Overview

Knowledge Delivery Systems (KDS) provides unique and comprehensive online professional development solutions for today’s educators. KDS provides educators with a variety of self-paced courses for continuing education, in-service or graduate credits that can apply towards salary differentials and career advancement.   

KDS offers an extensive course library with a wide variety of high-interest courses such as: Differentiated Instruction, Classroom Management, School Leadership, Anger Management, Literacy, and Mathematics.  These video-based courses are presented by such nationally renowned educators as:  Jay McTighe, Carol Ann Tomlinson, Susan Winebrenner, Clifton Taulbert and Todd Whitaker.
All KDS courses are accessed via the KDS Classroom, an award-winning platform that facilitates web-based access 24/7.  The KDS Classroom hosts dynamic e-learning lectures, which consist of video and audio-based lectures with synchronized PowerPoint slideshows. This easy-to-use platform incorporates intercommunication through blogs and discussion forums, assessment activities, and evaluation features. The classroom system also provides access to printable resources, including: study guides, topic resources, online note-taking sessions, blogs, and cumulative coursework profiles.  The integrated Learning Management System furnishes instant accountability through participant tracking, assessment, comprehensive usage summaries, and aggregate data reports, all printable and exportable into spreadsheet form.

Clients across the country need to meet the challenge of how to best deliver and manage professional development for their educators. KDS Online Professional Development allows clients to harness technology in order to deliver, assess, and track high-quality training at a reduced cost.

Knowledge Delivery Systems' Comprehensive Professional Development Solution is unique because it provides both a Learning Management System and an e-Learning Platform, The KDS Classroom, in one. The integrated system is entirely web-based and available 24/7, on demand and supports hundreds of thousands of simultaneous users.

Through the Knowledge Delivery System's KDS Classroom (E-Learning Platform), users can instantly access e-learning courses in a diverse assortment of educational topics produced by nationally acclaimed educators. Through online streaming media, the KDS Classroom greatly enriches resources with a course library encompassing such content areas as Differentiated Instruction, Classroom Management, School Leadership, Technology Integration, Literacy, and Mathematics. KDS will also work with clients to produce custom content series, including high-quality video lectures with a wealth of supplementary resources.

The KDS Classroom hosts dynamic e-learning lectures, which consist of video and audio-based lectures with synchronized PowerPoint slideshows. The easy-to-use platform incorporates intercommunication, built-in assessment activities, and evaluation features. The classroom system also provides access to printable resources including: study guides, topic resources, online note-taking sessions, personal teacher Blogs, and coursework profiles.

Through KDS's Discussion Forums, users engage in interactive, topic-specific discussions about the courses in which they participate. Administrators can use these discussion forums to post assignments, announcements, share best practices, and foster intercommunication amongst participating educators.

The engaging learning system is also integrated with a unique Learning Management System (LMS) to provide instant accountability and tracking for administrators. KDS's powerful LMS can be tailored to meet the needs of client administrators, as the robust reporting system can provide reports organized by the school, district, and state levels. (The creation of groups, subgroups, and administrators at each level of the hierarchy can be customized to meet client's specific needs.)

District and subgroup summary report data may be accessed by designated client administrators, and monitored, printed and/or exported to other programs. Administrators seeking a paper compilation of coursework can instruct all participants to harness the "Print My Coursework" tool, which prints users' cumulative coursework by topic, including Course Objectives, Pre-Assessment Q&A, Post-Assessment Q&A, Discussion Board entries, and notes taken inside the KDS Classroom platform.

Through the KDS Administrators' Console designated staff training supervisors can view hierarchically organized data. They have instant access to users' activities, login times, assessment scores, Discussion Board and Blog entries, participant progress, and course completions. The administrator's console also empowers supervisors to post assignments, enforce best practices, and grant or deny coursework approval. The system is highly interoperable with other systems and can export data to a variety of programs.

Knowledge Delivery Systems will provide Clients with a completely customized online experience including customized online registration systems, a brande client website portal and even an e-commerce system, upon request.

Knowledge Delivery Systems, the leading provider of affordable, practical and 24/7 accessible online learning resources, empowers educators with on-demand access to dynamic online courses covering a wide variety of staff development topics. Exposure to effective and practical techniques imparted by these programs results in substantial professional growth for both budding and experienced teachers.

The KDS Classroom is the most advanced online content delivery platform available:

• On-Demand, Self-Paced Classroom Access
• Video/Audio Presentations
• Built-In Learning Management System
• Interactive Discussion Boards
• Personal Journals / Blogs
• Cumulative Coursework Portfolio
• Participant Status Check
• Online Note-Taking
• Printable Study Guides
• Printable Handouts for Classroom Use
• Printable Certificates of Completion
• Pre and Post Assessment Features
• Administrative Tracking Tools
• Printable User Data and Reports
• PC and Mac Compatible

KDS also creates custom content including streaming video and audio presentations, synchronized PowerPoint slideshows, lecture transcriptions, printable study guides, pre- and post-lecture assessments, city-wide discussion boards, and administrator accountability, and user tracking.

