Education
on the Internet
is published by Spartacus
Educational every week. The newsletter includes news, reviews
of websites and articles on using ICT in the classroom. Members of
the mailing list are invited to submit information for inclusion in
future newsletters. In this way we hope to create a community of people
involved in using the Internet in education.
National
Grid for Learning: The British National Grid for Learning (NGfL)
portal is to be relaunched on 9th January at the education technology
show, BETT 2002. The site has a new image-driven design which represents
a radical change from its previous look. It has been restructured
and rebuilt to cope with the ever-increasing quantity of content that
makes it the largest educational portal of approved sites. The
NGfL is part of a Government initiative which aims to widen access
to learning for everyone in all sectors of education, both formal
and informal. The portal incorporates quality-assured educational
web sites for people of all ages and interests.
eSchoolnet,
the educational portal for schools in Europe, is officially launching
on at 3.30pm on 11 January 2002. The launch will take place at one
of the UK’s biggest educational events, the BETT show, on the
Apple stand. The portal is a service for schools and teachers provided
by European Schoolnet. The portal includes the latest eLearning news,
online training opportunities, European curriculum resources and innovative
school practice research. On the website European teachers, trainers
and students can meet through collaborative school projects and learning
communities. During the launch, the eSchoolnet team will also unveil
exciting news of a Europe-wide cartoon competition for school children.
Children and teachers will be invited to work on a special digital
cartoon, with the theme ‘tolerance’.
Connecting
the Future: The decisions we make today will shape online education
and training tomorrow. But will they be the right decisions? How can
we plan for a future that we know will not be the same as the present?
The Global Summit of Online Knowledge Networks will bring together
representatives of key educational networks from around the world.
Each will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience. And each will
be puzzling over problems for which there are no easy answers. The
Global Summit offers a unique opportunity to pool the collective wisdom
of today's leaders in online learning to address two key questions:
How do we ensure the strategic development of current and future online
networks? What should we be doing, individually and collectively,
to influence change? The Global Summit of Online Knowledge Networks
taking place in Adelaide, Australia on 4th and 5th March 2002.
BBC
Online Educational Resources: The government has scrapped a £42
million scheme in which BBC and Granada were developing material for
three GCSE subjects. However, the BBC is now proposing to spend £150
million over the next five years, developing core curriculum material
for all ages, across the UK's four education systems. It plans to
commission half the content outside the BBC.
History
The
Ambassadors – Online Analysis: Using the awe-inspiring work
of Hans Holbein, court painter to Henry VIII, students are encouraged
to analyze the political, social and religious meanings of an incredible
painting and thereby reach a deeper understanding of the period. An
excellent, original way of approaching picture sources and the Tudor
period in general, produced by Russel Tarr of ActiveHistory.
The
Russian Revolution: A comprehensive directory website on the Russian
Revolution. The websites are listed under the categories of the February
and October Revolutions, the Civil War, People, Political Parties,
Images and Maps and Postmortem. There is also a FAQ section.
Special
Operations Executive: This website tells the story behind the
role of the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War.
There are sections on Beginnings, Facts, Missions, Tools of the Trade,
Operatives, Myths and Legends, the SOE in the Far East and Picture
Gallery. The website is produced by Maurice A. Christie, whose father
worked at the SOE Laboratories that were to make and test some of
the first James Bond type Gadgets. He was later sent on a undercover
operation in Singapore.
English
Little
Animals Activity Centre: Another excellent website produced by
the BBC for young children. Characters featured include Micky Maker,
Digby Mole, Foxy Dancer, Count Hoot, Puzzlesnuff and Storybear. Each
one has a set of activities for children including word and music
games, riddles, mazes, math activities, treasure trials and interactive
games.
George
Orwell Resources: This website, devoted to the work of George
Orwell, includes a short biography, an extensive bibliography, quotes,
photographs and links to online texts. This includes novels, nonfiction
books, pamphlets, broadcasts, essays, articles, poetry, letters and
book reviews. The website also includes links to resources that can
be used by students studying 1984 and Animal Farm.
Reading-Now
has resources for building early word recognition skills. These teacher
created materials provide the necessary practice to help students
succeed in decoding and sight word recognition skills. The practice
is done in context along with game cards, flash cards, and certificates
for achieving success at each level. The veteran teacher-author enables
students to practice with varied reinforcement activities.
