Moving target: keeping up with the Web gets harder every year. In the time it took to read that last sentence, another 75 pages were put online. (2003 Curriculum Web Site Awards).So much energy has been devoted in recent years to connecting schools to the Internet, and keeping score of which are and the few that still aren't, that it is easy for districts to lose sight of the bigger picture. "For these connections to truly make a difference, teachers must be trained and students must have access to quality educational content," says John Bailey John Bailey may refer to one of the following people:
Equipping educators with up-to-date information is a huge task and a moving target. New material is added to the Web at the rate of 25 pages every second, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Nancy Willard Nancy Willard (born June 26, 1936, in Ann Arbor, Michigan) is a children's author and poet. In 1982, she received the Newbery Medal for A Visit to William Blake's Inn. She lives in Poughkeepsie, New York and lectures at Vassar College.[1]. of the Responsible Netizen Institute. It would take 750 people working 24 hours a day seven days a week just to keep up with developments. "It is easy for educators to rely on a few familiar sites--usually those recommended by a nearby colleague--if they aren't aware that superior online curriculum models and applications exist," says Conrad Berdeen, principal of the Buffer School in Avon, Mass. THE INDUSTRY MOVES FORWARD The Curriculum Web Site Awards were launched in 1998 to identify exemplary K-12 online curriculum material in every content area. The competition includes free and subscription-based sites. In the course of reviewing more than 800 education-related sites, the following trends are apparent: * The best education sites continue to get better, and many online curriculum leaders have added new options and expanded into new areas. Last year the magazine established a Hall of Fame to recognize continuing superior achievement, and this year inducted six new honorees. * Key companies extended their reach with acquisitions. For example, Plato Learning acquired Netschools and its Orion online curriculum product; Pearson Education Pearson Education is an international publisher of textbooks and other educational material, such as multimedia learning tools. Pearson Education is part of Pearson PLC. It is headquartered in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. added the resources of the Family Education Network; and Scantron acquired EdVision, developer of online assessment tools. * There was continued growth in cooperative partnerships with developers of specialized online content. For example, Nationalgeographic.com signed a multi-year deal with Encyclopaedia Britannica to add the Britannica Concise Encyclopedia to its Homework Help site, and AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. @School established more than 30 partnerships with companies including Apex Learning Apex Learning, Inc. is a privately-held provider of e-Learning solutions for K-12 education, offering online courses in mathematics, science, English studies, social studies, Romance languages, and Advanced Placement. , BoxerLearning and Riverdeep. * Growing numbers of companies committed to delivering high-bandwidth multimedia content. AIMS Multimedia established DigitalCurriculum.com as "a true video-on-demand system providing instant access to nearly 20,000 full video programs," says company President David Sherman David Sherman is an American novelist who deals overwhelmingly with military themes at the small-unit tactical level. His experiences as a United States Marine during the Vietnam War show prominently in his work. Biography Sherman was born in Niles, Ohio. . * Most sites added features beyond curriculum products to attract potential users and contribute to the education community. "Through our new section called Educator Resources, we provide critical information about education technology, funding resources, best practices and research studies, and will continue to enhance this section," says Ileana Rowe, marketing manager of Learning.com. * Increasing numbers of companies provide professional development options through their sites. "This coming year [we plan to] integrate online professional development content with our face-to-face staff development programs," says Pat Harrigan, CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Classroom Connect. * Several companies now offer online projects that engage learners in longer-term activities. PREMIUM AWARDS American Memory American Memory is an Internet-based archive for public domain image resources, as well as audio, video, and archived Web content. It is published by the Library of Congress. The archive came into existence on October 13, 1994 after $13,000,000 was raised in donations. Memory.loc.gov American Memory, maintained by the Library of Congress, is an online gateway to unique primary source materials Noun 1. source materials - publications from which information is obtained source - a document (or organization) from which information is obtained; "the reporter had two sources for the story" that relate to the history and culture of the United States
