Learning Express Library
Basic Discovery Challenge
1. Setting up an account is painless and really easy, so that part was no problem.
2. Interesting, I've been referring people to this resource for years but haven't ever tried one of the tests. Only missed one of the 5 questions I answered but the point was that I now understand how it works a little better and will be able to show that to students when they ask.
3. I picked the "Determining What You Want from Your Career." I could have used that about 30 years ago when I was first trying to decide what I wanted to do with my life. Now it is interesting to look back and see how to make those decisions based on logic and choices rather than guesswork and luck.
4. In the search box I put in "fractions" because I know it is a weakness of mine. The first ebook was Express Review Guides: Fractions, Percentages, & Decimals. I clicked on "download" and got a PDF of the book, all 256 pages of it! It's been a long time since I studied this so the pretest was a challenge!
Advanced Challenge
1. 4th Grader would need to be shown:
How to set up an account with login and password so as to be able to save their work and come back to work at their own speed
Elementary School Reading Skills Improvement section, including practice and diagnostic tests, the practice portions will all be very helpful
How to search for ebooks on reading for 4th grade reading
2. High school student doing a report on careers would be shown:
Job Search & Workplace Skills section
How to search for ebooks on Careers (actual search nets 55 items), if a specific career is being looked at then have that student at that career to the search to narrow down choices. (adding Nurse gets 8 ebooks, and pharmacist gets one book). One that caught my eye for nursing is the Spanish/English Terms for Nurses.
As usual I'm not doing the Common Core stuff, it is really outside my everyday work.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Friday, January 25, 2013
Time Lesson 1C
World Book Foreign Language Edition
Basic Discovery Exercise
I'm sticking with Enciclopedia Estudiantil Hallazgos, my lack of knowledge about foreign languages is bad enough but my basic knowledge of some Spanish is much better than French!
Hmmm, looks a lot like the Kids versions earlier, bet I can get to Plants and Animals. Found service animals, the pictures help a great deal here. I think I might mention this to our language department, could be useful to some of them, especially the beginning students. Visual dictionary is the same as in the English language version, will be very helpful in learning some new Spanish words. Found a scale, or del peso [m]. Interesting. My computer isn't cooperating for listening to an article being read but I'll bet that would help a lot with pronunciation! Very interesting.
Advanced Challenge
The word "house" gets 8 articles in the spanish edition, articles are listed in English but text is in Spanish. Could be very useful for those who are struggling with the language and want help.
Using the browse was harder for me, needed to remember what the word for "house" was in Spanish, finally came up with casa, then the browse worked much better and I got some accurate results. Als, many more results using the browse, the results showed many more terms that could be used instead of "casa". Fascinating.
Aha, reached the end of the week one lessons. I think I learned a few things, I know I had fun and I will probably use the resources for some things when I happen to work Reference. Thanks!
World Book Foreign Language Edition
Basic Discovery Exercise
I'm sticking with Enciclopedia Estudiantil Hallazgos, my lack of knowledge about foreign languages is bad enough but my basic knowledge of some Spanish is much better than French!
Hmmm, looks a lot like the Kids versions earlier, bet I can get to Plants and Animals. Found service animals, the pictures help a great deal here. I think I might mention this to our language department, could be useful to some of them, especially the beginning students. Visual dictionary is the same as in the English language version, will be very helpful in learning some new Spanish words. Found a scale, or del peso [m]. Interesting. My computer isn't cooperating for listening to an article being read but I'll bet that would help a lot with pronunciation! Very interesting.
Advanced Challenge
The word "house" gets 8 articles in the spanish edition, articles are listed in English but text is in Spanish. Could be very useful for those who are struggling with the language and want help.
Using the browse was harder for me, needed to remember what the word for "house" was in Spanish, finally came up with casa, then the browse worked much better and I got some accurate results. Als, many more results using the browse, the results showed many more terms that could be used instead of "casa". Fascinating.
Aha, reached the end of the week one lessons. I think I learned a few things, I know I had fun and I will probably use the resources for some things when I happen to work Reference. Thanks!
