summary or detailed grades reports whenever they are needed. Check it out under the Reports area of the Assess tab, or watch the video.

Email Rosters Improvements

Teachers can now send an email to the roster from the comfort of their own Haiku Learning class, using our new form-based email tool. (And stay tuned! The ability to email sections using this tool is coming up in our next release!)

Here are the other great things in Version 7.7:

Changes

• Haiku no longer sends class content notifications to users who have not logged in.

• OpenLDAP now accepts Active Directory Username formats.

• Upcoming Activities block now pulls up to 9 days of activities for 90 days.

Fixes

• We deployed a second fix for the “wiggly gradebook”.

• Senior Systems Grade Export is now exporting Roster Sections.

• Recent activities on portal should now filter activities by student section.

• Editing SBG Gradebook entry titles should save.

• Print calendar portal error for parents with multiple students in a role-based roster class.

• Point totals now automatically adjust for grades with Score Notations when total points are changed for the gradebook entry.

• Various typo fixes and other minor tweaks.

Winners!
A hearty congratulations to Michael Williams of Christian Brothers High School in Tennessee! His CBHS Honors Theatre History Online Haiku Learning class garnered him a winning score from our judges. His excellent use of Haiku Assessments and Discussions combined with embedded full video lectures, easy to navigate page structure and a fantastic custom Theme, made this class stand out. Perfect for flipping  the class or as a great blended learning support tool, Michael has created a real winner. Nice work, Michael!

For his efforts Michael will be receiving an iPad Mini, a Haiku Learning t-shirt, and a custom graphic badge to let the world know how awesome he is!

We also selected 3 runners up whose classes were nothing short of fantastic. For their hard work, these Haiku Learning vanguards will be receiving a Haiku t-shirt and a graphic badge of honor.

• Gerry Marchand of Huntley High School in Illinois for Anatomy & Physiology
• Wendy Butler of Laurel School for AP World History 2012-13
• Katy Wagner-West of Robert Gray Middle School for Physical Science 2012-13

Restore your own Content!

We have been building soft delete tools behind the scenes for a while now, and we’re pleased to announce that we have released the first of several tools designed to put data recovery into teachers’ hands! Teachers can now Restore deleted pages and blocks from the Manage Class menu.  Find out more specifics on what is recoverable, and how Haiku can help.

Parents & Grades

You can now choose whether or not you would like to display grades to parents, while still including them in the classroom environment. For more information, check out our article on how to prevent parents from seeing published grades.

Assessments: Select the Best Attempt

When allowing students to take assessments multiple times, you can now choose to automatically use the best attempt for scoring purposes!

See what else came out in the Version 7.6.1 release below, or view it in our Knowledgebase.

Changes

1. Filters are now sticky when toggling between Extras and Classes tabs.
2. We have discontinued support for viewing documents in the Desmos annotator. This affects all documents submitted to the dropbox prior to October 26, 2012.
3. We have discontinued development of the Haiku LMS Sencha web application for Mobile devices. The app will still be available indefinitely.  (New iOS and Windows 8 apps are on the way!)

Fixes

1. Students who are disabled (and hidden) in the Roster will no longer appear in the list of One-to-One Discussions.
2. When copying assessments, fixed weights copy appropriately.
3. iCal export will now update when a student changes sections.
4. The “Make Draft” option in the Manage Assessment menu is now working.
5. The Cancel button in the Add Content area now works in iOS.
6. Page titles with special characters (such as ç and á) now copy appropriately.
7. Domain Admins who are also a parent or student of a certain class can now access the class if it is inactive.
8. Various minor fixes, including roster and assessment tweaks.

]]> http://www.haikulearning.com/blog/2013/04/haiku-learnings-april-1-updates-are-no-joke/feed/ 0 http://www.haikulearning.com/blog/2013/04/haiku-learnings-april-1-updates-are-no-joke/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/haikulms/~3/YWYXEISK6GY/ http://www.haikulearning.com/blog/2013/03/last-chance-to-enter/#comments Thu, 07 Mar 2013 23:25:16 +0000 The Haiku Team http://www.haikulearning.com/blog/?p=969 Continue reading →]]> The Haiku Digital Learning Day Content Contest is drawing to a close. Submit your class by midnight East Coast time on Friday the 8th of March (yes, that’s today!) and you will have a chance to win an iPad Mini and/or a beautiful Haiku t-shirt.

The steps to enter are simple:

1. Create a new class or pull something awesome from current or past Classes.

2. Review our CONTEST RULES and JUDGING CRITERIA

3. Go to the CONTEST SITE and enter a Haiku LMS Class that highlights how you like to Haiku.

The Good Stuff

PRIZES: We’ll have four (4) finalists and one (1) winner! Each will receive a Haiku T-Shirt.

The winner will take home an iPad Mini, a Haiku T-Shirt, and a Winner’s Badge in the form of a GIF image file. We’ll showcase the winning class at www.haikulearning.com.

The four (4) Finalists will receive a Haiku T-shirt and a Finalist Badge in the form of a GIF image file.

How do you Haiku?

Don’t forget that the deadline to enter your amazing Haiku Class in the Haiku Digital Learning Day Content Contest is March 8th.

