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Enclosed is this month's free newsletter for eLibrary® subscribers. This newsletter is designed to help teachers, librarians, and administrators stay informed about the latest changes to their subscriptions, while providing classroom resources and giving tips for using their ProQuest solutions in a variety of settings.
Don't miss our online archive for access to past issues, and to make changes to your newsletter options.
In this issue:
PROQUEST EDUCATION SOLUTION UPDATES
Our product development team is constantly reviewing customer feedback and making changes to our learning resources to meet your needs. Several updates or content additions were recently completed, and we wanted to bring them to your attention.
Cleaner, Revised eLibrary Interface
Last year hundreds of schools trialed eLibrary Science, and inadvertently got a glimpse of the future of the look and feel of our entire eLibrary family of K-12 solutions.
In a few short weeks, eLibrary and eLibrary Curriculum Edition will get a makeover, which will round some corners, brighten up colors, tighten up spacing, and in general bring the award-winning graphical interface solidly into 2006.
Plus, some of our advanced search options will move slightly, and provide a more streamlined search experience for users at all levels of proficiency.
More information about when these cosmetic changes will go live is forthcoming. In the meantime, sign up for an eLibrary Science trial today to see the changes in action.
Educator Story: “Google? No. eLibrary and BookCarts? Yes!”
A few days ago we received the following testimonial from a long-time eLibrary user in Canada. Food for thought as the new school year gets underway!
From: Diane Gallagher-Hayashi
Teacher-Librarian
Stelly's School
Saanichton, BC, Canada
“A few years ago, I purchased eLibrary Curriculum Edition for my library in Canada. The feature that sold me then was the BookCart tool. Today, I still find the BookCart feature the most useful parts of eLibrary.”
“One of my struggles, as a teacher-librarian, is the 'Google syndrome.' While Google is a perfectly good search engine, I find students head to Google immediately and don’t try any other avenues, even if Google is not the best first choice for their particular need. In addition, students will often spend the entire class searching Google without finding time to make any notes, or actually get started on the assignment. With the help of their classroom teachers, I have been able to encourage students to use eLibrary instead, cutting their search time in half.”
“When a classroom teacher books into the library, I request the topic of research and then put together a BookCart. I include both articles found on eLibrary and related websites and I have all the BookCarts organized by subject area.”
“When the students come into the library I ask them to login, open the library webpage, and then wait. Once they are all logged in, I walk them through the process of finding the appropriate BookCart. We have a link to eLibrary on the school library webpage, making it easy for students to access this from
home.”
“I keep the BookCarts that get used from year to year, updating them as necessary, and delete the ones that are a ‘one off’. Teachers have told me they love knowing that their students will have a ready list of articles and websites, and that they can comfortably confine the research to one or two classes. Students frequently thank me for making their job easier. To find the BookCarts I created, conduct an advanced search, and enter the word Hayashi in the Author field.”
Thanks for your thoughts, Diane! This year, why not take advantage of our BookCart/QuizCart tools to guide student research, rather than allowing students to spend time and energy finding unvetted resources via Google.
Do you have a comment or story you’d like to tell about your subscription? Send email to tim.mclain@il.proquest.com and we’ll feature it in an upcoming newsletter from ProQuest.
Feature Reminder: QuizCarts
eLibrary BookCarts can now include QuizCarts. QuizCart assessments are not intended as research activities because they are mostly focused on factual information and not on using resources to reach conclusions and reasoned opinion on issues and problems.
QuizCarts are most useful when BookCarts are used for reading assignments that update topics that are either not included in textbooks, or are out of date. Most textbooks generally average 4-6 years old, so it is not uncommon in this age of information that many new discoveries or significant events have occurred after a textbook is published and that are essential for learning.
Teachers can search any textbook topic in eLibrary and collect the most current articles in a BookCart to supplement the textbook. The QuizCart can be integrated into the BookCart as both a pre-test and a post-test to assess the reading assignment. These BookCarts should include multiple articles and websites so that students will have to “dig” for the information. Teachers can also require students to print and build a notebook of the most significant articles on each topic. QuizCarts provide up to 10 multiple choice questions that are scored automatically and then emailed to the teacher for review.
- Access the eLibrary or eLibrary CE Teacher Edition.