Clients may work with Knowledge Delivery Systems to create custom content including streaming video and audio presentations, synchronized PowerPoint slideshows, lecture transcriptions, printable study guides, pre- and post-lecture assessments, client-wide discussion boards, and administrative accountability through user-tracking.
KDS will work with clients to determine which educators and topics will be added to the library. Topics can be filmed as video-taped lectures from:

• Conferences
• Panels
• Workshops
• District meetings
• Or Live Webcasts (with interactive participation via the Internet)

In order to produce custom content, districts may use KDS resources to do the following:

• Record the presentation
• Supply recording equipment
• Edit the video and audio content and synchronize PowerPoint slideshows
• Create word-for-word transcriptions of the video presentation
• Assemble or create components for topic resources from the educational expert team
• Provide the outline and structure for the online course modules including:
• Topic Objectives
• Pre-Assessment Questions
• Post-Assessment Questions

Knowledge Delivery Systems will allow clients access to our panel of educational experts, copy-editing staff, and video-editing team.

The KDS Classroom offers the choice to have a self-running course or a facilitated course led by a teacher leader, facilitator, or staff developer.
Facilitator Responsibilities include monitoring the answers to the pre and post-assessments, creating an online community of learners on a particular topic, leading the discussion board on the correct educational path, fielding questions from the participants, and promoting best practices throughout the community.
Clients may assign their own facilitators for courses, request the KDS provide a facilitator for courses or request that KDS train a district facilitator on the KDS classroom at no cost.

Each Course Topic within the KDS library is 2 hours in length. This allows for the flexibility to mix and match course topics and the hours required to complete a full course of study.

• 1.5 hours interactive lectures
• 0.5 hours to read course objectives, complete assessment questions, compile notes, and review topic resources.

KDS will work with the client webmaster to integrate our login system with any requested client pages.

The KDS Classroom allows all coursework entered by participants to be viewed by both users and course administrators. When an user completes a KDS Course Topic, that participant will be able to access a complete collection of inputted work. This portfolio is delineated by topic name and includes:

• Topic Objectives
• Topic Summary
• Topic Goals
• Topic Table of Contents
• Pre-Assessment Work
• Multiple Choice Q&A
• Free Response Q&A
• Post-Assessment Work
• Multiple Choice Q&A
• Free Response Q&A
• Note-Taking Sessions
• Interactive Discussion Forum Entries
• Personal Journal / Blog Entries

Although all coursework materials are saved and instantly accessible to participants and administrators, many districts take advantage of the printing options included in order to amass a physical record of skills accomplished, and use this conglomerate learning portfolio as a "paper" resource.

The KDS Classroom provides 24/7 access to online, self-paced streaming video and audio lectures. Educators can access their KDS training anytime and from any location, including home, school, or library computers. KDS online development activities allow users to monitor progress as they view dynamic lectures punctuated by synchronized slideshows and accompanied by lecture transcriptions (ADA compliant for the hearing impaired).

Each professional development topic includes a printable study guide paralleling the online lecture. Users may print these resources and use them as workbooks. Participants may also enter, save, and print notes within the KDS Classroom as the lecture plays.

The KDS Classroom features interactive Discussion Boards, a forum to foster intercommunication between users, administrators, and other educators within the same client.
Teachers can engage in interactive, topic-specific discussions, submit coursework, share feedback and inspire ideas among their colleagues. Administrators can utilize the platform as a medium to post assignments, broadcast announcements, encourage conversation on specific topics, and reinforce best practices throughout the school system's vast network of participating educators. Teachers may also utilize the "My Blog" Feature to keep a learning diary as they progress through KDS Coursework.
Staff developers or Teacher leaders can utilize this medium to post announcements, create assignments, or encourage conversation between educators on specific topics.

The KDS Classroom incorporates pre- and post-lecture assessments into the online platform. Administrators gain instant access to reports to gauge teachers' knowledge before lectures and can ensure mastery of lecture concepts through recorded responses to both multiple choice and free response questions. Administrators may choose to issue printable certificates to participants based upon either (1) course completion, (2) passing multiple choice grade (passing grade set as per administrator), or (3) supervisor review of all associated participation including course completion, multiple choice grade, free response answer quality, discussion board participation, and note-taking.

In addition to online, self-paced courses for independent user access, KDS e-Learning content can also be delivered as onsite facilitated sessions with the use of a computer and LCD projector. School districts may choose to use KDS Course credits for various purposes including but not limited to:

• Professional development hours
• State license recertification
• Salary upgrade programs
• College credit (approved by various educational entities including Nova Southeastern University, Fischler School of Education and Human Services)

KDS's Professional Development Platform provides an unparalleled degree of accountability for administrators through its comprehensive Learning Management System (LMS). The platform allows both users to access their personal data and completion status but further allows designated administrators to access district-level and subgroup-level reports and statistics.

