"Tools4Teachers is a secure Alberta Education website developed by the Distributed Learning Resources Branch, for use by Alberta Educators." (Taken from the website's homepage) The Tools4Teachers motto is "Working with Alberta's educators to provide custom learning resources". A user name and password is required to view the site, so the audience is clearly directed towards educators. The "about" section of the page does recommend that parents check out learnalberta.ca as a resource center. The site was designed to aid teachers with distance learning classes by providing authorized lessons and resources for them to use, or to suppliment or base there own upon. Because this website was created by Distributed Learning Resources, a branch of Alberta Education, which provides "leadership in advancing the use of technology in learning and is responsible for the development and delivery of provincially authorized distributed learning resources", I would consider them authentic learning resources.
I would not recommend students directly to the website, as with learnalberta.ca, but I would compile a document with links that would provide them direct paths to resources that would be useful to them. In compiling an online course for distance education, this website would be a great resource, especially for beginning teachers, or teachers new to the distance learning platform. Resources available on the website include HTML files, PDF files, multi-media objects, videos, audio clips, and much much more. The site recommends that these be used to add to your own materials for your lesson plans. They encourage teachers who are unsure to contact them for advice and/or assistance.
The website contains, listed by grade and subject, a variety of lesson plans, matching activities, assignments and keys. Most of the tools/resources I was able to find were PDF documents, especially at the lower grade levels, not a whole lot of interactive learning resources. There were home instruction guides, which I assume are either to help guide parents who choose to home school their children, or to suppliment what they may recieve from a distance learning teacher.
Navigation of this website is fairly straight forward and simple. There are links which lead to other links, each becoming more specific as you follow down the line. Not once did I feel overwhelmed by the amount of information being presented to me, as it was always in small chunks and well broken down. This website seems to be the closest out of the four to an actual website designed for learning purposes. It has laid out actual lessons to follow and curriculum instruction guides for the distance learner. For eye appeal, like most of the websites previously viewed, it could use some help. It looks very similar to a basic web site design from the late 90's, when high school classes everywhere were fooling around with making websites.
From an art teacher's perspective, this website has no resources available for immediate use. It does have a small section where it appears that one can purchase a course pack that would be mailed to them, but as far as online learning goes, I was unable to find anything. Again, I find this very disappointing, as the arts are a great way to help enrich other subject areas in the curriculum. No resources available for art was surprising to me also because there is a variety of CTS courses available on this page, including Prenatal and Postnatal Care, Parenting ect. There are a few art linked CTS courses, such as Animation and Design Studies, but no supporting fundamental classes.
All things considered, this website is a great resource for distance learning classes and their teachers. Lesson plans, assignments and assessments are all provided for you on the website, and the website encourages you to use them to suppliment your own plans. This website is also very inviting in that they encourage communication between themselves and teachers whenever the teacher feels that they need help or clarification. I will keep this website in mind in the future if I ever need to teach a distance learning class, or even to suppliment a traditional classroom course and make sure I am on the right track.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
www.learnalberta.com
"The purpose of LearnAlberta.ca is to provide quality digital learning and teaching resources correlated to Alberta Education’s kindergarten to Grade 12 programs of study." (taken from the "about this site" section of the website) The motto of the website is "we explore". This website was created by Alberta Education as a standard resource for parents, students and teachers alike. The site gives anyone access to the course curriculums for all classes in the education system. Considering that this website was designed by the government, who also designed the curriculum, I would consider it to be a very authentic learning resource.
Compared to the other two I have reviewed so far, (readinga-z.com and 2learn.ca) this one is much better organized and easier to navigate. The site is set up as a resource to look up curriculum goals and objectives. Teachers can use the site to review the curriculum, find the general and specific learner outcomes, and make sure they are teaching and covering all the material required for their courses. Parents can also view the curriculum that their child is to be involved in, and can use this as a basis to better inform themselves so that they can help their child, as well as ask more directed questions of their child's teacher.