Okay, on to Lesson 1b -- World Book Public Library Edition
World Book Online for Kids
Picked dogs this time, easier to spell than giraffe :-) I like the tool box at the top, with print, save, email, translate and listen to the section. Tools like that show that the reader is engaged and probably knows what they are looking for when they visit. Plenty of pictures, habitat was mostly ignored since most dogs live with people not in the wild. Watched the video on a dog running an agility course, I've done that, its harder than most good handlers make it look! Of course a border collie just shows off when they hit a course!
World Book Online Info Finder
Researched dogs again, lots more information came up here (560 items to be exact). I opened up the Portuguese water dog, they are so cute. A professor here on campus has one as does a groomer friend of mine. Friendly and funny dogs.
World Book Online Reference Center
Searched for New Zealand as my country. I like the break-down of information on the left, lots of access points that would work for students on campus, good to know. Results in the center is 552 encylopedia articles, plenty there to choose from. I also like the information on the right, Primary Sources are so hard for some students to find, this is a great place to look. Ebooks, well they are starting to be everywhere but the more the better for students!
Advanced Challenge:
World Book Online for Kids
Went into games this time, I love games. Had to watch the rotating list to decide what to pick! Stopped it on the U.S. History Fact-Finding Maze. Okay, that was fun once I figured out how to move the space shuttle! Not anything my students would use but it was fun none the less.
World Book Online Info Finder
I chose the Interactive Earth (geography being one of my weakest subjects) and went on to Interactive Maps which defaults to South Dakota, cool. I clicked on the Rapid City pin and got the following facts: pop. 67,956, me. area pop. 126,382. Is the 2nd largest city in South Dakota. Easy and quick way to get some facts, always nice to know.
World Book Online Reference Center
Selected The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to look at, got in and jumped to Chapter 15 where Huck and Jim are rafting down the Mississippi. Been a while since I read this book. I like the tools at the top, just like I liked them in the earlier part. I'm not going to download but it is nice that it can be captured to your device of choice (me, I use Kindle). Way to much to print but printing a section could be handy. I also like the Primary Sources and the encyclopedia content about the book. Good stuff.
World Book Online for Kids
Picked dogs this time, easier to spell than giraffe :-) I like the tool box at the top, with print, save, email, translate and listen to the section. Tools like that show that the reader is engaged and probably knows what they are looking for when they visit. Plenty of pictures, habitat was mostly ignored since most dogs live with people not in the wild. Watched the video on a dog running an agility course, I've done that, its harder than most good handlers make it look! Of course a border collie just shows off when they hit a course!
World Book Online Info Finder
Researched dogs again, lots more information came up here (560 items to be exact). I opened up the Portuguese water dog, they are so cute. A professor here on campus has one as does a groomer friend of mine. Friendly and funny dogs.
World Book Online Reference Center
Searched for New Zealand as my country. I like the break-down of information on the left, lots of access points that would work for students on campus, good to know. Results in the center is 552 encylopedia articles, plenty there to choose from. I also like the information on the right, Primary Sources are so hard for some students to find, this is a great place to look. Ebooks, well they are starting to be everywhere but the more the better for students!
Advanced Challenge:
World Book Online for Kids
Went into games this time, I love games. Had to watch the rotating list to decide what to pick! Stopped it on the U.S. History Fact-Finding Maze. Okay, that was fun once I figured out how to move the space shuttle! Not anything my students would use but it was fun none the less.
World Book Online Info Finder
I chose the Interactive Earth (geography being one of my weakest subjects) and went on to Interactive Maps which defaults to South Dakota, cool. I clicked on the Rapid City pin and got the following facts: pop. 67,956, me. area pop. 126,382. Is the 2nd largest city in South Dakota. Easy and quick way to get some facts, always nice to know.
