TODCM Curriculum Mapping/Assessment Features

Simple and Intuitive User Interface	Minimal training is required for teachers/users to be proficient with TODCM. This is due to TODCM's full AJAX based user interface enabling it to behave similar to a desktop application. This concept is categorized as "Rich Internet Application" (RIA) and it is considered the most efficient of all Web 2.0 concepts. All major commercial curriculum mapping offerings are not full RIA.
LDAP Authentication Support	LDAP support is built-in to TODCM. This allows the users to use the same username and password as their school system account.
Multiple Unit Template Support	TODCM supports multiple unit templates such as having Ubd, MYP and PYP templates in one system. There are currently at least 2 schools with TODCM installation supporting multiple templates. The standard open source package only comes with one UbD like sample template.
Simple Plug-and-Play Unit Template Installation	The installation of a customized template involves just one step: copy the new template into one of the TODCM folders (templates/builder/unit). The system will automatically make the copied template available in the menu tree. It is really that simple.
System-wide Hierarchical Strands, Standards and Benchmarks	This is the natural organization of these data elements in curriculum mapping. The system facilitates these data elements in a hierarchical structure and based on subject-areas/departments and grade levels.
Course and Benchmark Based Learning Targets	Each course can be assigned with teacher entered learning targets linked to system-wide benchmarks. The learning targets defined in a course are available to all units belonging to the course.
Department, Grade Level or Category Based Menu Tree Structure	Courses can be organized by departments or admin user assigned categories. A category can be configured with one or more departments and one or more grade levels. The optional grade level tree is always available regardless the main/default tree is organized by departments or categories.
Protected Editing Units	An editing unit is the editing version of a published unit. The editing version is hidden/protected and prevents access from other users in the system. Only assigned users to a course have read and/or edit access to the course's editing units.
Read-only Published Units	All published units are accessible to all users and no changes can be made to them. The actual editing of of a published unit takes place in the editing unit which is a duplicated copy generated by the system from the read-only published unit. An editing unit can be published by an editor to replace the existing published unit, the original published unit would get archived and can be retrieved from the unit history comparison feature.
Multiple Unit Editor Support	Multiple users/editors can work on the same unit. This feature brings effortless curriculum collaboration between multiple users/editors.
Unit Edit Lock	This prevents editing conflicts from multiple users editing the same unit at the same time. The unit edit lock is automatically released after a predetermined time or the lock owner can release the lock manually.
MyCourses Tree List	The list of courses assigned to a user are always listed on the top of the tree menu. This allows users to access their courses with minimal effort.
Hidden Units and Courses	Units and courses can be made hidden by their editors so other teachers/users with no editing access can't see them.
Unit History and History Comparison	Each time an editing unit is published, a copy of the previous published unit is saved. A copy/version of a unit can be compared side-by-side to any other copy/version of the same unit.
File Upload and Web Site Linking	File upload/sharing and web site linking are available at the site level, course level and unit level.
Multiple File Upload Support	Multiple files can be uploaded in one single upload operation. Upload file(s) drag and drop selection is available in Firefox and Safari browsers.
Unit Copying	A teacher/user can copy any unit from the whole system into his/her course. This will create a physical copy of another unit.
Unit Sharing	A unit can be shared among any number of courses. This features allows multiple courses to share a single copy of a unit, any changes applied to a shared unit will automatically propagated to the courses where it is shared to. This also makes all learning targets and essential questions (can be more than one department) form all shared courses available to the shared unit.
Private Data Resources	Most data resources on the Site Resource page, Course Descriptions page, and unit page can be set as private and only assigned editors can have access to them. The private data resource can be revised to be public data resource by an editor.
Unit Data Sorting	Most data items on a unit page can be sorted by the editor.
Unit Calendar	Flash based unit calendar with clickable unit titles from the Flash generated graph.
Real-time PDF Generation	Users can generate on-demand PDF documents with unit pages, course pages and mapping search/assessment result pages. Header and footer logo images are supported in the PDF document generation.
Admin Unit Notes/Reminders	Allows admin user(s) to address each unit in the system. A search interface is provided to find the notes/reminders. Direct edit access to the notes/reminder allowed within the search results.
Course Editor and Read-only Teacher Support	Admin user(s) can assign teachers/users to a course with editor or read-only access. An assigned read-only user/teacher to a course has read access to the course's editing units and unit reflection editing access (limited to his/her reflection items only). Users not assigned to a course have no read and edit access to the course's editing units.
Learning Targets Linking	A course editor can link learning targets from other courses into his/her courses.
Curriculum Mapping Searches/Assessments	There are thirteen searches available from the standard open source package. Custom searches and assessments can be added by adding custom PHP search plug-ins.
Template Driven Mapping Searches	All searches are template driven and search behavior can be customized in a relatively short period of time.
Admin Control Panel	The admin user(s) can use the admin features to manipulate the following: strands, standards and benchmarks; essential questions; user accounts; courses; departments; grades; schools; tree categories.
System Configurations	This is part of the available features from the Admin Control Panle with close to 40 configuration options. Some major configuration options are: LDAP server parameters; file upload size; maintenance mode; unit edit lock timeout; site appearance; modify the system behavior by turning off or on some of the major features.
Full Site Access For Admin Users	Admin users have full access to all site resources. In addition to the admin tasks and resources, the admin users can perform all user level tasks to all users resources in the system.
Admin Logon As Function	The admin user(s) can logon as any user in the system. This enables the admin users to see user specific issues or provide support to the users.
Teacher Annual Evaluation With Integrated Student Surveys	Allows each teacher to be evaluated by admin user assigned appraiser(s). Each teacher can generated multiple student surveys for multiple groups/classes of students. The teachers can also take a survey and the teacher survey results can be compared to the students' results in a graphical representation.
Template Driven Evaluation and Surveys	The teacher annual evaluation and surveys are template driven therefore customization time required is short.
Account Lockout and CAPTCHA Security Feature	User accounts are locked out or challenged with a Captcha confirmation when there are more than 5 failed login attempts. The account lockout is prevented for valid users by looking at IP address history from previous successful logins associated with a user account. This security feature makes brute-force password attacks ineffective.
Guest Login with LDAP Support	TODCM can be configured to allow guest login with or without LDAP authentication. The is useful for allowing students and parents to get read access to all published units, standards, benchmarks and learning targets.