Features & Screenshots

The PDS2 platform incorporates three main categories of features and functions: search and retrieval functions, authoring functions, and networking and collaboration tools.

Search & Retrieval Functions
A fine-grained, multi-criteria search and retrieval function allows users to quickly locate the system resources most relevant to their particular needs or interests. Thumbnail descriptions and content maps appear for each item returned by a search, making it easy for users to quickly browse through and select materials for use.

Authoring Functions
PDS2 provides easy-to-use functions for customizing and archiving personally created collections of professional development materials. Users can drag and drop items from the multimedia database into folders they have created in their own libraries. These items can then be annotated, ordered, edited, and saved.

Tools for Networking and Collaborating
Authorized users of PDS2 can set up their own on-line learning groups for members to share resources, participate in discussions, and engage in collaborative work on an on-going basis. PDS2 subscribers can monitor and participate in threaded-discussion groups in a public discussion area. Participation in this larger professional community allows users to tap expertise beyond what is available in their local context.

Content Design
The central component of the PDS2 system is an extensive collection of video cases documenting actual teaching and learning in a diverse range of K-3rd grade classrooms. Three ways in which cases can be used effectively are as: exemplars of "best practice," tools to practice analysis and decision making, and catalysts to self-reflection (Merseth, 1996). In designing PDS2 video cases we have made an effort to select video footage and create a portfolio of associated materials to accommodate all three uses. The associated materials include: student work artifacts, documentation of the classroom physical environment, written or taped reflections by the teachers, and in some cases, taped coaching sessions.

The benefit of using cases depends on the knowledge and skill of a moderator and the methods they use to engage learners in a community of inquiry. We developed additional content components to support different levels of expertise and experience. These include: analytic commentary by literacy specialists; suggested questions and prompts to stimulate discussion and analysis; and suggestions for more structured ways to use the cases in cycles of inquiry. Annotated reference lists and answers to FAQs are also included for each case.

Screenshots

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