Learning Express Library

 

                I was very impressed with the large collection of various tests at different levels.  I selected a middle school reading exam.  I completed 10 questions and scored my test.  What I liked was the opportunity to finish later.   Since there were 40 questions a student may need to come back to the exam if time did not allow the student to finish.  The separate windows that opened for instructions and questions are useful.  The question window is great as a guide that helps you keep track of the answered and unanswered questions.  The diagnostics page is very detailed and allows students to view the skills they may need additional practice.  As I was looking at the results a 6^th grade reading teacher came into the library and I showed her the page.  In a short time she was hooked and wanted to look the site over.  I have already sent her the email reminder on how to get there.   I am concerned with the possible “requirement” of students completing these exams and see it as a better resource for those students who desire improvement (that self motivation) in their skills.  I could see some students viewing it as boring as it is not presented in an “edutainment” format.  

                 Under the Job Skills and Workshop Skills, there were exams, courses and eBooks.   What I would hope students would see from this section is that many of those skills taught in school will be a valuable commodity in the job market.  I looked at an eBook, a grammar skills quiz, Workkeys applied Mathematics test and a course.  I started the “Determining What You Want From Your Career” which led me carefully through the steps.  In this course I could print or save my work that was typed into the forms.  The steps in this course seemed very thorough as all the areas I explored.  What a great help for students and anyone to have this resource when trying to create cover letters and resumes.  It really is about how well one presents themselves to the potential employer.

                I conducted a search on the homepage with the single word, dental.  There were four results in which two dental assisting practice exams and two eBooks ( Dental Assisting Exam and Becoming a Healthcare Professional).  The first eBook opened in PDF format in Adobe Reader.  I went back to the homepage and selected the complete list of eBooks and liked that they were organized according to the groups at the top.  Very handy.

World Book Foreign Language Edition

1.  In the Foreign Language Edition, it is very easy to move back and forth between Spanish and English in the visual dictionary.  This easy movement could easily be used to help with matching vocabulary whether learning English or Spanish.  The visual component allows students still learning language to locate items in the visual dictionary.

2.  When preparing to listen to the article, I found that I could choose the speed at which the article is read.  I could see older students taking Spanish as a languae using this function to practice speaking for practice and understanding.  Also students new to the country would be able to have the information read to them while keeping up with their English counterparts reading the same article in English.

World Book Public Library Edition

Lesson 1b

1.       I first searched gorilla as I did with World Book School Edition and found the resulting article to be the same.  I then switched to the mammal giraffe.  The World Book Online Kids offers similar to the same information with the articles including the lexile and a link to Info Finder which at this point I assume is the next step up from Kids.

The giraffe lives south of the Sahara Desert in Africa.

"Giraffe." World Book Online For Kids. World Book, 2013. Web. 28 Jan. 2013.

 

2.        I used the shortcut link at the bottom of the Kids edition to jump to the results page in the World Book Online Info Finder.  The results page for the search giraffe seems to be the same as the World Book Student School Edition.  The information is again more lengthy and specific than Kids edition and with a higher lexile level.  This time the addition of open woodlands is included in the description of habitat.   An articles content outline is again in the left side bar.  To the right of the screen is the related information and South Dakota content standards links.

      Dagg, Anne Innis. "Giraffe." World Book Online InfoFinder. World Book, 2013. Web. 28 Jan. 2013.

 

3.        When searching a country in World Book Online Reference Center the set up was familiar to the World Book Advanced School Edition.  This time I selected Nigeria as there are gorillas in this country.  (Still think everyone should read the book The One and Only Ivan!)  Once I selected the first article listed for Nigeria, I found the article content outline to the left.  I think the outline is very useful to patrons in allowing them to target specific information without reading the entire article as well as being able to print subsections.  To the right of the article is the related information and SD content standard links and at the top is the very useful tool box.  I hope to eventually help my patrons to use the tool “Save to My Research” as they become more familiar with using these databases.

