Part of the beauty of a digital curriculum is its ability to liberate learners and teachers from the traditional "sage on the stage" style of education. Switched-On^® works well because it is flexible, allowing teachers to tweak features for various students. One way to accomplish this is through projects.

You probably have noticed that most units contain at least one project. These are labeled Activity, Experiment, Essay, or Project. Even though complete instructions are given, you are the evaluator who gives projects a grade, so students can complete whatever you require.

Switched-On Schoolhouse^® gives you the freedom to drag in as many projects as you wish by simply choosing Edit Subject from the Assignments tab. This displays the following window.

Every unit within the Available Curriculum column contains an assignment labeled Special Project. Feel free to drag as many of these over as you like. Rename the Special Project by clicking the Edit Title button. After saving the course, open up the new project, click on the Report -Click Here button, and provide your own directions within the word processor file.

Switched-On Online^® offers a slightly different form of project flexibility. The Upload and Download tabs at the bottom of every project allow teachers and students to attach any file type they choose. Each file of less than 10MB may be attached but must be attached one at a time. Audio/video files, templates or presentations, spreadsheets, pictures, and more can be easily attached to a student's project using the Upload tab, and then downloaded using the Download tab. Just be sure both teacher and student have the software necessary to open the file type uploaded. Also, be sure you give the file time to upload before navigating away from the project page. You know it is finished when the label of the browser tab no longer says Loading.

Switched-On Online also allows you to create your own unique projects. You can fill them with text, pictures, and multimedia and then insert your project into any unit you desire. This must be done within the Create Custom Course button before a course is assigned. So, before you assign your next course, you may want to customize it with your own projects. The Teacher Reference Guide found within the Support "life ring" has thorough instructions on how to accomplish this.

This is only the beginning of the flexibility planned for future releases of Switched-On! Most of what Switched-On can and will do is based on you, the teacher in the field. Utilize the adaptability of the Switched-On curriculum, and be sure to let us know of any ideas for improvements or updates in the future. Working together, we can improve the learning options available to ensure your student's continued success using Switched-On!