With this new Bill 44 ready to pass, access to the curriculum for both teachers and parents could be very beneficial. Teachers can direct parents to view the curriculum so that they know what materials their child will be encountering that year. If they have problems with any of it, they can speak with the teacher on the intended time line, and request that their child be removed from the class during this period. As long as the teacher is sticking to the curriculum, especially when it comes to possible controversial subjects, than conflict can be avoided. (unless something possibly considered controversial comes up in candid discussion, and is therefor a "teachable moment", in which case the bill is supposed to cover the teacher)
Easy access to the curriculum will also help to keep the teacher more on track and on task, and can help with scheduling and long term planning, as well as lesson plans. Within the curriculum, teachers can sign in and have access to a few great resources for many of the courses. While there are not a great deal of resources, many of the ones available are very good ones, and sometimes too much selection (as in the previous two websites) is not the best thing. I spent a great deal of time on this website playing interactive learning games in the elementary section, and I thought they were fabulous. They would work well as a class lesson on the smart board, or even as a reward activity for students to play during down time, or when it is too cold to go outside for recess. As I looked into the upper grade levels, I found that the quality of the resources fell off, and that they were more directed towards teachers rather than students. I did find it really neat that when searching for resources for older grades, you were able to narrow your results by filling in the search fields, such as audience (student or teacher) and media format (video, audio, text, website ect), I just thought that they were not as engaging as the elementary resources. Older kids still enjoy interactive tools.
As an art major, I find that many educational resource sites are lacking in the fine arts field. Unfortunately, learnalberta.ca is no different. Unlike 2learn.ca, which provided a vast expanse of great art resource websites, as well as interactive learning websites based on art, learnalberta.com has no resources that I could find for either student or teacher. While I understand that art is not a core subject, it is a gateway subject that can expand learning in any area of study, so this was very disappointing to me.
As far as assessment goes, there is a variety of assessment tools available on the website for most subjects. (There are none for fine arts) These tools vary from online quizes students can take to test themselves, to assessment how to's and what for's for teachers.
While I do think that many of the resources available on the website are excellent, I would not recommend a student to the website itself. Rather, I would have links posted in documents that they could have easy access to. That way they have a direct path to the resources I feel would best suit their needs, and they would not have to spend time exploring the website and getting lost. (It may be easier to navigate than the other two I have reviewed so far, but that does not make it easy)
Compared to the other two I have reviewed so far, (readinga-z.com and 2learn.ca) this one is much better organized and easier to navigate. The site is set up as a resource to look up curriculum goals and objectives. Teachers can use the site to review the curriculum, find the general and specific learner outcomes, and make sure they are teaching and covering all the material required for their courses. Parents can also view the curriculum that their child is to be involved in, and can use this as a basis to better inform themselves so that they can help their child, as well as ask more directed questions of their child's teacher.
With this new Bill 44 ready to pass, access to the curriculum for both teachers and parents could be very beneficial. Teachers can direct parents to view the curriculum so that they know what materials their child will be encountering that year. If they have problems with any of it, they can speak with the teacher on the intended time line, and request that their child be removed from the class during this period. As long as the teacher is sticking to the curriculum, especially when it comes to possible controversial subjects, than conflict can be avoided. (unless something possibly considered controversial comes up in candid discussion, and is therefor a "teachable moment", in which case the bill is supposed to cover the teacher)
Easy access to the curriculum will also help to keep the teacher more on track and on task, and can help with scheduling and long term planning, as well as lesson plans. Within the curriculum, teachers can sign in and have access to a few great resources for many of the courses. While there are not a great deal of resources, many of the ones available are very good ones, and sometimes too much selection (as in the previous two websites) is not the best thing. I spent a great deal of time on this website playing interactive learning games in the elementary section, and I thought they were fabulous. They would work well as a class lesson on the smart board, or even as a reward activity for students to play during down time, or when it is too cold to go outside for recess. As I looked into the upper grade levels, I found that the quality of the resources fell off, and that they were more directed towards teachers rather than students. I did find it really neat that when searching for resources for older grades, you were able to narrow your results by filling in the search fields, such as audience (student or teacher) and media format (video, audio, text, website ect), I just thought that they were not as engaging as the elementary resources. Older kids still enjoy interactive tools.
