This document discusses choosing and using educational software effectively. It recommends evaluating software based on criteria like intended users and desired outcomes. Pilot programs with different student groups helped determine that following a structured learning path and adequate instructor support are important for success. Upcoming changes to the GED exam will require new preparation materials that mirror the computer-based, more rigorous test format focusing on college and career readiness skills.

1. Educational Software
Choosing & Using with the
End in Mind

2. Educational Software
• Evaluating software
• Making a choice
• Starting out to be successful
• Getting results
• What’s new?
• What’s coming?
• Questions & Discussion
• Door Prizes

3. Evaluating software
• Criteria
• Who are the customers?
• Results?
• What else do we need or want?
• Determine
• Priorities (among results, customers, needs/wants)
• Which program/s may fit
• Pilot

4. Software pilots
• General
• Cost to institution varies-- $0 to ?
• No obligation to purchase
• Pilot agreement between institution & publisher (Aztec)

5. Pilot agreement
• Publisher agrees to
• Furnish software for 1-12 months
• Train instructors & administrators
• Provide support
• Institution agrees to
• Make software a regular part of the curriculum for a group of
students
• Identify measures of success
• Send instructors to training

6. Software pilots
• Road test
• Take it out for a spin
• Feedback from instructors
• Feedback from students

7. Software pilots
• Scientific
• Pilot group & control group
• Equal numbers
• Similar demographics
• Similar beginning Educational Functioning Levels
• Pre & posttests (standard assessments)
• GEDs
• Feedback from instructors & students

8. Pilots- examples
• Maximum Security Prison
• Job Corps Center
• Community College

9. Pilots- examples
• Maximum Security Prison
• Road test– no control group
• TABE every 4-5 weeks
• Little direction to students or tutors- “open lab”
• What we learned:
• Importance of following PRETEST>LEARNING>POSTEST path in
Aztec- students who took posttests made twice the gains of those who
did not
• For some students, outside factors significantly affected TABE scores
(e.g., prison policies, parole hearings, lockdowns)

10. Pilots- examples
• Job Corps Center
• Started as scientific- pilot group & control group
• Planned for 90 days with TABE pre & posttests
• Customer pulled the plug after 30 days & bought software for 5 Job
Corps
• What we learned:
• Educators can be impatient!
• Getting good data is extra work & not the primary mission
• Customer’s ethical dilemma-- if a tool is perceived as effective, shouldn’t
we make it available to all?

11. Pilots- examples
• Community College
• Scientific
• Pilot group & control group of equal number
• Similar demographics- age, gender, socioeconomic
• Similar Educational Functioning Levels (Range: ABE II-ASE II,
Majority in ABE III & ABE IV)
• What we learned:
• 90-120 days is a realistic time frame for a single cohort of students
• Importance of up front administration support
• Instructors don’t have to be experienced with software
• Instructors do need to want to try something new & be willing to follow through

12. COMPARISON OF AZTEC SOFTWARE VS. CONTROL GROUP
STUDENTS’ EDUCATIONAL RESULTS FALL 2011 (11 AUG-11 DEC)
PILOT AT LANIER TECH JACKSON COUNTY (GA) LEARNING CENTER
Aztec Control
Number of Students1 19 19
Number of Students Completing
EFLs
10 4
Students with Multiple EFL
Completions (no GED)
2 1
GED 7 2
GED in Process 7 5
Dropped Out 3 4
1.Comparable numbers at each beginning EFL, comparable demographics

13. Educational software-making a
choice• Need/gaps
• Expected results
• Reporting
• Ease of use
• Management
• Dependability
• Cost
• Single vs. multiple user groups

14. Educational software- starting out
to be successful• Train
• Hands-on instructors in labs
• Instructors who refer students
• Distance instructors & coordinators
• Administrators
• Set expectations for how software will be used
• By instructors
• By students (contract?)