BrainPOP www.brainpop.com BrainPOP is a producer of original animated K-12 educational movies that explain concepts in English, math, science, health and technology. This subscription-based site offers more than 300 colorful narrated films on topics such as asthma, atoms, digestion, static electricity, photography and robots. It is all correlated to national standards from NCTM NCTM National Council of Teachers of Mathematics NCTM Nationally Certified Teacher of Music NCTM North Carolina Transportation Museum NCTM National Capital Trolley Museum NCTM Nationally Certified in Therapeutic Massage , NCTE NCTE National Council of Teachers of English NCTE National Centre for Technology in Education NCTE National Center for Transgender Equality NCTE National Council for Teacher Education (India) NCTE Network Channel Terminating Equipment and NSTA NSTA National Science Teachers Association NSTA National School Transportation Association NSTA National Spasmodic Torticollis Association NSTA National Substitute Teachers Alliance (Fresno, California) . The site also provides related educational content including games, quizzes, puzzles and activities, with opportunities for students to get questions answered and exchange e-mail with BrainPOP characters. Crayola Creativity Central www.crayola.com This content-rich, free multimedia site presents art resources that are applicable to every curriculum area from pre-K through high school. Crayola offers craft and projects ideas for each grade level, instruction on art techniques for using different types of media, lesson plans and classroom teaching tips. It includes related content with games, quizzes and an online calendar featuring daily art ideas. The site has several search engines for finding topics easily, and hosts an online gallery that is one of the largest collections of student art on the Web. Education World www.educationworld.com Education World was developed in 1996 as a free resource guide to make it easy for K-12 educators to integrate the Internet into the classroom. It has now become one of the most comprehensive sources of curriculum materials on the Web,offering a safe search of more than 500,000 resources, with original content that is not avail able elsewhere. This material includes lesson plans, teaching units, curriculum guides in every subject area, special features tied to the calendar, school reports, site reviews, professional articles and related resources. KidsHealth www.kidshealth.org Sponsored by the Nemours Foundation The Nemours Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 1936 from the 1935 Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust [1]. During his lifetime, Alfred I. du Pont was a successful industrialist, prolific inventor, published musician and quiet benefactor to a multitude , KidsHealth provides accurate, doctor-approved, jargon-free health information about children from birth through adolescence. The site offers separate areas for kids, teens and parents. Each section has its own design, age-appropriate content and instructional tone, and offers thousands of original articles, animations, interactive activities, games and resources developed by health experts. The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times Learning Network www.nytimes.com/learning This is a news-centered multimedia education site for grades 3-12, with up-to-date features that change daily. These includes stories and photographs from the world-famous newspaper with related activities, guided Web tours on topics such as The Presidential Cabinet or Westward Expansion, news summaries and quizzes, and a variety of free question services. The network also maintains an excellent collection of curriculum materials in every content area. SUBJECT-SPECIFIC AWARDS GENERAL/INTERDISCIPLINARY CURRICULUM Grade Level Gold www.gradelevelgold.com This site is a goldmine of free, teacher-selected online curriculum sites and materials targeted for each K-12 grade level and subject area. It includes resources for teachers and parents. Identified teacher advocates update the content in each area regularly, and send out weekly grade-specific email identifying curriculum-rich online resources. The WebOuest Page Edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest The WebQuest model, developed by Bernie Dodge Bernie Dodge (born Bernard Joseph Dodge September 5, 1948) is the creator of the WebQuest, an information technology education tool, and QuestGarden, an online authoring tool and community of practice for WebQuest development. with Tom March at San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU), founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, is the largest and oldest higher education facility in the greater San Diego area (generally the City and County of San Diego), and is part of the California State University system. , is an inquiry-centered learning investigation where most or all information is drawn from the Web. This Dodge-hosted site is a forum for exchanging WebQuest ideas and resources, with examples at every grade level and content area. THE ARTS Artsonia www.artsonia.com The mission of this site is "to unleash the creative potential of young artists throughout the world, and empower them with a voice." It provides an online art museum where students can display their work electronically for global audiences. Exhibits are searchable by school name or zip code zip code System of postal-zone codes (zip stands for “zone improvement plan”) introduced in the U.S. in 1963 to improve mail delivery and exploit electronic reading and sorting capabilities. , and Artsonia also sponsors art projects and contests, with weekly awards for students and teachers. Music Education Online