As an art major, I find that many educational resource sites are lacking in the fine arts field. Unfortunately, learnalberta.ca is no different. Unlike 2learn.ca, which provided a vast expanse of great art resource websites, as well as interactive learning websites based on art, learnalberta.com has no resources that I could find for either student or teacher. While I understand that art is not a core subject, it is a gateway subject that can expand learning in any area of study, so this was very disappointing to me.
As far as assessment goes, there is a variety of assessment tools available on the website for most subjects. (There are none for fine arts) These tools vary from online quizes students can take to test themselves, to assessment how to's and what for's for teachers.
While I do think that many of the resources available on the website are excellent, I would not recommend a student to the website itself. Rather, I would have links posted in documents that they could have easy access to. That way they have a direct path to the resources I feel would best suit their needs, and they would not have to spend time exploring the website and getting lost. (It may be easier to navigate than the other two I have reviewed so far, but that does not make it easy)
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
www.2learn.ca
2learn.ca is an extensive website resource center for Alberta teachers, students, and parents. The resources on the website are centered around the Alberta Education Curriculum, and are organized by grade. The website is supported by Alberta Education, The Alberta Teacher's Association, and The University of Alberta Faculty of Education, making it a very credible and authentic source for resources. The website even comes in a French language version.
The website is organized with bullets on the Home page, making it easy for the viewer to find where they would like to go quickly. There is a section for teachers, a section for teens, a section for senior high students, a section for elementary age students, a section for parents and many others. When compared to readinga-z.com, I found this site much easier to understand and navigate, but I think it could still use an overhauling from a web designer.
This site is enormous, and the more I look around, the more I like it. If I am teaching a Grade 3 social studies class, instead of spending all night searching Google for good Tunisian websites, 2learn.ca has a section with links already provided. (Although I have already wasted a couple of hours exploring the site and it's links....so only a time saver if you are efficient) Teachers can even compile resources specific to their class and set up a center on the website that students can access with a password.
As an art major and an aspiring art teacher, I was really pleased with the amount and quality of art resource websites provided. I found many of them very interesting and very applicable within a classroom setting. The art curriculum in Alberta is very old, and has not yet been updated. On many other educational resource sites, including learnalberta.ca ( a government created website) all but ignore the Fine Arts curriculums. They do not include many resources, and the resources they have are often lack luster. It was nice to see a website with a good mix of quality resources for art.
For students, there are great subject based resources that can be utilized both in and out of the classroom. I did find a few links that were not working, but you can send the web master a message to report these links so that they can be repaired. The links that do work (which most do) are fabulous. They are taken from a variety of locations, such as bbc.com and nationalgeographic.com, and have a lot of interactive activities. If a student doesn't like a certain link, they have a variety of others to choose from.
For parents, there is a link to a page with resources dealing with everything from curriculum to nutrition to parenting advice sites. There is an internet safety page, linking to various sites that keep parents in the loop when it comes to internet trends, up and coming events, as well as learning text and instant messaging lingo.
As far as design and layout go, this site, as with learninga-z.com, could use a major overhauling. The site itself looks rather boring, and may not capture the attention of the viewer for long enough to have them actually explore the links. I found that it was well organized once you learned how to navigate, but not very eye catching. The links on the home page could be set up in much more user friendly way, even if simply by changing the language used for the bullets. To use an analogy, this webite is like a diamond in the rough. It could use a cut and polish, but the actual material is well worth it.
I spoke to my mom about this site as well, and she said that she doesn't use it very often, but wishes she did. She expressed frustration with the amount of material that you have to look through, which I found surprising after she praised readinga-z.com, as it has way more material to sift through, and I found it much harder to navigate.
The website is organized with bullets on the Home page, making it easy for the viewer to find where they would like to go quickly. There is a section for teachers, a section for teens, a section for senior high students, a section for elementary age students, a section for parents and many others. When compared to readinga-z.com, I found this site much easier to understand and navigate, but I think it could still use an overhauling from a web designer.
