How to Explode Educational Standards

One of the perks of working in education is the ability to be creative and to think outside the box. Lots of things in education can also be fun, such as science experiments, game-based learning, mock trials, and the like. Academic standards, however, are not inherently fun. They are useful and necessary to the educational process, but they hardly set most teachers’ hearts aflutter. That’s where we come in.

In my last couple of columns, I’ve discussed some of the uses of the ASN, and how to use the ASN to locate and add relevant standards to existing lesson plans. This month, I want to highlight the ASN’s ability to provide standards that link to other data sets. What this means is that, instead of simply listing static academic standards, individual standards within the ASN can be “exploded” to provide graphics and additional information in support of that particular standard to enhance the teaching and learning experience. Intrigued?

For example: Using the Gateway, a social studies teacher may locate a lesson plan on the Bay of Pigs and President Kennedy’s decision-making process before and during the event. In reviewing the standards that are aligned to the lesson, the teacher will note that, in addition to viewing all the basic properties of an academic standard, various standards may also include links to other supporting sources of data:

The ability to “explode” standards in this way thus establishes a link between dry academic standards and real world examples of elements contained within a standard. Such linked data creates a much richer experience for educators and students alike. By using controlled vocabularies, the ASN’s standards feature rich descriptions, rather than simple sets of data. While still in the nascent stages of development, the ASN’s ability to embed linked data into academic standards is an exciting advancement in educational technology.

Although the ASN linked data is not yet available in the Gateway, it’s one of many capabilities that we’re working on to enrich the teaching and learning process. For lesson plans and other educational goodies, be sure to take a look at our Twitter and Facebook pages, where we highlight lots of K-12 lesson plans, activities, and other resources daily.