www.childrensmusicworkshop.com Music Education Online is one of the most comprehensive collections of music-related resources on the Web, organized by topics that include brass, string, percussion and woodwind instruments; orchestras, bands and classical music; and vocal music. LANGUAGE ARTS language arts pl.n. The subjects, including reading, spelling, and composition, aimed at developing reading and writing skills, usually taught in elementary and secondary school. AND LITERATURE Bartleby.com www.bartleby.com Bartleby-named after a character in a Melville short story-is one of the largest up-to-date and comprehensive full-text free public reference libraries published on the Web, with online references including Bartlett's Familiar Quotations Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, often simply called Bartlett's, is an American reference work that is the longest-lived and most widely distributed collection of quotations. and Gray's Anatomy This article is about the anatomy textbook. For the television series, see Grey's Anatomy. For other uses, see Gray's Anatomy (disambiguation). Henry Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body (or Gray's Anatomy , as well as major works of fiction, nonfiction and verse. The site was started in 1993 as an electronic publishing An umbrella term for non-paper publishing, which includes publishing online or on media such as CDs and DVDs. research project, and now attracts 40 million users annually. Kidsreads.com and Teenreads.com www.idsreads.com, www.teenreads.com These related sites are outstanding places for students to find information about their favorite books, series, authors and characters. Each site offers reviews of the newest titles, in-depth author profiles, interviews, announcements of book awards, games, puzzles, contests and opportunities for readers to write book reports and post ideas. MATHEMATICS ENC ENC Encoded (File Name Extension) ENC Enclosure ENC Mime-Encoded (virus scanners) ENC Eastern North Carolina ENC Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education Online www.enc.org The Eisenhower National Clearinghouse maintains one of the best selections of K-12 math, science and technology education resources on the Internet, offering curriculum materials and services for educators, parents and students. These include thousands of online teaching materials and lesson plans categorized by topic, a "Digital Dozen" of featured monthly sites and related curriculum news that is updated daily. The Math Forum @ Drexel Mathforum.org The Math Forum, now housed at Drexel University Drexel University, at Philadelphia, Pa.; coeducational; founded 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, opened 1892, chartered 1894 as Drexel Institute of Art, Science, and Industry. It was renamed Drexel Institute of Technology in 1936 and gained university status in 1970. , is truly the "last word" for in-depth online resources for any topic in mathematics from K-12 through college and advanced math. The site offers teaching and learning materials for arithmetic, algebra, geometry, probability/statistics and calculus calculus, branch of mathematics that studies continuously changing quantities. The calculus is characterized by the use of infinite processes, involving passage to a limit—the notion of tending toward, or approaching, an ultimate value. , with weekly and monthly challenges, online discussions, a question-answering service and presentations on key education issues. SCIENCE eNature.com www.enature.com This comprehensive nature resource sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation, offers free illustrated field guides to more than 4,800 plants and animals Plants and Animals are a Canadian indie-rock band from Montreal, comprised of guitarist-vocalists Warren Spicer and Nic Basque, and drummer-vocalist Matthew Woodley.[1] They are signed to Secret City Records. , including amphibians amphibians members of the animal class Amphibia. Includes frogs, toads, newts, salamanders and cecilians all capable of living on land or in water. , reptiles reptiles terrestrial or aquatic vertebrates which breathe air through lungs and have a skin covering of horny scales. They are poikilothermic, oviparous or ovoviviparous, and, if they have legs they are short and constructed solely for crawling. , insects, mammals, trees and wildflowers. The site also provides opportunities to learn about various habitats, keep online field notes, ask questions of experts, participate in discussions, hear bird songs and receive related newsletters. Science NetLinks www.sciencenetlinks.com This site offers a wealth of free resources to support K-12 science, including standards-based lesson plans, recommended resources grouped by grade levels, and curriculum "benchmarks." The site also uses multimedia technologies, such as radio updates on science topics. SOCIAL STUDIES CNN CNN or Cable News Network Subsidiary company of Turner Broadcasting Systems. It was created by Ted Turner in 1980 to present 24-hour live news broadcasts, using satellites to transmit reports from news bureaus around the world. Student News www.cnnstudentnews.com This information-rich multimedia site relates daily news stories to middle and high school curriculum content to help learners keep pace with world events. It offers a variety of teaching and learning resources, including background articles, online forums, films, sound clips and animations, and a powerful search engine for finding specific