Media-X Systems, Inc.
Performance appraisals for teachers and other education professionals can be a difficult job with many layers of paperwork between observation and reporting. Now, low cost Palm OS handheld devices and new software from Media-X Systems Inc. make the task much more approachable, putting the emphasis back on observation and away from filling out endless forms and charts. Using the eValuate software bundle from Media-X, which includes both desktop and Palm OS modules, a school principal or teacher evaluator, can quickly set up standards-based observations tied to rubric statements and transfer the tracking information to a handheld PDA to record observations.
eValuate uses many of the same techniques as eTeacher, the Media-X desktop/handheld bundle for evaluating students. The software will be used extensively in Minnesota. Over the next three years, 1,600 administrators will use HandSpring Visors and the eValuate software to complete teacher evaluations. The project is being coordinated through the Administrators Forum, a collaborative effort of the principal and superintendent associations with the Department of Children, Families and Learning in Minnesota. eValuate is also being used to evaluate student teachers in faculties of education, and includes built-in e-mail and Web publishing features. Media-X Systems Inc., Ottawa, ON, 888-722-9990, www.media-x.com.