Content: Unite for Literacy is a publishing company with a goal of providing young children an abundance of books and easy access to reading materials in order to cultivate early reading habits. The Unite for Literacy website and app includes over 400 free ebooks for pre-readers and early readers in both English and Spanish; some of the books include narrations in a wider variety of languages including indigenous and endangered languages. When to use:These free books can be used in a wide variety of reading activities both in the classroom and at home. The stories can be integrated into lessons on specific topics, story time, and used for early reading lessons. This resource could also be used at home by parents and children who have limited access to books or who want to expand their home library. Benefits and Limitations: This site has a simple design and is easy to navigate. An app is also available, for easier access on mobile platforms. New books are added on a monthly basis. However, the site is American, so the books provide primarily an American perspective. Another limitation to consider is that households that have little access to children’s books may also lack access to technology. They also provide printed versions of these books; however, these are not free. Audience:Educators and parents of pre-readers and early readers. Source:Unite for Literacy Author: Raluca Tunison
Teaching for Change (Lindy Hudson)
link: https://www.teachingforchange.org Located in Washington D.C., Teaching for Change is an American non-profit organization that promotes anti-bias and social justice through education. Their website provides educational resources on relevant issues connected to current real-world issues, such as the Black Lives Matter movement. Teaching materials include lessons, articles, recommended book lists and films, as well as a significant amount of information dedicated to parents’ role in children’s education. Past and upcoming local events are also detailed on the website. The target audience is both educators and parents. K-12 educators could use the teaching resources to promote a culturally-inclusive climate at school; parents could learn how to become better involved in their children’s education, and if local, to find out about in-school programs and events.
Benefits and Limitations The website is quite “busy” - there are many dropdown menu options and some overlapping content across the different pages. There’s not a huge variety of topics under teacher resources, but each topic has ample supporting material. The book lists are fantastic - very extensive! The website’s main limitation is that it has a strong focus on location-specific content; at first glance, it looks relevant only to Washington residents. However, I think if the content is considered abstractly - about the reasons why these events and programs have been created and what they’re aiming to achieve, then it could be a great resource for take-away ideas and inspiration.
In a media-saturated society, Media Smarts looks to provide Canadian youth with the critical thinking skills to interact with media in an active way that promotes informed digital citizenship. Areas of focus on the site include diversity and privilege in media, with a specific focus on Aboriginal, disabilities, LBGTQ2+, religion, visible minorities, etc. Media Smarts' audience is broad-based, including youth, parents and educators. The resources are vast on this site, and organized well, divided by topic with general information and linked resources for parents and teachers on each page. Additionally, they produce most of the resources on the site, including educational games, e-tutorials and workshops and digital publications. There is also a French-language version of the website available. Much of the content seems to focus on younger students at the elementary age. The resources for the teenage audience seem to lack the sophistication and complexity to meet their level of maturity, intelligence and experience. Media Smarts is a non-profit organization with corporate support from such businesses as Bell Canada, Google, Facebook, and Telus. Interestingly, the patron of Media Smarts is Her Excellency the Right Honourable Julie Payette, Governor General of Canada, who has had some controversy surrounding her in the media recently that Media Smarts Board would do well to consider.
GOT NET SMARTZ? (Artemis Manoukas Chalkidis)
Contents: This infographic shared by the York Regions District School Board as part of their Safe Schools Programs, provides a visual guide for students and is broken down into headings such as: Cyberbullying, Online Predators, Sharing Too Much, Trusted Adults, with subcategories listing more detailed information. Uses: This resource can be used by classroom teachers or shared with parents to help young adults navigate the internet. It lists tips and suggestions on how to be responsible digital citizens and can help students or their carers make educated and mindful decisions when accessing technology. Benefits and limitations: This is an easy to read and visually appealing document that can be printed and posted in high visibility areas. It can also be used as a quick reference point for both teachers and parents when looking at engaging young adults in conversations about accessing information and sharing personal information about themselves. However, the infographic is limited in the amount of information it actually contains, creating an almost simplistic approach to internet safety. Additionally, it is printed in one language, English, creating barriers for those with limited English skills, or newly arrived to the country. Audience: This infographic can be used in school and shared with students, especially during this time of virtual learning. Those who are accessing the internet may be more vulnerable and susceptible to online predators if parents and guardians are not available to monitor internet usage and how their children are accessing the internet and using technology. The source: The Get Net Smartz resource is published by the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, and includes links to real life stories to create a context for students. References: Centre for Missing and Exploited Children. (2012). Get Net Smartz [Infographic]. Get Net Smartz. http://www.yrdsb.ca/Programs/SafeSchools/Documents/GotNetSmartz.pdf
WISC-ONline (Garielle chen)