When an individual participants access their user accounts, they are immediately able to view:

• Completion Status Bars
• District-Wide Discussion Boards
• Personal Journals / Blogs
• Cumulative Coursework Portfolio
• Printable Topic Resources
• Help Documents & FAQs
• Technical Support Contact

Individual participants have access to their own personal data but not to that of other participants (with the exception of shared discussion forums), unless they are specifically designated as an administrative user. The next section will discuss the specific tools available to users with administrative capabilities.

Clients may also designate several users as "Administrators." Administrator status allows these users to supervise the activities of participants pertaining to their particular group. For example, a client may create groups within the master client to represent the specific subgroups, such as an Elementary, Middle, and High Schools with a district. Each individual school's group may have 1 or many administrators who have access to the relevant school data (for example, a Principal or School PD Coordinator). There may be master administrators who are designated to oversee the entire district's participant data (for example, an Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum & Instruction or a District Administrator in charge of Human Resources). When such administrators access their accounts, they have an additional level of data and reporting on both district-wide and subgroup levels.

By clicking into KDS's Administrative Console, they are able to manipulative user reports including:

• User Account Info.
• User Groupings
• User Topic Registration
• Grading Options for Assessments
• Certificates can be printed by users based on:
• Simple course completion (finish all sections of each topic)
• Passing grade (as specified by the admin)
• Administrator's approval (based upon completion, scores, and overall participation)

Note: Districts may also request the production of custom data reports from Knowledge Delivery Systems.

Administrators may harness further reporting features that allow for a comprehensive degree of accountability through homing in Topic Status by Individual Users.

• Topic Status by User
• Number of Topics Started
• Number of Topics Completed
• Date of Last Topic Completed
• First Login Date
• Last Login Date

Clients may choose to have additional administrative participation from a KDS Consultant, and they may use the media provided to communicate with requested Leadership Coaches and other contacts from KDS's Speakers Bureau. While viewing individual participant data, supervisors may survey the overall landscape of district-wide staff training by zooming out on User Utilization Reports and User Activity Reports. Administrators may view totals and averages of various data points regarding courses started, courses completed, and compiled participation records. All of these reports can be viewed within the KDS Classroom Administrative Console and can also be exported in various formats to manipulate using other programs.

In addition to the reporting features shown above, The KDS Classroom's LMS provides:

• Options to export data to MS Excel or other compatible programs
• Topic Access Notification via Email
• Email options for district-wide and group-specific communications
• Forum Management
• Administrative Announcements
• Topic Forums Review

Additionally, administrators may choose to take advantage of the ability to review individual participant's coursework and participation.
Thus, the KDS Classroom not only provides accountability for administrators through tracking of individual topic status but provides a multitude of user-monitoring options.
The Administrative Console allows users to manipulate reports that can zoom in as far as participant responses and log entries and also zooms out as far as district or group totals, average, and other compiled statistics.
The ability to export data from the system adds an extra dimension of interoperability, as the program can interface with a number of compatible LMS's that house district data.
The combination of the KDS Classroom, which provides on-demand, self-paced access to high-impact professional development lectures, and instant access to an administrative console, create an extremely powerful system that results in a previously unattainable level of accountability for district supervisors.

The KDS Classroom is an entirely Web-based solution; therefore, it can be fully deployed across an entire school system with virtually no setup time.

The KDS Classroom is accessible to customers 24/7, on-demand. With the KDS Classroom application, one can expect the following:

• Rapid deployment
• Instantaneous upgrades
• Network-wide attribution of system enhancements
• Lower costs
• Greater scalability
• No legacy costs.

The KDS Classroom is a web-based, n-tier application built on Microsoft server technologies, particularly Microsoft.Net. Since the KDS Classroom was built on object-oriented methodologies, maintenance and expansions on features can be performed rapidly.
The back-end logic is built on object-oriented system, implementing a fully normalized relational database with T-SQL stored procedures in Microsoft SQL Server 2000.

Our Web and Database servers are currently being hosted through Redplaid and AIT, Inc. Our media is being served by Nine Systems with load balancing capability. The KDS Classroom can handle large numbers of simultaneous users with ease.

• Computer: 256MB RAM, 533MHz processor. Sound card for audio/video courses.
• Operating Systems Supported: Microsoft XP/2000/ME/98, MAC OSX+.
• Browsers Supported: Microsoft IE 5.5+, Firefox 1.04+, Safari, AOL Navigator, Netscape 7.0+ (Required to disable all pop-up blockers or allow all pop-ups from Knowledge Delivery Systems).
• Display Resolution: A resolution of 1024 x 768 or higher is required.
• Network: Internet connection is required. Even though both dial-up and high-speed Internet connections are supported, KDS, Inc. recommends a high-speed connection for optimal experience.
• Connectivity: Minimum acceptable data transfer rates depend on the bandwidth required by individual courses, ranging from 56 Kbps to 100+ Kbps.
• Plug-ins: The Classroom requires the following list of plug-ins:
• Windows Media Player or Real Media Player
• Adobe Acrobat Reader or Preview(MAC)