This site is enormous, and the more I look around, the more I like it. If I am teaching a Grade 3 social studies class, instead of spending all night searching Google for good Tunisian websites, 2learn.ca has a section with links already provided. (Although I have already wasted a couple of hours exploring the site and it's links....so only a time saver if you are efficient) Teachers can even compile resources specific to their class and set up a center on the website that students can access with a password.
As an art major and an aspiring art teacher, I was really pleased with the amount and quality of art resource websites provided. I found many of them very interesting and very applicable within a classroom setting. The art curriculum in Alberta is very old, and has not yet been updated. On many other educational resource sites, including learnalberta.ca ( a government created website) all but ignore the Fine Arts curriculums. They do not include many resources, and the resources they have are often lack luster. It was nice to see a website with a good mix of quality resources for art.
For students, there are great subject based resources that can be utilized both in and out of the classroom. I did find a few links that were not working, but you can send the web master a message to report these links so that they can be repaired. The links that do work (which most do) are fabulous. They are taken from a variety of locations, such as bbc.com and nationalgeographic.com, and have a lot of interactive activities. If a student doesn't like a certain link, they have a variety of others to choose from.
For parents, there is a link to a page with resources dealing with everything from curriculum to nutrition to parenting advice sites. There is an internet safety page, linking to various sites that keep parents in the loop when it comes to internet trends, up and coming events, as well as learning text and instant messaging lingo.
As far as design and layout go, this site, as with learninga-z.com, could use a major overhauling. The site itself looks rather boring, and may not capture the attention of the viewer for long enough to have them actually explore the links. I found that it was well organized once you learned how to navigate, but not very eye catching. The links on the home page could be set up in much more user friendly way, even if simply by changing the language used for the bullets. To use an analogy, this webite is like a diamond in the rough. It could use a cut and polish, but the actual material is well worth it.
I spoke to my mom about this site as well, and she said that she doesn't use it very often, but wishes she did. She expressed frustration with the amount of material that you have to look through, which I found surprising after she praised readinga-z.com, as it has way more material to sift through, and I found it much harder to navigate.
Readinga-z.com, Your Reading Resource Center
Readinga-z.com is a resource web site that provides teachers with various instructional techniques and supplies to help teach reading to a variety of different types of student learners. They are a site where teachers can access and download "thousands of books, reading lessons, and supporting reading materials", for a fee.
Navigating the website is fairly easy, tabs at the top direct you to a variety of different subject based pages, such as vocabulary, phonics and the alphabet. The sheer amount of resources available makes it difficult to sort through the material though, as one feels overloaded. It would help if the teacher using the website knew what they were looking for first before searching the site for it. Under each topic tab there is an offer to try 30 free samples, all you have to do is enter your email address and they will send them to you. If you don't want to receive a lot of junkmail, be sure to uncheck the marked boxes on the page where you are entering your information.
As stated before, navigating the website is pretty easy, but the actual design and layout is a little lack luster. There is a great deal of type, nothing much that helps to draw your eye around the page. Again, the tabs are very useful, but the success stops there. Narrowing things down into further categories may improve this problem.
The target audience is definitely teachers, while the subject material is aimed at beginning readers, elementary, and ESL students. This is not a website I would direct students to, as it would be very difficult for them to use. I may recommend parents try it out, but if I were to do so I would have specific areas for them to look at and I would make recommendations on what they could use to help their child. This would require a lot of invested time in reviewing the website and searching for learning tools and packages that would be best suited to the child's learning needs.
As far as assessment goes, there is a whole tab devoted to it. the website expresses the great value in assessment, and provides a variety of tools to help do so. The assessment tab page has another link to "more about assessment" which is very helpful to show the variety of assessment tools the website has, as well as what types of assessment they believe to be the best, and how they would use them.
"Bob's Blog" is a nice addition to the website, offering the viewer more insight as to the intentions of the creators of the website. It is also informative, entertaining, and interesting to read. I wish it were a more prominent part of the website's home page, as it makes the viewer feel more welcome and increases trust in the products being sold. "Bob" seems to be genuinely interested in the education of children.