- Click the BookCart Admin link.
- Click the Local tab and then Create a New BookCart.
- Click Quizzes in the Product option pull down menu.
- Enter your email address in the Email box.
- Scroll down and click Quizzes.
- Scroll down again to the quiz multiple choice question builder.
Teachers should generally create the BookCart readings before they create the quiz so that the student learning resources are correlated to the questions.
ProQuest Donates 'Shelter Library' to New Orleans
In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, ProQuest and IBM joined forces to develop the Shelter Library, supporting the thousands of adults and children evacuated to Baton Rouge. Since its opening, the Shelter Library has served hundreds of evacuees, helping them file insurance claims, connect with loved ones via email, track emergency aid, and help kids stay current with schoolwork by providing premium online homework support. As part of the New Orleans Public Library, the Shelter Library will serve these residents as they return home to rebuild. Find out more.
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ELIBRARY PODCAST + TIPS & TRICKS
Let’s face it--no matter how many times we visit our favorite online learning resources, we’re bound to miss a feature or two. This month, we present one of the least-known but most useful feature sets of your eLibrary subscription: Transferring multimedia files from eLibrary into presentation software.
One of the most compelling uses of our ProQuest multimedia resources is to enrich student presentations. Our full line of K-12 solutions offer access to audio, video, and Macromedia Flash content--all of which can be inserted into presentation software like Microsoft PowerPoint.
Our new video podcast focuses on one of our popular quick start guides that can help you locate and make use of the multimedia files you access through your ProQuest subscriptions.
To sign up for our new monthly podcasts and see this feature in action, click here!
1. Get Ready: Web Browser Cleanup
Before obtaining a multimedia file to insert into a presentation program, it’s best to perform some basic browser clean-up. As you may know, every browser uses something called a cache folder to store previous viewed files and online content. This is where the multimedia files from your ProQuest subscription are stored before viewing inside your browser, along with hundreds or even thousands of old webpages and other files that users of your PC or Mac have accessed in recent days or weeks.
To help speed up the process of locating and inserting multimedia files into your presentation, we’ll first clean out this cache. To clean out your cache in Internet Explorer:
- Click the Tools menu, and select Internet Options.
- Under Temporary Internet files, click Delete Files.
- Click the box next to Delete all offline content, and click OK.
- Your Web browser cache is now empty. Click OK to close the window.
2. Get Set: Locate Multimedia
Your ProQuest subscriptions make it easy to locate audio, video, and Macromedia Flash content using a variety of search methods. In eLibrary, one method is to enter your search query, then make sure that only audio/video is checked as the content type. Additionally, you may click the purple audio/video icon on the main search page to find content by publisher.
Here’s a short list of the types of media files you’ll discover in eLibrary:
Video: .mov + .wmv
Audio: .mp3 + .wav
Flash: .swf
Keep in mind that ProQuest streaming multimedia files cannot be reused in student projects. The file is stored within our servers and can’t be transferred to your local computer for use in this manner.
3. Go: Locating & Integrating Multimedia
Once you’ve found a multimedia file you wish to insert into your presentation software, view it in your browser once. Once you’ve listened to or viewed the file, you can find it in your cache and integrate it into your project.
To learn how to locate your multimedia file and prepare it for integration into your presentation using Internet Explorer, retrieve a copy of our newest quick start guide.
Now you’re in the know! We hope this month’s tip and trick bring you closer to being a true eLibrary power user.
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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
August typically marks the beginning of the Atlantic and Caribbean hurricane season. Patterns and severity of these storms vary from year to year. This year, the first hurricane to reach the U.S. mainland came in June and tracked northeast through the Gulf of Mexico and across Florida.
Last year the primary track for hurricanes affected the Gulf States, with Katrina and Rita bringing the most devastation, especially to New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Atlantic and Gulf coastal areas are primarily affected but other parts of the Eastern U.S. can be damaged by these storms as they move inland with their heavy rains and winds and slowly decay.
Students will be motivated to learn about these storms and what science and government are doing about prevention, tracking, and damage control. Engaging questions will ensure that students will use critical thinking and multiple resources to “answer” these questions. The questions below are examples and teachers should adapt and/or create additional questions to focus students and provide a variety of reports and reasoned opinions.