World Book Online Reference Center
Selected The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to look at, got in and jumped to Chapter 15 where Huck and Jim are rafting down the Mississippi. Been a while since I read this book. I like the tools at the top, just like I liked them in the earlier part. I'm not going to download but it is nice that it can be captured to your device of choice (me, I use Kindle). Way to much to print but printing a section could be handy. I also like the Primary Sources and the encyclopedia content about the book. Good stuff.
Back to see if I can finish this weeks challenge!
Advanced Challenge --
World Book Kids
I picked the Science Projects. Not really anything here for my students but I can see where they would be wonderful for science teachers in the lower grades. I wouldn't have minded learning how to make a rainbow or crystals! There is some wonderful information here for our youngest learners and it is fun getting a chance to sit down and look at it.
World Book Student
This time I selected the Biography/Authors section just to see what authors are listed, I'm amazed at 1661 of them! Since I actually have a relative named Hans Christian Andersen (not the author as far as I know), I opened his biography. Some of the information I had read before but didn't realize that he worked as an actor, singer and dancer before becoming famous for his fairy tales and children's stories. Fun spot to visit.
World Book Advanced
Funny, I hadn't read ahead in the challenge so didn't realize that I could look up books using WB Advanced, and one of the choices given was Andersen's Fairy Tales. I browsed a bit but stopped to read The Real Princess, because, well, Once Upon A Mattress is one of my favorite plays/soundtracks. I was surprised at how short and concise the story is and how it has grown into a full-length play! I'm having fun playing on the computer today.
World Book Discover
First stop was the visual dictionary, I chose the button with the Dalmatian, what can I say, we own six dogs (but no dalmatians). So, I followed the links through to see pictures of dog breeds, only six listed and we don't have any of those so I moved back to check out something else. This time I picked on the videos, Nice collection with plenty of interesting topics. I selected the physical science videos and just a brief look tells me that I can learn a lot about a car, astronauts, electricity and around 88 other topics. Fun stuff, still a little basic for most of the students here but there might be a thing or two we can show to someone who is stepping into a field they haven't been in before.
I skipped the Common Core Connections part, they really are not related to my day to day work at the School of Mines library.
Advanced Challenge --
World Book Kids
I picked the Science Projects. Not really anything here for my students but I can see where they would be wonderful for science teachers in the lower grades. I wouldn't have minded learning how to make a rainbow or crystals! There is some wonderful information here for our youngest learners and it is fun getting a chance to sit down and look at it.
World Book Student
This time I selected the Biography/Authors section just to see what authors are listed, I'm amazed at 1661 of them! Since I actually have a relative named Hans Christian Andersen (not the author as far as I know), I opened his biography. Some of the information I had read before but didn't realize that he worked as an actor, singer and dancer before becoming famous for his fairy tales and children's stories. Fun spot to visit.
World Book Advanced
Funny, I hadn't read ahead in the challenge so didn't realize that I could look up books using WB Advanced, and one of the choices given was Andersen's Fairy Tales. I browsed a bit but stopped to read The Real Princess, because, well, Once Upon A Mattress is one of my favorite plays/soundtracks. I was surprised at how short and concise the story is and how it has grown into a full-length play! I'm having fun playing on the computer today.
World Book Discover
First stop was the visual dictionary, I chose the button with the Dalmatian, what can I say, we own six dogs (but no dalmatians). So, I followed the links through to see pictures of dog breeds, only six listed and we don't have any of those so I moved back to check out something else. This time I picked on the videos, Nice collection with plenty of interesting topics. I selected the physical science videos and just a brief look tells me that I can learn a lot about a car, astronauts, electricity and around 88 other topics. Fun stuff, still a little basic for most of the students here but there might be a thing or two we can show to someone who is stepping into a field they haven't been in before.
I skipped the Common Core Connections part, they really are not related to my day to day work at the School of Mines library.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Lesson 1a -- continued
World Book Advanced - country search
Search Germany (continuing my WWII history topic). Love all the break downs of ways to get to information in the left column, my eyes were drawn to WWII, Germany, Occupied Germany. Clicked on that link and read the description of the devastation the end of the war brought to the German people and their cities. For academic students this will probably best be described as background information or topics for further research, not enough "in depth" here for a college level paper but it will give some very useful information on where to get started including the vocabulary of the searching needed to get more advanced information.