topics. CountryWatch.com @ school www.countrywatch.com/@school This site is a school research portal with free and subscription-based resources on world regions including Russia and the newly independent states New·ly Independent States Abbr. NIS The countries that until 1991 were constituent republics of the USSR, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. , the Middle East and North Africa. The site is designed for interactive learning about individual countries and their social political and economic structures, with curriculum activities and related resources. HEALTH, NUTRITION AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION MEDLINEplus www.medlineplus.gov MEDLINEplus presents authoritative and up-to-date health information from the National Library of Medicine that is usable by health professionals and consumers alike. Its many online resources include health news, presentations on more than 500 wellness topics, multimedia tutorials, drug information, a medical encyclopedia, dictionaries, and a research tool for locating specific content. Sports Media Sports Media, Inc. (SMI) is a Sports Media and Marketing company that produces radio and television programming as well as representing professional athletes. 2002 Cowboys Live - Hosted by Dallas Cowboys Joey Galloway www.sports-media.org Sports Media provides a platform where athletes, coaches, teachers, students and instructors can learn and exchange ideas. It offers links to an extensive collection of online lesson plans and activities on various PE topics, coaching materials and resources for every sport; with opportunities to get questions answered by experts. RELATED ARTICLE: Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame honors premium award winners from previous years for Their continuing superior online curriculum applications. THE 2003 HONOREES: ABC-CLIO.com abc-clio.com Subscription-based multimedia curriculum and reference resources in history for secondary schools, including American government (americangovernment.abc-clio.com) and world geography (worldgeography.abc-clio.com). AOL@School schooLaol.com A free education portal for K-12 schools with an easy-to-use interface that delivers age-appropriate curriculum content selected by experts. Beyond Books.com www.beyondbooks.com Standards-based multimedia subscription courses for grades 6-12. It includes multiple selections in science, social studies, literature and language arts featuring student investigations and online discussions with experts. HowStuffWorks www.howstuffworks.com Information-packed explanations with animated illustrations on how thousands of devices and processes work--from automobiles to video games--organized by category in searchable content areas. Nationalgeographic.com www.nationalgeographic.com/education A great variety of geographic resources, including learning adventures, a 3D virtual trip through our solar system solar system, the sun and the surrounding planets, natural satellites, dwarf planets, asteroids, meteoroids, and comets that are bound by its gravity. The sun is by far the most massive part of the solar system, containing almost 99.9% of the system's total mass. , and online tools including a "Map Machine." Scholastic.com Scholastic.com Interactive book-related activities from a leading publisher and distributor of children's books, with news, online discussions, author profiles, research tools and professional resources. Bigchalk.com www.bigchalk.com BOXERmath.com www.boxermath.com Classroom Connect www.classroom.com DiscoverySchool.com School.discovery.com Lightspan.com www.lightspan.com Riverdeep Interactive Learning www.riverdeep.com RELATED ARTICLE: Award categories and the judging process. The annual Call for Entries is published in the fall issues of DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION and placed on www.districtadministration.com. The four criteria used in selecting awards are: appropriateness of content, instructional design Instructional design is the practice of arranging media (communication technology) and content to help learners and teachers transfer knowledge most effectively. The process consists broadly of determining the current state of learner understanding, defining the end goal of , quality of the interaction with the learner, and the creative use of online technologies. This year two content-specific awards were given in each of the categories of General/Interdisciplinary Curriculum, The Arts, Language Arts and Literature, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and Health, Nutrition and Physical Education. Premium awards were given to six exemplary sites that addressed several curriculum areas. DA editors reviewed more than 800 K-12 education-related sites over a period of several months, and evaluated each finalist multiple times, in addition, six additional sites were inducted into the HALL OF FAME, established to honor premium award winners from previous years for superior online curriculum applications and use of Web technologies. Odvard Egil Dyrli, dyrli@uconn.edu, is senior editor and emeritus professor of education at the University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut is the State of Connecticut's land-grant university. It was founded in 1881 and serves more than 27,000 students on its six campuses, including more than 9,000 graduate students in multiple programs. UConn's main campus is in Storrs, Connecticut. . |
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