Sure! First, read the introductory material on the home page here and here and then if you still have questions, we'll be happy to answer your questions via our feedback feature. Who knows, maybe it'll end up here on the FAQ's.
This site is currently in development. Features may be modified and added, in part, based on Feedback we get from users.
Please use the Feedback form. We encourage you to give frank feedback so we can improve this site. We are also looking for positive feedback that can be publicly shared. Include your contact info if you'd like us to reply to you.
It’s free, for now, because we value the feedback and are happy to share it. We hope to keep it free forever, but that will depend on alternative funding support.
You can print or convert this document to PDF using your browser's built-in tools. In most browsers, click File and then select Print. From there, you can send this document to your printer, or select the option to Save as PDF.
If you are interested in high-quality printed copies, please contact us and describe your needs through our Feedback feature.
The DOG is a tool designed to support your school community and educators to observe and assist individual students' development in ways that are important to your community. Need more help? Click here, here, and here.
Yes, you can edit (or remove) everything except the basic architecture. Essentially, you could build a new DOG from the ground up.
Please, please, PLEASE let us know (using our Feedback feature). Thank you.
We’d love to hear from you. Please reach out to us through our feedback feature or leave a comment (here).
As many as you want or need. Every time you Save a new attribute you will be given a new empty field to create in.
Not yet; but, please let us know if you would prefer a different language. If there is enough demand, we will work on translations.
All public Little DOGs are listed in the Gallery of Working DOGs. Click to view them.
Yes. Use the Feedback page. Enter your email address, comment, and check the checkbox that allows us to post the comment on the site. We will contact you via email to confirm that the comment came from you prior to posting it on our site. Your comment will be used on the site as appropriate.
If there is one source of inspiration for The DOG, it is the work of Dr. Maria Montessori.
We find her work inspiring and insightful, as well as timely and timeless: she has a rare combination of eloquence, vision for holistic human development, understanding of scientific observation, and pedagogical wisdom. Most, if not all, of the content and structure for The Big DOG is based on Montessori’s work.
Furthermore, we can, as she says, create tools--both concrete and abstract--that empower us to “see” things that we would not see otherwise. Not only do we have selective perception, we have perception that can be trained and prepared for different purposes and ends. The hunter, the farmer, and the painter may look out onto the same field, but they do not see the same things--their experiences and observations are incredibly varied. What Montessori left behind, and what we intend to build upon, is a way for us to look out onto a “field” of, for example, children within a school, and to see much more than the lens of standardized tests can provide. Montessori has helped us decide what more we are looking for.