- Why do hurricanes track differently each year?
- Where are Atlantic hurricanes born and why?
- What are some of the differences between Atlantic and Pacific Hurricanes?
- What are some ways that scientists are considering to reduce the severity and the damage done by hurricanes?
- Is there a connection between hurricane severity and frequency and global warming?
- How do people successfully prepare for a hurricane?
eLibrary provides a collection of more than 420 model BookCarts that can be copied to your school collection. Some teachers and librarians may consider the use of BookCarts as “spoon feeding.” But students will still need to use critical thinking to identify three or four resources from among more than 30 teacher-selected BookCart resources to respond to their research essential questions.
Students can also search for additional and more current resources from within a BookCart but only from relevant publications that teachers have pre-selected for this BookCart. These BookCarts save classroom/library time in searching, ensure students will get quality information every time, and save finite classroom time for critical thinking, writing, and presentation.
The following procedure accesses BookCarts that can help student study about Hurricanes:
- Access the Teacher Edition of eLibrary.
- Click the BookCart Admin link.
- View the complete list of model BookCarts by clicking the ProQuest Carts tab.
- Open the folder--Science: Earth/Space and locate the following BookCarts: Global Warming and Hurricanes; Hurricanes, Cyclones, and Typhoons.
- Click the Copy Icon to the right of each title in the Actions section.
- Open the folder--SS—Government and copy Hurricane Katrina and FEMA.
- Click the Local tab to see the BookCarts that will be available to your students.
Look for essential questions (EQs) in each BookCart following the state standard in the Description box. These provide models for the teacher to use and also create additional questions when they copy and adapt ProQuest BookCarts or when they create their own.
Many librarians report that they’re frustrated by teachers who make research assignments that don’t include essential questions. They generally assign only the topic (global warming), then students usually select an encyclopedia article that provides facts. Students usually copy/paste the information to a Word document, change a few words, and add a few of their own -- for a result that involves no original thought, no critical thinking, no reasoned opinion, and no development of essential digital information literacy skills.
This is important because state tests include open-ended responses on original articles that require student to infer rather than hunt for facts. Meaningful research activities do help students to develop the skills that increase state test scores in reading and critical thinking.
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PROQUEST® PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: ELIBRARY & SIRS
Our professional development training program is a complete package that delivers the key processes to ensure successful program implementation, and the content to support ongoing use and customization across the entire curriculum.
The CEU-eligible program provides educators with research-based technology integration strategies and tools for customizing instruction and assessment using our eLibrary and SIRS online learning solutions. Schools receive the materials they need to build professional development and instructional models that can maximize teacher efficiency and effectiveness, and improve student achievement.
Educators receive rubrics, assessments, activities, and content designed to spur students' information literacy skills, critical thinking, and reading and writing abilities, while increasing their own technology usage. Plus, our flexible model ensures that all instructional staff in a school or system will benefit from the lessons learned.
Our fresh support for our line of SIRS solutions will train your teachers to fuse four types of literacy using SIRS resources with state and national learning standards. Find out more about this new program today--just in time for your spring training dates!
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SIRS® DECADES: PRIMARY SOURCES IN YOUR CLASSROOM
The use of source documents offers students a direct glimpse into the past. But without context, these sources can confuse as often as illuminate. Our newest offering places these resources into a relevant framework that enriches both the content and student understanding of the material.
SIRS Decades features more than 5,000 hand-selected primary and secondary source articles highlighting key events, movements, people, and places in 20th-century America.
Each decade features an overview essay, which offers concise, relevant overviews. By reviewing the essay, students can understand the scope of the decade, the major groups or people concerned, key themes and influences, and important laws involved. Inline hyperlinks in the essay help students explore additional resources relevant to the essay’s themes.
These documents may include primary sources from the time period; present-day articles; entries from encyclopedias and almanacs; or government documents such as laws, pamphlets, or forms. In addition, the featured thumbnail image spotlights a high-impact graphic related to the major theme of the decade. Each decade also provides a list of related topics. By selecting a topic, students can access specific primary and secondary sources associated with the topic and further background essays that place the sources in context.
Here are direct links to several examples within SIRS Decades. To access the resources, first sign up for a free 30-day trial, then login, and click these links:
1920s
1940s
1960s
1990s
Find out more about SIRS Decades at our K-12 website.
