Encyclopedia Britannica Goes Wiki!

They never thought it would happen - but the Encyclopedia Britannica is opening its pages to everyone -

A redesigned website will allow current expert contributors to have more freedom to add information and advertise their own work, while also allowing the public to add articles under their own names. The encyclopedia will, however, still check that all information provided is correct before publishing. They say :

“The main thrust of this initiative is to promote greater participation by both our expert contributors and readers. Both groups will be invited to play a larger role in expanding, improving, and maintaining the information we publish on the Web under the Encyclopaedia Britannica name as well as in sharing content they create with other Britannica visitors”.

Read more about the changes here or check out the Britannica blog.

You can access the encyclopedia online for free in Wales if you are a member of a Public Library

Internet Detective - Free Internet Tutorial

You can use the Internet to search for information every day - but are you finding quality sites that are suitable for your coursework?

This Intute Wise Up to the Web tutorial gives you the tools you need to find reliable, accurate information online while staying on the right side of copyright law.

Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor have also translated the site into Welsh. Please contact LibeRaCe (by leaving a comment below this post) for the zip file to convert the tool.

 

 

TeacherTube and SchoolTube - Free Teaching Videos Online

A new way to interact with our students:

TeacherTube went live in 2007 and so far has 15,000 free to view instructional videos created by and for teachers. It includes featured videos, that are rated by viewers. Some of the diverse subjects covered include photography, maths, physics, English, French grammar. A keyword search box provides links to suitable videos. The US slant and some distracting advertisements may limit its appeal, but the range of subjects and alternative teaching ideas available make it a useful resource.

 

Another US based website called SchoolTube contains videos that have been created by students with the help of tutors on a wide range of subjects. Each video is screened by a qualified teacher using school district best practice before it is made available on the site. Videos are arranged by subject heading to the left of the page. The site also works in partnership with the Student Television Network (STN), a group of journalism teachers that share their expertise to create quality videos.

New Intute Guides Online

Eight new Intute Subject Booklets have been published this month, each providing a “taster” of the Internet resources that can be found by using Intute. They can be downloaded directly from the site or viewed as a PDF.

The new subject include:

Environmental Science
Materials Engineering
Film and Theatre
Philosophy
Education
Olympic Studies
Biological Sciences
Pregnancy and Childbirth

Over 24 booklets have been published by Intute in recent years, and you are welcome to copy, re-purpose and distribute the printed or electronic versions for non-profit, educational use with suitable attribution, as the work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.

 

Personal and Social Education - IB/WBQ Online

***New Audio-Visual Resources***

Boozeville - AV613.81 EDU 

Online access via Novell Screen/Health & Care/Boozeville Alcohol Education Toolkit 

This resource doesn’t just provide information about alcohol, but also explores reasons why people drink, hosts an alcohol encyclopaedia, holds quizzes for each of the five sections,  has tailored lesson plans and all with over one hour of original animation. Enables tutors to confidently tackle alcohol education in the classroom, extend the CD-ROM activities through customisable lesson plans and  monitor students’ progress through a password protected section.

 

Contraception : The Computer Game - AV 613.9 HAS

Online access via Novell Screen/Health & Care/Contraception the Computer Game

This resource offers 1-6 players or teams a chance to test out their knowledge, risk assessment and decision making skills in relation to sexual issues. An engaging and non-threatening way of addressing a difficult subject area. This has laso been recommended for use by other Llandrillo tutors.

 

Mental Health DVD - AV362.2 4VE - 7 Day Loan

Contains 3 programmes about mental health (Winning the Mind Game, Losing It and Without You) covering eating disorders, depression, OCD and exam stress . These support developing confidence and responsibility, a healthy, safe lifestyle, good relationships, to reflect on and access strengths, the causes, symptoms and treatments for stress & depression, self-awareness and  emotional health.

Has been recommended by the Department of Education and other Llandrillo tutors.

 

Hairdressing Training Online - FREE for Llandrillo Students

***NEW***

 

• Step by step guides for ladies and mens cuts
• Text and picture instructions
• Powerpoint presentation tutorials
• Test Questions for each topic
• PDF notes to download

                                                  

• Equipment glossary, including cutting tools and styling products  
• Lessons on hair analysis, perming and dressing long hair

Have you applied for your ATHENS account yet?

This gives you free access to all the on-line library resources on the college network and at home  - ask in the library for details or download a form in Moodle.

Student Competitions! - ICT

The Higher Education Academy subject centre for Information and Computer Sciences is running 3 competitions for students this year - but tutors benefit too!

1. Student Essay Competition:  ”What makes a good Lecturer?” - Closing 28th March 08

900 - 1,100 word essay with a prize of £250 for the winning essay and it will compete against the other subject centres and possibly win a Toshiba laptop

 2.Reusable Learning Objects Competition - Closing 31st March 08

Student prepares a program for reuse, for example to aid a process or a student’s understanding of a topic, and this program can be transferred into a Moodle. The prize for this competition is £700 to the winning student and £300 for the supervising lecturer.

3. Student Video competition: ” A Week in the Life” - Closing 1st February 08

is where the student records themselves in response to the question and talks about their experience coming to University. Group submissions are acceptable. £250 prize - see the previous LibeRaCe post from 25th October 07.

A Levels Online - Geography Update

 

The ITS Tutorial School in Hong Kong have recently added a new Geography dictionary/glossary to their resource pages. The creator of the glossary says -

“The terms defined do not belong to anyone. The definitions compiled here have been rewritten from a huge variety of academic sources and are based on my own educational experiences and my experience of teaching Geography in Hong Kong since 1997. “

It covers Physical Geography, Human Geography, Earth Sciences and related disciplines with over 1400 terms which have been defined and all cross referenced with live linking.

FREE - English Literature Revision Guides

Bibliomania! - excellent FREE study guides for classics and general English Literature including Shakespeare’s plays. Register your details before use.

BBC Bytesize - English

S-cool.com A levels

 

Whay does reading mean to you?

A recent BBC article suggested that half of all men in the UK aged 16-24 haven’t read a single book in the past 12 months……and others argue that you don’t have to read books to be intelligent and knowledgeable because we now get our information in other ways….

BUT

Last year people in the UK bought an estimated 338 million books, thats 13% higher by both volume and value than five years ago! And that the bedroom was the preferred location for reading by 45% of general readers….

AND

the greatest growth in value for 2006 in the UK came from the academic/professional (+7.1%) and non-fiction/reference (+4.7%) while in America the greatest growth came from the religious category (+5.6% on 2005) and the adult trade (+3.9%) - what can we make of that?

HOWEVER

A recent survey by the American IMLS/PEW Foundation also found that Internet users were more likely than nonusers to go to the library and the report concludes that Internet use isn’t making libraries less relevant

REMEMBER

Becuase the way we produce and gather information has changed and many more people are logging in to get their daily information fix, it’s more important than ever to develop both general literacy and computer literacy skills  ………                                       

Your library & IT Workshop are here to help you achieve both