Contents: Wisc-Online is a non-profit organization that provides over 2,500 web-based learning objects designed by expert instructors in the fields of health, science, mathematics, technology, industry, and education. The types of learning objects offered by Wisc-Online cater to an array of fields (i.e. humanities, computer science, engineering, math, arts, science, language learning) and include resources in the forms of assessments, simulations, interactive animated video lessons, case studies, drills/practices, and game templates. When to Use: These learning objects are free to anyone who desires access to them with copyright clearance for use in any learning environment. The website’s courses would be especially helpful for teachers seeking to engage students as Wisc-Online offers full, original, interactive courses in addition to a plethora of interactive flash-enabled video lessons. A unique feature of this site is the library of free informative images, animations, and video clips for teachers to include in their lesson materials. Parents and teachers may encourage younger students to play educational games provided by Wisc-Online, and certain courses can benefit from the “build your own game” feature that teaches students coding skills and technological creativity. Benefits: The interactive nature of Wisc-Online’s animated videos, lessons and games promote engaged, active learning. Limitations: Higher-level concepts and lessons need to be developed to meet the learning needs of post-secondary learners. Audience: Wisc-Online states their resources are for students and learners at any level. However, it appears most learning objects currently available appeal to K-12 students and educators. Source:https://www.wisc-online.com/
markkula centre for applied ethics (garielle chen)
Contents: The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics offers hundreds of learning materials covering ethical decision-making for various fields (i.e. biology, technology, business, engineering, legal, religious etc.). The resources offered include ethics-related articles, a decision-making smartphone app, case studies, lesson plans, and teaching modules. When to Use: The resources presented are fruitful tools for students seeking to develop critical-thinking and problem-solving skills when facing ethical issues. The ethics articles provide explanations of fundamental ethics-related theories, leaders of philosophy, and ethical concerns unique to numerous fields. Further, the information provided through articles, videos, and infographics can be supplemented by the realistic case studies offered. Teachers can guide their courses with the lesson plans and teaching modules offered by Markkula Center that incorporate numerous interactive class activities. Benefits: The case studies offered by Marrukkula Center are highly realistic and relevant to the everyday ethical dilemmas one may face in their respective field. The lesson plans on the site often cover weeks to months worth of lessons that integrate video lessons, articles, discussion questions, and collaborative activities. Limitations: Specific resources can be difficult to find on the website since such a large quantity of content is available. Users could benefit from the search filters to narrow down their results based on their specific needs. Audience: While the intended audience for these resources is educators of adult students in higher education institutions, the learning content is offered in varying levels of complexity, allowing for integration in the curriculum of lower-grade levels. Source:Markkula Center for Applied Ethics Photo: “Ethics” by Hcogg001 is licensed under CC-BY-2.0.
Darts & Letters Podcast (Rula AMer)
Cited is a podcast about the politics of expertise. Cited podcast is made in two locations: Toronto, Ontario, and Vancouver, British Columbia. Itfeatures one or more recurring hosts engaged in a discussion about a particular topic or current event.
Experts shape our world. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. In every big story, you’ll find one; you’ll find a researcher, scientist, engineer, planner, policy wonk, data nerd, bureaucrat, regulator, intellectual, or pseudointellectual. Their ideas are often opaque, unrecognized, and difficult to understand. Some of them like it that way. On Cited, we reveal their hidden stories. (Cited, 2020)
When someone might want to use this resource You can listen to this podcast when you want to hear other opinions about an event or any topic to learn more about expertise or a critical thinker.
Audience Anyone
Cockburn, J., Katic, G.Susnick, A. Cited. Darts and Letters. https://www.citedpodcast.com/podcast/introducing-darts-and-letters/
Internet encyclopedia of philosophy (rula amer)
The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP) provides open access to detailed, scholarly, peer-reviewed information on key topics and philosophers in all areas of philosophy. The Encyclopedia’s articles are written with the intention that most of the article can be understood by advanced undergraduates majoring in philosophy and by other scholars who are not working in the field covered by that article. The IEP articles are written by experts but not for experts in analogy to the way the Scientific American magazine is written by scientific experts but not primarily for scientific experts(IEP, 2020). I searched the critical thinker and philosopherPaulo Freire to learn more about Freire’s life, as well as his ideas regarding pedagogy and political philosophy.
Audience students , researchers and lifelong learner Benefits The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP) is a reliable open source, easy to search and navigate among the alphabetical index. IEP staff of 30 editors and approximately 300 authors hold doctorate degrees and are professors at universities around the world (IEP, 2020). The Encyclopedia’s articles are written with the intention that most of the article can be understood by advanced undergraduates majoring in philosophy and by other scholars who are not working in the field covered by that article (IEP, 2020). “Paulo Freire (1921—1997),” by Diaz K., The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ISSN 2161-0002, https://www.iep.utm.edu/, November 5, 2020.
Indigenous Story Books (Michael Marchione)
Link: https://indigenousstorybooks.ca/ Summary This resource curates media texts and images available in Indigenous languages as well as a variety of other languages to share stories and narratives with others from around the world!
Use
Promote global citizenship, empathy building, and community
Integration into social studies and history topics
Visual prompts and provocations for deeper thinking
Benefits & Limitations This resource has a positive aim at creating a common culture that reaches various languages and cultures. It contains a wide variety of visual and audio resources that are readily available for use. This resource does seem to be targeted to more perceivably primary learners and may limit its appeal to older students.