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PROQUEST LEARNING PAGE RESOURCES
ProQuest LearningPage can make your life easier with a great selection of educational resources for the coming school year. Now is the perfect time to be sure you have everything you need to help make successful learners out of all the young people in your life.
A subscription to any of the ProQuest LearningPage websites will bring thousands of developmentally appropriate resources to your desktop, 24/7, 365 days a year. Our online store of resources is full of books, lessons, worksheets, and other valuable materials. ProQuest LearningPage has quality materials for every reading need and level at very low prices, available at the click of a mouse.
Reading A-Z: Get instant access to thousands of developmentally appropriate books, lesson plans, worksheets, and activities. Print as many copies as you need at any time, all for one low annual price! The website also offers Spanish, French, and U.K. versions of various books.
Vocabulary A-Z: Build hundreds of customized vocabulary lessons to match the subjects you’re teaching. The categorized word bank has approximately 4,000 words to choose from, with more added regularly. Topics include science, social studies, math, health, language arts, music, physical education, and everyday words.
Raz-Kids: Combine kids' love of cartoons with effective reading instruction. Raz-Kids offers interactive books at 17 levels to motivate students and help them learn to read. The website also provides online quizzes, printable worksheets, and an online management system for teachers.
Reading-Tutors: Print hundreds of lessons and materials for use by tutors, parents, or teachers to provide students with extra support in key reading areas, helping them to improve their reading skills.
Download free samples to try out any of these great low-priced products. We've made it easy for you by placing all the samples in one convenient location.
For information on any of the ProQuest LearningPage websites, please call 866.889.3729 or email razsupport@readinga-z.com.
We have everything you need for back to school--quality, affordable educational resources at your fingertips, anytime, anywhere!
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BONUS CURRICULUM MATERIALS
eLibrary Elementary: August is American Artists Appreciation Month. Students in elementary school are motivated by arts and crafts activities. eLibrary Elementary has hundreds of these activities and also information on famous artists that students will want to research and learn more about.
Topic search provides an easy way for students and teachers to connect to 20 curriculum-related topic areas. One of these is Arts & Crafts.
1. Click the Topics tab > Arts & Crafts.
2. Click Art Projects & Activities > Activities.
3. Note the variety of website links and articles about activities for kids.
4. Ask students to choose several activities that they could do in groups.
5. Click the Arts & Crafts link to return to the major topic.
6. Click Artists > Painters.
7. Assign a different painter to each student to research and summarize in an oral report to the class.
SIRS Discoverer: August includes several food-based observances like National Watermelon Day; Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Night; National Catfish Month; More Herbs, Less Salt Day; and National Peach Month. Why not have students do research on the origins and nutritional values of these foods, as well as recipes that involve them?
Assign different students to one of the foods listed in the themes above. Using SIRS Discoverer, have them make oral reports on three topics relative to the foods assigned:
- Where do these foods primarily come from and why?
- What is a recipe for using this food that you like, and why?
- What type of nutritional value does this food provide?
- Type the name of the food source in the Keyword/Natural Language box and Search.
- Select an article that answers the first question.
- Type the name of the food “and recipe” in the Search box (example: peaches and recipe).
- Select an article that answers the second question.
- Type the food source “and nutrition” in the Search box.
- Select an article that answers questions three.
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CULTUREGRAMS™ IN FOCUS
CultureGrams can help you broaden your students' understanding of the world and its peoples. The World Edition includes 190+ country profiles, written for junior high students and older. CultureGrams also has a Kids Edition and a States Edition, geared for upper elementary students. These editions include kid-friendly profiles of 70+ countries and all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia.
CultureGrams goes beyond mere facts and figures to deliver an insider's perspective on daily life and culture, including the history, customs, and lifestyles of the world's people.
State:
Maine
Did You Know?
- Maine is the only state that has declared war on a foreign country. They declared war on England over a boundary dispute.
- A groaner in Maine is a foghorn that has one long tone; a grunter has two.
- The first lighthouse in Maine was built in 1791 by the order of U.S. president George Washington.
