WHAT'S NEW

Upon home page load, a user is presented with a view of the most popular resources scheduled today on classroom pages throughout the entire MySyllabi site. The list includes all types of resources. The order for which the resources are ranked is dependent on how many classroom pages a particular resource is scheduled on. The algorithm takes into consideration how many classroom pages the resource is scheduled on today as well as how many classroom pages the resources is scheduled for any date. Users can click on calendar days on the box on the left in order to view a set of listings from the past or future. User can filter the list of resources by subject/grade/topic tags or by state standards. The user can also toggle to see the most recent teachers to join the community and the most recent classrooms created within the community; These additional queues are ranked chronologically. go to top

 

CLASSROOM PAGE

A classroom page is like a blog. It is a collection of resource contributions made on behalf of the classroom. A classroom page has a profile/description, an avatar, subscribers (teachers, parents, & students), a list of contributions made on behalf of the classroom, resources relaid to the page from other classrooms, a favorite folder and sub-folders therein, a calendar view of all resource associated with the classroom, and category tags (subjects, grades, topics) so that similar teachers can find the classroom . All classroom subscribers are featured in the Subscribing teachers box in the left sidebar or by clicking the subscribers hyperlink in the top of the classroom profiles page. go to top

 

 

 

BROWSING WITH TABS

A user's display is made of a series of tabs on the right, “body”, portion of the screen. These tabs include the the What's New tab as well as a Schools, Classrooms, Teachers, and Resources tab where users can browse through the MySyllabi community.

Under the Teachers tab, the user can view an output of teacher profile listings. At the default screen, three folders are featured at the top of the list allowing the user to browse within the top three teacher categories. Underneath is a list of the top, most active teachers across the nation. The user can filter by subject and grade, state or by category. These categories include teachers, administrators, librarians, professors, curriculum coordinators, tech coordinators, and educational publishers. Users can toggle to see the most active, “top”, colleagues or toggle to view a list of my colleagues.

Under the resources tab, the user can browse through terrific resources stored in our database. At the default screen, three folders are featured at the top of the list allowing the user to browse within the top three resource categories. Underneath is a list of the top, most active resources according to the algorithm mentioned above. The user can filter by subject and grade, state standard or by category. Users can toggle to see new resources.

Under the classrooms tab, the user can browse through terrific classrooms active within our community. At the default screen, three folders are featured at the top of the list allowing the user to browse within the top three classroom categories. Underneath is a list of the top, most active classrooms according to the algorithm mentioned above. The user can filter by subject and grade, state or by category. These categories include educational publishers, pre-schools, middle schools, high schools, colleges & universities, schools of education, private schools, home schools, charter schools, department of education, professional development, teacher associations, technology groups, and vendors/sponsors.

Under the schools tab, the user can browse through terrific schools active within our community. At the default screen, three folders are featured at the top of the list allowing the user to browse within the top three school categories. Underneath is a list of the top, most active schools according to the algorithm mentioned above. The user can filter by subject and grade, state or by category. These categories include pre-schools, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, charter schools, private schools, secondary schools, grad schools, colleges, universities, training schools, and summer schools. Users can toggle to see the most active “top” schools or toggle to see new schools.

Under the sponsors tab, the user can browse through terrific sponsors active within our community. At the default screen, the most active sponsors according to the amount of dollars donated to teachers. Users can toggle to see new sponsors according to category: entertainment, clothes, equipment, food, travel, & misc. Each listed sponsor offers a merit based pay raise opportunity for a teacher as well as a promotional discount/give-away. Sponsors on these toggle pages are ranked by the amount of available sponsorship opportunities. go to top

 

 

 

 

 

SEARCH

All public resources, teacher profiles, classroom profiles, and school profiles are crawlable and ranked because they must be tagged. Messages are not crawlable. Through keyword input, a user is returned a queue of listings ranked by the either the amount of activity within the classroom, the amount of calendars/classroom posting pages a resource is posted on, or the amount of activity a teacher or school is involved in. This output can be refined by category, state standard or by subject/grade. go to top

 

 

 

 

 

CONTEXTUAL SIDE BAR

To the left of all output is a contextual side bar that facilitates easy navigation and organization around the MySyllabi website. Featured within this sidebar are affiliation boxes according to Classrooms, Calendar, Teachers, Resources, Parents, Students, Schools, and Sponsors. The thumbnails featured in these boxes are hyperlinks that go to the respective profiles featured. Underneath is a hyperlink to browse with the same navigation as mentioned in the tabs section. By simply rolling over the thumbnails within each box, the title of the thumbnail's destination is interchanged with the caption of the box. The sidebar does not reload when the user navigates from the right side and takes advantage of framing technology. Unlike the signed in experience, the left sidebar is not dynamic nor does it allocate framing technology - so that we can maximize search engine optimization strategy among pages.

The sidebar takes cues upon hyperlink clicks commissioned on the right side of the page. These cues send reload instructions to particular boxes within the scroll bar, allowing them to reload individually with ajax technology. These boxes are dynamic depending on where the user has found herself navigated on the site. If a user is browsing or situated in front of a teacher's Profile content, then the content featured within the boxes is relative to her affiliations. However, if I am viewing the profile of a particular classroom, parents, student, school, or sponsor/vendor, then the contents in each of these boxes is relative to the affiliation of that particular profile. What is unique about these boxes is that they serve for ample navigation on their own. By clicking on the caption of each box, the user is able to toggle between particular affiliations that are relevant at the time. For example. If I am on a school profile, then I can click on the caption of the calendar box to toggle between sets of calendars representing each of the classrooms of the school. go to top

 

OPENED RESOURCES

Resources can be opened from numerous locations throughout the site. To open a resource, a user can simply click on the title. Unlike the signed in experience, resources open in a page/tab of their own. We do this to optimize search engine optimization. The layout of the resource hover over is made up of a menu of hyperlinks at the top as well as content and sponsor banner located in the middle. Clicking on the sponsor banner opens up a new tab featuring information about the sponsor program. Controls to navigate the content is featured within the content itself and depend on the type the resource represents. Hyperlinks belonging to the menu at the top of the hover over window include controls featuring information about the resource. These include a toggle to see usage and consumption statistics of the resource itself, a toggle to see who has viewed the resource and when they viewed it, a toggle listing the permissions set by the original author, a toggle listing all comments left from consuming users, a toggle featuring tags set by the original author, and a toggle featuring all the classrooms that the resource has been scheduled on. go to top