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)