Third, the lessons had to focus on information about Louisiana, thereby introducing students to the richness and diversity of resources and cultures in the state. As development continues, teachers are being asked to write lessons which incorporate searches about Louisiana history, food, cultures, folklore, products, waters, forests, environment, natural resources, heritage, wildlife, tourism, politics, history, law, government, workforce, and authors. Recent school reform initiatives such as LaSIP and LaNIE have proven the value of standards-based curricula and the Challenge Grant project continues this initiative by making references to standards an important part of every lesson. To assist the teachers, all available national and state standards will be linked to the site, such as the National Math Standards, Louisiana Mathematics Frameworks, National Language Arts Content Standards, and National Science Standards as soon as they are available. Sites furnishing important information about commerce, recreation, and tourism, business and state government in Louisiana provide current real-life information which can be included in learning activities in almost any subject or grade level are also easily accessible through active links.
Evaluation is another area of innovation.
Most lesson plans that are presently available on the Internet have either no evaluation criteria or criteria at very superficial levels. The Louisiana Lessons sample lessons and guidelines are encouraging educators to incorporate alternative assessment techniques, especially those that involve other technologies. For instance, teachers are asked to compile student portfolios of journals, response logs or other such reflective responses to Internet searches, use graphing calculators to graph information found, and develop databases and spreadsheets on computers for analyzing information, estimating, or making future projections. Research is showing that new types of evaluation are needed for the new kinds of learning experienced in technology rich settings. To assist teachers, information about alternative assessments are linked to the site.