ICPALMS a Portal for Standards-based Instruction

Florida State University, Tallahassee FL

Investigators

Abstract

The ICPALMS pathway is designed to provide a widget-based portal into content, services, professional development, research, and dissemination that result in a scalable, sustainable infrastructure to support individual and collaborative standards-driven instructional planning with K-12 NSDL resources. It includes standards-based planning tools that recommend relevant digital resources just-in-time and continuously. ICPALMS integrates within the context of teacher practice in Florida, as a test bed, including rigorous alignment with state content standards, but transitions to use the Common Core Standards. Teachers collaborate with other teachers, library media specialists, content specialists and school leaders to create effective plans that integrate NSDL resources. ICPALMS has contributed 3,000 K-12 resources to NSDL. These resources are recommended or created by educators. All resources are vetted through a rigorous review process that involves teams of content, pedagogy, and practitioner experts to ensure that tools, services and the connected content are standards-based, reflect appropriate levels of cognitive complexity and utilize evidence-based instructional strategies tied to improved student outcomes. ICPALMS helps NSDL realize its vision to attain deep and meaningful integration into educational practice. ICPALMS meets challenges repeatedly cited as barriers to wider digital library use, by providing a system to enable educators to wed high quality resources, vetted by experts, with time saving planning tools. ICPALMS makes accessing and implementing digital resources relevant in the day-to-day roles and responsibilities of educators. Integrating the Common Core and other national standards facilitates expanding implementation and expandability into other states.