Resources and Economy
The phrase surf and turf is sometimes used to describe a meal of steak and seafood. It could also be used to describe Maine’s natural resources and economy. Because of Maine’s many forests, wood products such as paper, toothpicks, lumber, and wood pulp are a big part of Maine’s economy. In fact, forests cover more than 80 percent of the land. Lobster and shellfish are another large part of how Mainers earn their living. Millions of pounds of lobster are harvested there each year! What is less well-known is that Maine is a leading potato producer. Much of the soil is too acidic; however, a sandy soil (perfect for potato farming) is found in the northeast corner of the state. Maine also produces most of the country’s blueberries.
Protecting the Environment
Many Mainers are concerned about the environment. During the 1960s and 1970s, environmentalists sought to reform businesses by writing about their bad environmental practices in the newspapers. Like other states, Maine also has to balance protecting the environment with keeping its economy strong. But the state has worked hard to control such problems as pollution, overfishing, overcrowding, and destruction of forestland. Maine’s strong environmental laws have set a standard for other states to follow.
Cultural Note
Maine was the first state in the United States to connect all its schools and libraries to the internet. Access to the internet for all school-age children helps them to learn more about the world around them from their own classrooms. And there are efforts by Maine’s researchers to enhance the capabilities of computers even more. Some students and teachers at the University of Maine are working to create a computer that can think more like humans do.
To find out more about CultureGrams, connect to our website today.
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TOP 3 WEBSITES
Each month, our SIRS® WebSelect and SIRS® Discoverer WebFind editorial teams scour the Internet for top-quality sites that help teachers teach and students learn. Although no Internet site can supplant a quality research database, these vetted resources offer unique resources that are sure to be of interest.
Climate Change: I'm Alright Jack
Organization: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
"I'm Alright Jack is a game of dilemma and consequence to discover how environmentally conscious you are. In the four stages of Jack's life, you will be asked to make decisions about his lifestyle." (BBC) Make environmentally friendly choices at various stages of Jack's life.
Story Strips
Organization: Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
"Like to make a scene? Here's your chance! Use characters and dialogue to create your own story." (PBS) Choose one of six situations, write your comic strip, and submit it to PBS.
What Happens During a Heart Attack?
Organization: The Cleveland Clinic
A heart attack is the result of a reduced or blocked oxygen supply to the heart. But how does it happen? This page briefly explains and illustrates heart attacks.
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FREE TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
Our ProQuest product trainers are standing by to help you get the most out of your subscription--and learn more about our other digital learning resources! We offer a wide variety of online training sessions each month.
Plus, all attendees can easily obtain a Certificate of Attendance (right) for any of our online courses! The certificate documents the course name, amount of class time, date, and verifies attendance. You can use the certificate to document attendance in the class and submit it along with the additional documentation your school district requires to award you with continuing education credits.
Be sure to tell your trainer that you would like to receive a certificate via email at the start of each class. They’ll be glad to help!
You can download three ready-to-print versions of forthcoming training dates and times in PDF format.
Our training sessions cover after-school hours within several time zones. Best of all, there's no cost to participate. All you need is a computer with Internet access, a phone, and one hour.
Register for a course!
You may also sign up for a timely enewsletter to receive training dates each month via email as soon as they're available.
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CALL FOR USER TESTIMONIALS
What features of eLibrary do you and your students find the most useful? Have you recently used or are planning to use it as part of an assignment or student research project? How do you and other curriculum leaders in your institution use your ProQuest educational resources?
Share your experiences with peers working in schools across the country and around the world--through an upcoming Product News Bulletin! We're waiting to hear from you. Please send your ideas and stories to: tim.mclain@il.proquest.com
If we choose your submission, we'll contact you for additional information and permission to use your story in a future issue.
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FORWARD TO A COLLEAGUE + EMAIL SERVICE INFORMATION
Increase the usage of your digital learning resources! Our forward-to-a-friend service makes it easy to instantly send this product bulletin -- and all the great ideas and information it contains -- to others in your subscribing institution with a click of your mouse.
Also, be sure to encourage them to sign up for our SIRS, CultureGrams, ProQuest, ProQuest Historical Newspapers, eLibrary, eLibrary Curriculum Edition, and additional enewsletters as appropriate.
To change your email address, sign up for additional newsletter titles, or modify your subscription settings, click here.
Cordially,
Your ProQuest K-12 Team
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