National library of virtual manipulatives (stephen Lisak)
Summary The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives (NLVM) is an interactive set of Java-based mathematical tools for use in a classroom for students to experiment with mathematical concepts.
Usage Java elements from the NLVM can be inserted into most LMS pages to provide interactive elements for students.
Intended Audience, Benefits, and Limitations The resource is intended for student use or for instructors. It allows students to interact with a concept, allowing them to experience changes better than a static image or video implementation. However, they cannot stand alone and require some context for a positive experience.
About the Creator The NLVM is a project by the National Science Foundation to assist with providing interactive elements for mathematics education online.
Summary The OER Commons provides Open Educational Resources with sorting by subject, educational level, and standards. Usage OER Commons can be used as lessons or adapted to create new lessons (with attribution).
Intended Audience, Benefits, and Limitations The resource is intended for instructor use. Instructors using OER Commons have content available they do not have to create entirely. Content can include web pages, slides, PDFs, and other resources. Instructors can also provide feedback by rating the content and leaving comments on it, allowing for refinement and ensuring that quality content gets seen. OER commons also has curated collections, allowing for quality content to be easily selected. However, the content is largely US-centric and may require adaptation to fit your curriculum.
About the Creator OER Commons is run by the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education, a nonprofit organization based in California. They do information science in education, helps educators improve data collection and analysis, and provides open educational resources.
Google teaching Resources - Canada (Stephen Lisak)
Summary Google Teaching Resources is a series of resources, including apps, lesson plans, courses, and activities, available for teachers in the classroom. Usage Google Teaching Resources can be used to supplement many courses. It can also be used to strongly guide a Computer Science course. Intended Audience, Benefits, and Limitations Instructors and students. Apps and resources are of a high quality and can open up creative possibilities. Google is notably one of the few VR educational resource providers, providing resources such as Google Earth VR, Tilt Brush, and Google Tours. Many of these resources are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) unless otherwise noted, allowing them to be adapted even commercially, as long as attribution and the same license terms are provided. However, there is an overwhelming amount of material, making sorting through it a daunting task for the instructor. About the Creator Google is a company whose mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Google for Education provides a wide range of products under web domains for their customers.
i) Content: A series of six lectures that deal with technology and its effects on our lives. Beginning with anxiety and ending with issues of equity and control.
From the host: There's a problem with that device in your hand — your phone that makes you anxious when it's not near. Renowned tech expert Ron Deibert says that needs to change. The 2020 Massey Lecturer suggests we need a 'reset' and in his first lecture, Deibert sketches out the layered problem — and how he sees a way forward.
ii) When to use this source: I don’t think we can talk about equity and the digital world unless we really understand the digital world - this series is a comprehensive overview of current issues and possible alternatives to current practice.
iii) Benefits & Limitations: Benefits: His style and language are very approachable but he is deeply knowledgeable. Limitation: There is a considerable time commitment to listening all the way through.
iv) Audience: Anyone with an interest in understanding broader issues of the digital world. Educators, especially, those with an interest in the relationship between power and technology.
v) Source: Ayed, N. (Host). (2020, November 9). CBC Massey Lecture # 1: Look At That Device In Your Hand [Audio podcast episode]. In Ideas. CBC Listen. https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-23-ideas/clip/15807770-cbc-massey-lecture-1-look-at-that
Content A collection of resources that are meant to assist parents who are helping their children learn from home. It can be used as a teaching supplement, an online resource, and a toolkit for parents who may be home schooling. The resource has links to resources related to literacy, music, math, as well as family activities. They are links to external sources (Smithsonian, PBS etc.) that the Barbara Bush Foundation has deemed helpful.
When to use this source K-8 teachers and homeschooling parents may find this resource useful. The resource is specifically for parents and educators during the Covid crisis.
Benefits & Limitations The site is easy to navigate, requires no registration and is accessible by everyone. The benefit of this resource is that all of the links are in one location and easily accessible for teachers and parents. The resource doesn’t produce its own material, but rather just archives it all in one place. The material is mainly American and not necessarily linked directly to any particular curriculum. Audience The audience is elementary educators and home schooling parents.
Sesame Street (Julie johnston volcansek)
Link:https://www.sesamestreet.org Content The website has resources for children to learn from videos, games, and art. Children can navigate through activities based on interest. Characters from Sesame Street that children may be familiar with are hosting the videos and games. Benefits & Limitations: The website is easy to navigate and children have a star as their cursor on the screen. Children can choose which activity appeals to them and navigate to it simply. The videos are spoken directly toward the audience and the characters speak to the audience directly. Childrens are unable to pause videos once they have started them and need to know how to navigate away from the screen. There are advertisements at the bottom of the page and easily accessible by children. There are no direct connections to curriculum. Audience: The audience is preschool children. Teachers could use this resource to help children with numeracy and literacy. Home schooling parents could use this as a supplemental resource