Inspired by Digital Learning Day, Haiku Learning is keen to see how you’re innovating in K-12 education, so we’re sponsoring a competition for teachers to showcase how they effectively pair quality content with tremendous technology.

The steps to enter are simple:

1. Create a new class or pull something awesome from current or past Classes.

2. Review our CONTEST RULES and JUDGING CRITERIA

3. Go to the CONTEST SITE and enter a Haiku LMS Class that highlights how you like to Haiku.

The Good Stuff

PRIZES: We’ll have four (4) finalists and one (1) winner! Each will receive a Haiku T-Shirt.

The winner will take home an iPad Mini, a Haiku T-Shirt, and a Winner’s Badge in the form of a GIF image file. We’ll showcase the winning class at www.haikulearning.com.

The four (4) Finalists will receive a Haiku T-shirt and a Finalist Badge in the form of a GIF image file.

Unlike more traditional seminars for educators, edcamp Phoenix West offers teachers, specialists, administrators, and anyone else interested in improving the learning experience, (they even welcome students) the opportunity to craft a day of professional development created and guided by the participants themselves.

Starting with only a Session schedule, participants offer their ideas about what they want to discuss or study.The flow of information for the day is then determined by participants who “vote with their feet” by choosing which sessions to attend.

The goal? Provide educators with the opportunity to sharpen their skills, share their wealth of knowledge, and collaborate with other teachers in arguably the most personalized professional development experience available.

This year Haiku will be providing an online collaboration wikispace for participants to share ideas and collaborate with other educators online so that the professional development that occurs at EdCamp can continue long after February 23rd. You can Join the Haiku edcamp wikispace by visiting HERE and entering 2FLM2.

What: edcamp Phoenix West

When: February 23, 2013 – 8:30am – 2:30pm

Where: Marc T. Atkinson Middle School
4315 N Maryvale Parkway
Phoenix, AZ 85031

Check out the edcamp Phoenix West  website at http://www.edcampphoenix.org/ for more information.

]]> http://www.haikulearning.com/blog/2013/02/haiku-supporting-edcamp-phoenix-west/feed/ 0 http://www.haikulearning.com/blog/2013/02/haiku-supporting-edcamp-phoenix-west/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/haikulms/~3/Cd4mo-npoUs/ http://www.haikulearning.com/blog/2013/02/haiku-and-activegrade-join-forces/#comments Wed, 06 Feb 2013 19:42:55 +0000 Anthony Showalter http://www.haikulearning.com/blog/?p=941 Continue reading →]]> We’re super excited to announce today that Haiku has acquired ActiveGrade, LLC, a web-based gradebook wholly dedicated to standards-based grading. We’re joining forces to build the best standards-ready learning platform in the universe.

ActiveGrade was built by three teachers in Iowa City, Iowa, who after struggling to implement standards-based grading in their own classrooms, set out to replace their spreadsheets-driven tracking. What they created was brilliant: A tool that enables teachers to provide their students with regular specific feedback about the student’s strengths and growth areas and to use the daily data to adapt their lesson plans to student needs.

ActiveGrade is currently helping some of the most innovative teachers and schools in dozens of countries embrace standards-based learning. The ActiveGrade team and their innovative approach have been featured in Silicon Prairie News, the Huffington Post, and the Harvard Education Newsletter.

A warm welcome to the ActiveGrade team and the many teachers and schools currently using the ActiveGrade gradebook. Rest assured that your data is safe & secure and there are no plans to discontinue service. See the ActiveGrade FAQ for more details.

How do you Haiku?

Calling all 21st Century Teachers! Compete for Fame (and a new iPad mini!)

Think you’ve created an awesome course in Haiku? Now is your chance to put your work to the test!

Inspired by Digital Learning Day, Haiku Learning is keen to see how you’re innovating in K-12 education, so we’re sponsoring a competition for teachers to showcase how they effectively pair quality content with tremendous technology.

Calling All Creators

Whether you’re a newbie or an expert, serve in a public or private school, teach in online or blended environments, this contest is for YOU!

The steps are simple:

1. Create a new class or pull something awesome from current or past Classes.

2. Review our CONTEST RULES and JUDGING CRITERIA

3. Go to the CONTEST SITE and enter a Haiku LMS Class that highlights how you like to Haiku.

Entry deadline is March 8!

Once you’ve created a class in Haiku, go to the Contest Site to enter it (or them) into the Haiku Digital Learning Day Content Contest. Then complete the contest entry form, which will include a place for you to provide a Class Share invitation.

How to Enter

To collect entries, we’re using Haiku’s Share Class feature, so before you enter the contest, you’ll want to get your Share Class link. Get more information on getting and using a Share Class Link HERE.

The Good Stuff

PRIZES: We’ll have four (4) finalists and one (1) winner! Each will receive a Haiku T-Shirt.

The winner will take home an iPad Mini, a Haiku T-Shirt, and a Winner’s Badge in the form of a GIF image file. We’ll showcase the winning class at www.haikulearning.com.

The four (4) Finalists will receive a Haiku T-shirt and a Finalist Badge in the form of a GIF image file.