      Onwudiwe, Ebere. "Nigeria." World Book Online Reference Center. World Book, 2013. Web. 28 Jan. 2013.

Lesson 1a - Electronic Challenge

World Book Student Edition

1.                       I chose to look up gorilla because I have currently finished reading The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate.  This book is a Newbery nominee for 2013 and I highly recommend reading this book.  In World Book Kids, I searched gorillas and came up with 13 items.  In the left tool bar labeled More Information, the list included articles (13), pictures (3) and videos (4).  These where all the resources that where tagged with gorilla.  Only one article was titled gorilla.  Once I clicked on the title, gorilla, I was able to view the article which included information on the lexile level, two photos, three videos and one sound bite, along with four paragraphs.  The gorilla’s habitat is the rain forests of Africa where they live in groups, foraging for food and sleeping on the ground or trees.

A tool box was above the article and gave the options to print, save, email and translate this article.  There is also an option to have the article read aloud.  Additionally, citation information is included as well as  related information/articles.  The related article was on Diane Fossey. 

 

"Gorilla." World Book Kids World Book, 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2013.

 

               

               

2.        I used the link at the bottom of the first article to jump to World Book Student.  Instead of going to the home page, the link took me directly to the search results for “gorilla” in Student.  In World Book Student, there were 35 articles tagged with gorilla.  The left side bar for the search results gave many more items beyond what Kids gave.  Additional results for Student included dictionary (1), maps (1), tables (3), pictures (9), videos (4), back in time articles (72), special reports (5) and a website.  This makes it very easy to explore my topic more in depth.  Once I selected the article titled gorilla, I am rewarded with a much longer article at a lexile level of 1120 (7.4 grade level).  There is more detail given in the description of the habitat.  The article describes two different gorillas and the locations they live.  The option I really like is the ability to print a subsection instead of the whole article.  This recently helped with a 6^th grade class doing Ancient Egypt research as they were looking for very detailed information and only printed the specific information relevant to their project.

Susman, Randall L."Gorilla." World Book Student. World Book, 2013. Web. 28 Jan. 2013.

 

3.        In World Book Advanced, I searched the country of Peru.  The first results screen offered a variety of information.  In the middle of the screen are the articles in which the world “Peru” appears.  The right side bar contains primary sources and ebooks linked to my search term.  The left side bar contains results much like that in World Book Student but with additional sources such as ebooks, US supreme court Cases, maps, historical maps, special reports, web sites and a research guide.  In the article on the country of Peru the left side bar contains the content outline of the article.  Clicking on the content areas on the left will jump you to that section in the article.  The tool box is also in this Advanced edition as it was in the Student edition. The right side of the screen has three boxes with related information, primary source information and content standards.  The article outline will appeal to middle school students who are looking for more detailed information.  The teachers which I consider valuable patrons will be able to explore lesson plans and the content standards as they apply to the article, grade level and subject taught.  Something for everyone.

León, Miguel A."Peru." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2013.

 

4.        In World Book Discoverer, I selected the History and Government under the topics heading on the right of the screen.  The next screen gave me two choices which were basically the definitions/explanations of history and government.  However on the left side bar, it allowed me to “dig deeper” and I selected government.  The next page gave me many result articles, a least eight pages but I did not see a total to the number of articles.  To the left again was the opportunity to “dig deeper”, with choices including American, Australian, Canadian and European governments, other governments and organizations.  Once I selected American government, I was presented with a more specific list of articles.  The left side bar once again gave the opportunity to “dig deeper”, including documents, organizations, and people.  In this list of American government I chose “The Pledge of Alligiance”.   The left side bar with the article gives the patron the choice to translate the article into another language.  This is a useful tool for those still learning English as they can translate the article to help them understand the information and nothing is lost in translation.

"Pledge of Allegiance." World Book Discover. World Book, 2013. Web. 28 Jan. 2013.