Curricula Release and Other Updates

Effective this week, we have released the completed curricula for Basic Computer Skills, Internet Basics, and Microsoft Word to testing locations. Each unit contains 7-9, two-hour lesson plans for classroom use. Included is a teacher’s guide. We hope these materials will greatly enhance the value of Northstar for your students and program. All of these materials can be accessed directly at https://www.digitalliteracyassessment.org/curriculum (you will need to log in) or admins and proctors can also find a link to that URL within their admin portal’s Resources tab.

We are developing additional curricula in the future, and are currently working on creating lessons to support the Email module.

Other enhancements include:

• A publicly available selection of curated web-based learning resources is now freely available on our website at https://www.digitalliteracyassessment.org/external-resources These were not created by Northstar, but have been carefully selected by our staff, and will replace the LibGuide.
• A substantial set of Northstar-designed, interactive, instructional and practice resources will be available later this fall, beginning with Basic Computer Skills. These resources will correspond to each Northstar standard, and can be used by students independently and/or be integrated into the classroom curriculum. These will be available only through testing locations.
• A new part of the Northstar ecosystem, named Northstar Online Learning, is in development. This is what we have at times referred to as Northstar’s learning management system. Northstar Online Learning will include the creation of individual student accounts at locations’ discretion, allowing testing locations to track student progress in mastering our interactive student learning resources mentioned above, assessment results, etc.

We’d like to give a shout-out to our curriculum development staff, which has worked innumerable hours on the project - Coordinator Leah Hauge, and writers Isaac Muscanto and Christine Dreiling. Our developer Jesse Morton, and instructional expert Julia Tabbut, have also contributed to supporting this effort. Thanks also to Evan Davis and Julia for compiling the learning resources for the public site.

Please note that the curriculum is covered by copyright, and cannot be copied and shared outside each testing location. It is included as part of your Northstar subscription, and cannot be used by a location if it should cease serving as a testing location. We have revised the Northstar Testing Location Agreement to reflect these conditions.