INFOhio
- Quality Online Resources, Part 5
This
is the final installment in the five part series about the wonderful (and
FREE!) online resources that all Ohio students have available for their use at
school AND at home. I hope you have taken some time to look around www.infohio.org and have become familiar with
the wealth of quality educational resources our students can use as they
explore topics of personal interest or complete school assignments. If you
haven’t had time to explore, then I hope you are printing these little
summaries to use when the time comes.
Let’s turn our attention to Learning Express Library, which
includes test preparation resources, skill-building tools, study guides and
career guidance materials. Online course series are available in language arts,
math skills, and standardized test preparation including practice exams and
quizzes. Students will want to use Learning Express Library in preparation for
the ACT, SAT and other college, graduate, school and military entrance exams.
Elementary, middle and high school students will find practice exercises to
help them improve their skills as they strive to achieve a comfort level in
taking tests or to prepare for advanced placement opportunities. Adults will
also find useful tests including EMS and Firefighter exams, U.S. Citizenship,
Civil Service, Nursing and many others.
Each user must create her/his own account so practice and test results can be
saved. Select New User to create your own account – keep track of your username
and password. After your first session, select Returning User, then enter your
username and password.
And finally, there are some wonderful resources that are linked on the INFOhio
site, but are not under the Core Resources. On the INFOhio home page, you’ll
see a small green button called “OTHER RESOURCES.” Please click on it to
discover some other quality web resources. For those Social Studies issues and
topics, you'll find links to American Memory, First Gov and First Gov for Kids,
Ohio.gov, Ohio Memory, Ohio Historical Society and the Ohio Historical
Society’s Ohio Kids. If you are a fan of one-stop shopping, you’ll come to
appreciate that all these great links are collected on one page! It’s so
convenient.
You’ll also find links to excellent health databases here, including Medline
Plus and NetWellness. This is the first place I go to read quality health
information when I need to know something. When it comes to our health, we want
reliable information, not someone’s opinion. For the younger users, you’ll also
find A.D.A.M., the online Health Encyclopedia.
HomeworkNow is a statewide resource designed to provide your child with
the services of a virtual librarian or tutor. The librarians and tutors are
real people, but they deliver their services virtually by pushing useful
information to your computer screen when you contact them for reference or
tutoring help. This service offers homework assistance from librarians, the
original information experts. It features live, online professional tutors from
2:00 PM - Midnight. Students can ask to be connected to a tutor for help with
all kinds of homework - even Math! HomeworkNow is part of the KnowItNow
service that provides a public librarian 24/7 to answer questions. I love their
slogan: Real Information - - Real People - - Real Time - - Real Easy! And while
it is easy and it does take away any excuse for incomplete assignments, it is
not a service that just gives students the answers. Librarians just wouldn’t
feel right doing that. So the procedure is designed to lead students through a
discovery process, rather than provide the answers outright.
It’s a wonderful time to be a student. The world of information is not only
increasing at an amazing rate, but the access to that information is something
we never imagined when we were children. That makes it a wonderful time to be a
parent helping a child with assignments, too. Why? Because you can do it from
the comfort of your home. In your slippers? It doesn’t matter. No makeup? No
one cares. Determined that Johnny won’t have another assignment turned in late?
Good for you! The resources on Your Virtual IMC portal at http://genoaschools.net/Staff/pscline/HS%20Online%20Resources%20Page.htm
and the resources provided through the state at www.infohio.org
really give you the means to empower your children to be successful.
Next week, I’ll highlight the resources our Genoa students have access to that
the district (not state) provides. As always, if you have any questions about
passwords or the online resources, please contact me and I will try my best to
help you. My address is pscline@genoaschools.com
and my phone number is 855-7735, ext. 13.