15. Educational software- getting
results• Pretest>Learning>(Practice)>Posttest
• Follow up- visibly
• Be a guide

16. What’s new?
• New from Aztec:
• Distance Learning Reporting
• College Transition Series

17. Chart A1.1. Percentage of population that has attained tertiary education , by age group (2009)
1. Year of reference 2002.
Countries are ranked in descending order of the percentage of the 25-34 year-olds who have attained tertiary education.
Source: OECD. Table A1.3a. See Annex 3 for notes (www.oecd.org/edu/eag2011).
Statlink
%

18. North Carolina
• 37.65% of the population have at least a 2 year degree
• National average: 38.3%
• NC rank: 27th
• Percentage of jobs requiring a college credential by 2018:
59%

19. What’s coming?
• GED 2014 – advance info published February 2012
• A for-profit GED Testing Service is stirring up the adult
education publishing world
• Aztec’s GED 2014 Series (work has begun; name to be
determined)
• Changes in communication>>changes in education
• Student Intervention Platform

20. What’s wrong with this paragraph?
• “…Even with all of this evidence against the usefulness of a
GED, it continues to grow. As shown in the chart below, nearly
500,000 high school dropouts passed the GED test in 2008.
Those individuals accounted for 12 percent of all high school
credentials issued that year. At the same time, the exam’s
difficulty continues to decrease. When the GED exam was
introduced in 1942, it was estimated that 80 percent of
graduation-bound high school seniors could pass the test on
their first try. Currently, however, it is estimated that only 60
percent of graduation-bound high school seniors are able to pass
the test on their first try.”
•
• Alliance for Excellent Education

21. GED 2014
• What will be the same & what will be different?
• Same: nouns & verbs will still agree, & the denominator
will still be on the bottom.
• Different: cost
DATE: May 11, 2012
RE: Pricing for the New GED Test (2014)
GED Testing Service is pleased to announce that the cost to the jurisdictions* for the new
2014 GED® test on computer will remain at US$120. This pricing will remain in effect
through the end of 2014.
• Different: computer, keyboard essay, new
question/answer interactions (drag & drop, short answer,

22. Aztec’s GED 2014 Series
• Aztec’s content will mirror testing—
• 4 practice tests, balance of informational texts & literature,
balance of quantitative & algebraic problem solving
• Range of complexity, abstractions, critical thinking, recall
• Instruction focusing on Common Core State Standards &
similar state career & college readiness standards
• Calculator & formula pages will be available

23. Aztec’s GED 2014 Series
• Aztec’s content will mirror testing (cont.)
• Practice essays will be required in Literacy & Social
Studies
• Reading & writing will be measured in Social Studies
• Reading will be measured in Science
• Texts at the college & career readiness level will be
included
• Special attention to standards that include the most often
missed questions on the 2002 GED

24. Aztec’s GED 2014 Series
• Aztec’s presentation of test items will use the same
interactions required in the GED to ensure mastery of the
technology—
• Drag & drop, hot spot, cloze items, short answer, fill in the blank,
multiple choice, multiple selection
• Essay prompts with word processor, extended responses
• Computer literacy module
• New content
• New practice tests & question banks
• New graphics, animation, video

25. Changes in communication >>
changes in education
• Portable – Digital – Immediate
• Apps – Podcasts – Blogs – Social media – Text messages – Wikis
– You Tube

26. Video- Social Media

27. Student Intervention Platform
• Teens are sending 3,417 text messages per month.
(Neilson)
• There are more text messages per phone (357/month)
than phone calls (204/month.)
• Student Intervention Platform= instant notification to
students, faculty, and support services via text.
• What kinds of information?
• Student information
• Time based
• Event based

28. Student Intervention Platform
John Coplin: If you
would like help with
algebra…
Press
1) For a tutor
2) For math lab hours
& location
Early intervention>
Retention

29. Links & emails
• www.aztecsoftware.com
• Jennifer’s blog: http://jenniferslearningtech.com
• johncoplin@aztecsoftware.com
jennifercoplin@aztecsoftware.com
• Michael Kheyfets, atext, inc., mk@atext.com
• GED 2014: http://
www.gedtestingservice.com/uploads/files/d2dcf7999b40b1ff1e5