World Book Discover -- browse function went to government. There are a couple of features that will help those who don't speak English as a native tongue or who don't read English well. There is an option to the left that has both Spanish and French translations. There is also an audio button where you can have the written word read to you.
Will get to Advanced Challenge tomorrow!
Search Germany (continuing my WWII history topic). Love all the break downs of ways to get to information in the left column, my eyes were drawn to WWII, Germany, Occupied Germany. Clicked on that link and read the description of the devastation the end of the war brought to the German people and their cities. For academic students this will probably best be described as background information or topics for further research, not enough "in depth" here for a college level paper but it will give some very useful information on where to get started including the vocabulary of the searching needed to get more advanced information.
World Book Discover -- browse function went to government. There are a couple of features that will help those who don't speak English as a native tongue or who don't read English well. There is an option to the left that has both Spanish and French translations. There is also an audio button where you can have the written word read to you.
Will get to Advanced Challenge tomorrow!
Lesson 1a
Lesson #1, World Book
Observations: very long list of ways to get into the database, not sure if it is clear what avenue I can use as an academic librarian. My steps through the lessons below:
Lesson 1a - World Book School Edition.
World Book Kids
As requested I searched a mammal, I chose the Giraffe because I love giraffe's but don't know a whole lot about their habitat. Love the graphics and imagine that kids will really like the embedded videos. Not much here I didn't know but was fun to visit.
World Book Student
Comparing amounts of information from link to link. Much more detail in Student edition about giraffe's including the fact that a giraffe can close its nostrils completely to keep out sand and dust. Interesting. More pictures and videos as well as some geographic information including maps. Easy to see the progression of the audience doing things this way. Gives the scientific classification indicating that it is more technical than the earlier section. Contributor tot he article is a Ph.D. giving more weight to the accuracy of the information.
World Book Advanced
Text got a little smaller and denser to put more information on the page. Many things are the same but there are more links to other resources. Also gives the scientific classification with the same author as the student edition.
As you move through the sections you go from very graphic intensive to less graphic help and more text-based assistance. Colors also tone down from the very bright and primary colors to start to the two-toned black/blue of the advanced search.
Looking at the timelines is fun, being a history nut I went there, specifically to WWII, Holocaust. It is scary to see how much damage the Nazis did in just 11 years, millions dead, entire families wiped off the face of the earth.
Duties call, I'll do the rest of this lesson later.
Observations: very long list of ways to get into the database, not sure if it is clear what avenue I can use as an academic librarian. My steps through the lessons below:
Lesson 1a - World Book School Edition.
World Book Kids
As requested I searched a mammal, I chose the Giraffe because I love giraffe's but don't know a whole lot about their habitat. Love the graphics and imagine that kids will really like the embedded videos. Not much here I didn't know but was fun to visit.
World Book Student
Comparing amounts of information from link to link. Much more detail in Student edition about giraffe's including the fact that a giraffe can close its nostrils completely to keep out sand and dust. Interesting. More pictures and videos as well as some geographic information including maps. Easy to see the progression of the audience doing things this way. Gives the scientific classification indicating that it is more technical than the earlier section. Contributor tot he article is a Ph.D. giving more weight to the accuracy of the information.
World Book Advanced
Text got a little smaller and denser to put more information on the page. Many things are the same but there are more links to other resources. Also gives the scientific classification with the same author as the student edition.
As you move through the sections you go from very graphic intensive to less graphic help and more text-based assistance. Colors also tone down from the very bright and primary colors to start to the two-toned black/blue of the advanced search.
Looking at the timelines is fun, being a history nut I went there, specifically to WWII, Holocaust. It is scary to see how much damage the Nazis did in just 11 years, millions dead, entire families wiped off the face of the earth.
Duties call, I'll do the rest of this lesson later.
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