For most of us, lists are a part of our daily lives: to-do lists, shopping lists, favorites lists, must-read lists. This list of lists could go on and on! I’m going to throw one more list your way, but don’t be alarmed! I bet you’ll enjoy reading this list of the Top Ten Apps of 2015. Writers at School Library Journal review books and tools for their annual “Best of” lists. By all means, take a look at the SLJ’s Best picture books, middle grade books, young adult books (my favorite of these lists), and non-fiction books, too, but the Top Ten Apps of 2015 is not to be missed.
The apps included on the list this year inform, challenge, encourage discovery, and engage students in all types of activities. The focus of the list are story apps and curriculum-related content that have been reviewed this year in SLJ.
In September the faculty in the REEL department asked Judy & I if we would order the North Carolina general curriculum test prep and flashcard set. Those items are finally available for check out. They’re shelved in the CIMC and can only be checked out for 3 days. Let your students know they’re here!
Well, I haven't figured out how this site has eluded me for so long. I have been trying to create a similar tool to help me organize all the apps and websites I have accumulated over the years not knowing this one already existed!
Basically edshelf is adiscovery engine of websites, mobile apps, desktop programs, and electronic products for teaching and learning. But it doesn't search the web itself. Instead it is socially curated by educators. They recommend and review the resources.
The search tools are impressive. You can search for the perfect tool using the following filters: price, platform, subject, age (not grade level), category (type of tool), date and popularity. You can also browse each of these filter individually. Once you find a resource you can click on it for more information. The record includes a wealth of information - descriptions, reviews, pricing, related tools, etc.
What is unique about the site is you can organize your findings by creating topic 'shelves', if you create a free account. Once a shelf is created you can share it in a variety of ways including code for webpage widget. The shelf can be a collaborative effort, if you designate additional curators.
Here's a quick overview of how the site works:
Hope you find the site useful. I have already created several shelves and included their widgets on a couple of my research guides.
The New York Times in the First Year site is going to be closed in January, and replaced with The New York Times in Education. You’ll need to set up a new account for this site. Here is a link to a libguide with very basic information about our New York Times subscription. Look for the Special Features for Education box, then find the link to sign up for access to the New York Times in Education.
I had the opportunity to work with a teacher from the Charlotte Engineering Early College today -- she brought her students over to the library to do research. When I was planning the class, I conducted several databasesearches on the topic she gave me (nuclear energy) and found tons and tons of resources through the library website, but I was concerned that the students would have a difficult time reading the academic articles I found. Instead of relying on our resources alone, I looked to NCLive.org for articles that are more geared towards high school students. After the class, one of the teachers came up to talk to me about NCLive -- he had never heard of it!
For those of you who don’t know, NCLive is a free resource provided to North Carolinians of all ages by the state of North Carolina. There are several databases on NCLive.org that are geared towards K12 students. InfoTrac Newsstand and SIRS Researcher are just two of the databases high schoolstudents can (and should) master.
Take a moment to look at the resources available on NCLive.org. Don’t forget to encourage your pre-service and in-service teachers to use this free and excellent resource.
To help you stay abreast of what is being published by these centers IES has developed IES Newsflash. This is an e-mail-based alert service designed to inform you about all new content posted to the IES website including news from its four Centers and programs within Centers such as the Regional Educational Laboratory Program. Simply enter your e-mail address to receive alerts in the areas of interest you select.
Alerts from NCEE include updates from the What Works Clearinghouse, Regional Education Laboratory Program and ERIC. Recent evaluation postings included reports on intervention practices for elementary reading, the striving readers program for struggling adolescent readers, and implementation of recovery act reforms. You can even drill down to and only receive alerts from specific data products within NCES such as early childhood surveys or international comparisons.
I realize this means more incoming mail to be sorted through, but you can set up a fold to receive these alerts and peruse them at your leisure. The alerts themselves are brief, providing only a quick summary and a link to the complete report.
Over 200,000 pages of book, journal and reference content from leading SAGE authors are easily accessible online.
The Methods Map visualizes relationships between methods terms.
Your patrons can create Methods Lists that include selected book chapters and journal articles to share through the site with their students, co-authors, and colleagues.
Over 800 books, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and major works containing journal articles
Complete Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences (the “Little Green Books”)
Specially commissioned videos about research methods with some of SAGE’s top authors
Since I don’t know exactly what Sage Research Methods is or what it does, I looked for some video tutorials online.
