Milton+Week+4


 * THE GRADECAM STORYBOARD **
 * NEED || RESEARCH || DEVELOPMENT || COMMERCIALIZATION ||
 * **//Teachers at my school are inundated with work://**

Preparation of unit plans, daily lesson plans, daily homework assignments, unit tests, quizzes, internal mid semester examination, internal end-of-semester examination.

The grading of homework assignments, tests, quizzes, internal examinations, and the State’s external or Regents examination, administered at least twice per year.

After school tutoring

Student smart goals meetings

Review and analysis of student work after each test and internal examinations

Monthly bulletin boards postings

Monthly classroom inter-visitations || **//Research idea//** – Tami Porter, cofounder of GradeCam Inc., was a teacher who felt overwhelmed by the grading of students’ work. It demanded much of her time and attention. One day, on her way home from the school where she taught, she stopped by the grocery. Watching the clerk scan her purchases, she thought, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if teachers could grade and record student work that easily?” She did not realize, at the time, that the idea for GradeCam had just been born.


 * //Research background//** – The research on the benefits of formative assessments seems to be convincing. For example, after a10 year review of approximately 250 studies on assessments, British professors Paul Black and Dylan William reported: // “Firm evidence shows that formative assessment is an essential component of classroom work and that its development can raise standards of achievement. Indeed, we know of no other way of raising standards where such a prima-facie //(evidence-based)// case can be made.” // || GradeCam was developed over years of collaboration with technology experts experienced in designing productivity tools. It came directly out of the classroom experience of the husband and wife team of educators, Tami and Rick Porter. They worked with a team of computer programmers led by their son, to develop GradeCam, and put it through extensive field testing. In diagnosing the problem with GradeCam during its development, the developers were careful in using the camera that is compatible with the software. Not all kinds of camera can be used. GradeCam is geared to classroom teachers, with the intention of easing their excessive work load and improving instruction through timely feedback || The GradeCam package consists of a 300 DPI scanner with a special built in camera, GradeCam score credit labels, and GradeCam bubble sheets. In addition, the user must include a computer (desktop/laptop), and the downloaded GradeCam software. GradeCam uses the Internet, technology conferences and expositions, as well as word of mouth as its main tools for marketing. This word of mouth is in the form of feedback from those teachers who have experience its use. The innovation is distributed through software vendors. The product is relatively inexpensive when compared with other almost similar products on the market. ||