This web site does not strike me so much as an educational website, as it does a website that has a great deal of compiled resources available for purchase; more of a store than anything. While I was unable to access any of the materials (password provided did not work), they do seem to be legitimate resources. They often come in packages, with printable worksheets and ways to assess student learning. If I were a new teacher in an elementary school, I would definitely check this site out, if only for ideas. The fee for access is not very big, but there are a variety of similar materials available on the net for free. As well, the site has a a vast amount of resources, but they are difficult to sort through to see what materials you would want. All in all, this site seems very good, but would be time consuming to use.
(Later) I spoke to my mom, a resource room teacher at a local elementary school in Medicine Hat, and she said that her school utilizes this website on a regular basis. She says that once you know what you are doing and what you are looking for, it is an excellent resource.
Navigating the website is fairly easy, tabs at the top direct you to a variety of different subject based pages, such as vocabulary, phonics and the alphabet. The sheer amount of resources available makes it difficult to sort through the material though, as one feels overloaded. It would help if the teacher using the website knew what they were looking for first before searching the site for it. Under each topic tab there is an offer to try 30 free samples, all you have to do is enter your email address and they will send them to you. If you don't want to receive a lot of junkmail, be sure to uncheck the marked boxes on the page where you are entering your information.
As stated before, navigating the website is pretty easy, but the actual design and layout is a little lack luster. There is a great deal of type, nothing much that helps to draw your eye around the page. Again, the tabs are very useful, but the success stops there. Narrowing things down into further categories may improve this problem.
The target audience is definitely teachers, while the subject material is aimed at beginning readers, elementary, and ESL students. This is not a website I would direct students to, as it would be very difficult for them to use. I may recommend parents try it out, but if I were to do so I would have specific areas for them to look at and I would make recommendations on what they could use to help their child. This would require a lot of invested time in reviewing the website and searching for learning tools and packages that would be best suited to the child's learning needs.
As far as assessment goes, there is a whole tab devoted to it. the website expresses the great value in assessment, and provides a variety of tools to help do so. The assessment tab page has another link to "more about assessment" which is very helpful to show the variety of assessment tools the website has, as well as what types of assessment they believe to be the best, and how they would use them.
"Bob's Blog" is a nice addition to the website, offering the viewer more insight as to the intentions of the creators of the website. It is also informative, entertaining, and interesting to read. I wish it were a more prominent part of the website's home page, as it makes the viewer feel more welcome and increases trust in the products being sold. "Bob" seems to be genuinely interested in the education of children.
This web site does not strike me so much as an educational website, as it does a website that has a great deal of compiled resources available for purchase; more of a store than anything. While I was unable to access any of the materials (password provided did not work), they do seem to be legitimate resources. They often come in packages, with printable worksheets and ways to assess student learning. If I were a new teacher in an elementary school, I would definitely check this site out, if only for ideas. The fee for access is not very big, but there are a variety of similar materials available on the net for free. As well, the site has a a vast amount of resources, but they are difficult to sort through to see what materials you would want. All in all, this site seems very good, but would be time consuming to use.
(Later) I spoke to my mom, a resource room teacher at a local elementary school in Medicine Hat, and she said that her school utilizes this website on a regular basis. She says that once you know what you are doing and what you are looking for, it is an excellent resource.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Intro - Reviewing Online Educational Sites
This blog has been created for Ed 4767. Using guidelines set out in our assignment, I will be posting 4 separate entries each reviewing a different Online Learning website.
I will be looking at:
title, web address
topic (subject)
organization or institution (if provided)
goals, mission, vision, values etc., (if provided)
layout and design features, eye appeal
navigation abilities
offerings, objectives, rigor, authenticity of learning, assessment
target audience (grade 7 students, elementary etc.)
usability (would you direct a student to this web site?)
I will be looking at:
title, web address
topic (subject)
organization or institution (if provided)
goals, mission, vision, values etc., (if provided)
layout and design features, eye appeal
navigation abilities
offerings, objectives, rigor, authenticity of learning, assessment
target audience (grade 7 students, elementary etc.)
usability (would you direct a student to this web site?)
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