Real World Alignment
 
Project K-Nect will target 9th grade at-risk students in the State of North Carolina who     currently have:
 
  1. 1.Limited math proficiency as identified by standardized test results conducted by the selected school site
  2. 2.Limited or no access to a home computer
  3. 3.Limited or no internet access at home
 
Goals & Objectives
  1. To develop, implement and test an integrated system that will deliver supplemental digital instructional content and foster peer to peer collaboration through mobile devices to increase mathematic achievement for 9th and 10th grade students in the State of North Carolina.  
  2. To test the efficacy and viability of mobile devices as digital assets that can be utilized as both a social communications tool and educational resource for students in US secondary education institutions.  
  3. To foster the design of a system that enables safe closed social, educational communications between students, teachers and parents.  
  4. To empower students with 21st century skills through secondary education institutions
  5. To determine if mobile devices can be utilized as a mechanism for reducing the disparity between those who are and are not connected with particular attention on rural areas within the State.  
Target populations Just-in-time instruction
Project K-Nect has five primary goals and objectives which include:
K-nect Functional services Needs Assessment Math & Science Skills Deficit 21st Century Skills Access (Digital Divide)
Project K-Nect is designed to address three core needs that include the lack of at-home Internet Access for our country’s poorest families, 21st century skills development, and the math and science skills deficit. All three core needs must be aligned to our nations youth and as a result, they have been placed in the center of the triange and are referred to as digital millennials. Millennials are the generation who were born at the dawn of the millennium. This youthful population has grown up with technology as a natural influence in their lives. Research indicates that these millennials seek to integrate their digital lifestyles into the education system. Project K-Nect aims to address the disconnect that currently exists by integrating digital lifestyle technologies into their formalized education process. For a detailed examination of the research data collected related to the needs assessment please click here.Needs%20Assessment.htmlshapeimage_14_link_0
Project K-Nect will allow teachers to distribute math problems to students that are aligned to their personal lesson plans which correlate to North Carolina State standards.  Students will be given the opportunity to solve assigned problems through the mobile device to master a skill set aligned to the teacher’s current lesson plan objectives.  If the student is unable to solve the problem, he/she is able to gain access to a repository of supplemental content which will be referred to hereafter as digital snippets.  
 
Upon the review of the digital snippets of content, students will be given the option to solve the assigned problem.  If the student requires additional support in order to master the skill set necessary to solve the problem, he/she will be given the option to gain access to support from their peers.  The peer to peer collaboration and communication layer in the system will be a closed secure environment only accessible by users who have been given access rights and privileges.
 
Students will then again be given the opportunity to solve the problem.  If the student successfully submits the correct answer to the problem anywhere in the system, the results will be submitted back to the teacher and parents/caretakers.  Finally, in order to insure mastery of the skill set and reduce the possibility of cheating, students will be presented with another randomly assigned problem that is based upon the same fundamentals
 
Research and evaluation
Project K-Nect has built an extensive research and evaluation model that will address the following points:
 
  1. 1.Do positive correlations exist between cell phone usage and student performance?
  2. 2.Does cell phone usage and student performance correlate positively to the implementation and technology?
  3. 3.Can education delivered through mobile devices increase access to e-learning for students with no home access otherwise?
  4. 4.Can mobile devices be utilized as a mechanism for increasing student achievement among academically at-risk students?
  5. 5.Can math curricula delivered through comfortable and familiar cell phones increase students’ levels of interest in math?
  6. 6.Do positive correlations exist between peer-to-peer social networking for mathematics support and student achievement?
  7. 7.Do students’ report satisfaction and useful learning support from the social networking systems?