Positive Action Apps.

Positive Action is developing four mobile apps and an integrated web portal. The design of these services has been ongoing for more than a decade. The conceptualization and design of these apps require substantial planning and foresight as mobile technologies are constantly evolving. The apps will change and improve the way teachers, students, parents and administrators use and learn Positive Action.

These apps will feature a built-in function to provide granular feedback for each individual lesson. This will allow Positive Action to provide instantaneous updates to its content library, whereas the printed version requires tedious version planning and tracking.

Positive Action for Instructors

The instructor app is organized just as the kits are organized. It will feature all the instructional content in the Positive Action library, and users will be able to license any number of grade levels or supplemental topics. In addition to content access, the app will have unique features to help users plan, organize and optimize their implementations:

• Kit and lesson discovery
• Lesson selection and planning
• Lesson preparation and personal notes
• Kit and lesson discovery
• Lesson selection and planning
• Lesson preparation and personal notes
• Kit and lesson discovery
• Integration with future assessment services
• Smartboard integration
• Chromecast integration
• Single sign-on services
• Curriculum updates
• Lesson selection and planning
• Lesson preparation and personal notes
• Kit and lesson discovery
• Lesson selection and planning
• Lesson preparation and personal notes
• Social media integration
• Fidelity guidance
• Spanish and other languages
• In-app implementation support
• Integration with future games

Users will be able to search for specific content by keywords and tags. If a user finds specific content from a grade level above or below their own, they may subscribe to that content on either a termed or lifetime basis. For example, if a Grade 3 teacher searches the library for lessons on friendship, the search results will present content from Grade 3 but also display lessons from Grade 4 that could integrate well with that lesson. The teacher can then subscribe to the Grade 4 content, without buying the accompanying kit.

As the teacher progresses through the year, they may find that the content from Grade 4 is very useful, but there are printed materials that accompany those lessons that they do not have. The app will allow users to either download materials that are easy to print or order more specialized materials, such as posters, individually, all from within the app. They would also be eligible to purchase a full kit at a discounted price, instead of ordering individual materials.

The app will also have features to organize lesson plans. Users can bookmark and schedule lessons and send that information to their calendars. The app will also feature a “fidelity wizard” that pre-selects important lessons and ensures that instructors are scheduling a balanced number of lessons across the program units. Other features will include smartboard and Chromecast integration for classroom media, SSO interoperability with providers such as Clever and external resource suggestions. Any kits purchased now will be eligible for a corresponding license.

Positive Action for Students

The student app will provide content for Grades 5 through 12 and is free for students who are enrolled in a Positive Action class. The instructor for the class can authorize content access for up to 50 students. Additional student licenses will be available for purchase. The content will become available to students on their mobile devices as their instructor schedules specific lessons. Later iterations will feature an integrated data tracking system to track and monitor students’ progress.

Positive Action for Families

The family app will feature content from the Positive Action Family Kit and Parenting Handbook. It will feature the same search and scheduling functions found in the instructor version. It will also feature additional functionality to integrate with the family and parenting classes instructor content.

Positive Action for Administrators

The administrator app will provide implementation management functions. Administrators will be able to manage their implementations from their mobile devices. This includes coordinating lesson scheduling between instructors and planning school climate activities with principals and other school administrators. Future features will provide fidelity monitoring, user analytics and usage reporting.

Web App

The web app will be an extension of the instructor and administrator apps, with additional content functionality for user training, onboarding, and implementation management. Users will be able to access a library of training resources, including video of any on-site training that the user has attended. It will also serve as the platform for new training services that are under development.

Development

With the largest library of content of any Social and Emotional Learning program available, the development team is charged with the exhaustive task of preparing nearly 2,000 lessons for use in the apps. This effort is spread across three continents with development teams in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

Positive Action is pleased to report that the development team has completed many of the preliminary milestones and developers are now hard at work in making these apps a reality.