Mass
Media
Carte-de-Visite
Photographs: From
1859 onwards there were millions of small studio portrait photographs
produced all over the world in a format known as Carte-de-visite.
In the UK they were discontinued from about 1905. They were the first
cheap, mass produced form of having an image of yourself, family and
friends or even famous people! The were placed in albums made for
them and now turn up in sales and are very collectable. They show
how the Victorians looked in their Sunday best! This website, created
by Roger Vaughan, contains a large section of these photographs.
American
Photographers: Biographies of 42 photographers working in the
United States between 1840 and 1980. There are also brief articles
about Pictorialism, Documentary Photography, The Camera Club, Camera
Work Magazine, Photo-Succession Group, Group f/64, Photo League, Surrealism,
Farm Security Administration, Standard Oil Project, Photojournalism,
Family of Man Exhibition, Life Magazine and Photomontage.
Music
Music
Education: Created
by Deborah Kay Jeter, the editor of Diversified Learning, this website
is a collection of hypertexted articles on music education. Articles
include Multiple Intelligences (using music to teach other subjects),
Sound Stories (musical story telling), ESL Songs (music and special
needs), Does the Gesture Matter? (directing musicals), Songs to Soothe
the Savage Beast (using music to reduce school violence) and Musicals
for the Musically Timid! (teacher's guide to the musical).
Music
Education Launch Site: Created by Jeffrey S Brenan, The Music
Education Launch Site was created to serve as a launching point for
web travelers interested in music and music education. It includes
lesson plans and Mr. Note's Gameland to teach children musical notation.
Songfile
hopes to establish itself
as the website that "brings the entire world of music to everyone
with Internet access." Songfile currently has seven channels
of music information on lyrics, sheet music, recordings, live events,
instruments, licensing and music business links.
Design
& Technology
Great
Buildings: This
outstanding website is the gateway to architecture around the world
and across history documents a thousand buildings and hundreds of
leading architects, with 3D models, photographic images and architectural
drawings, commentaries, bibliographies, web links, and more, for famous
designers and structures of all kinds.
Samuel
Franklin Cody, as well as being one of the early pioneers of aviation,
is fondly remembered as being a flamboyant Wild West showman. There
is a Cody Appreciation Society, which actively teaches young people
about the subject of aviation and in particular the life and work
of the first man to fly a powered aeroplane in the UK. He even has
a chain of high street shop named after him selling novel gadgets,
toys, gifts and ingenious electrical products. If you wish to find
out more about this fascinating character visit the latest addition
to the Design and Technology Department website.
How
Stuff Works: Electronics: HowStuffWorks is a media company that
is internationally recognized as the leading provider of information
on how things work. Founded by Marshall Brain, HowStuffWorks offers
in-depth articles that explain the world from the inside out to millions
of readers every month. HowStuffWorks electronics offerings enables
you to learn about video systems, including your TV, your DVD player,
the cable TV system and MP3 players.
Art
& Design
Web
Gallery of Art: The
Web Gallery of Art presents over 3,500 digital reproductions of European
paintings and sculptures created between 1200 and 1700. Visitors can
browse the collection from the Artist Index (an alphabetic list of
artists) or by using the website search engine to find particular
paintings. There is a biography of each artist (usually taken from
Encarta) and a list of their paintings in the database. As well as
the picture itself, details are provided of its size and where it
is being displayed. Guided tours are provided that attempt to help
the visitor understand the artistic and historical relationship between
different artworks and artists included in the collection.
Arts
Reference Library: BUBL
Information Service, based at Strathclyde University Library, is a
searchable database of Internet resources of academic relevance. The
websites are organised by Dewey Decimal Classification and is browsable
by subject or class number. The Arts main page has fourteen main categories
that include: The Arts: General Resources, Fine and Decorative Arts,
Art Galleries and Museums, Civic & Landscape Art, Drawing, Painting
and Paintings and Graphic Arts. Each website listed has a brief review
with information on the people and organisations that have created
the website. This is an impressive site that fully deserves the large
number of visitors it receives every day.
Louvre
Museum: The Louvre
Museum houses more than 6,000 European paintings dating from the end
of the 13th century to the middle of the 19th century. The paintings
are organised into national schools. This includes: the French school,
the Italian School, the Flemish, Dutch and German Schools and finally
the Spanish and English Schools. A selection of the paintings from
each gallery can be seen on the website. The website also provides
information on the formation of the Louvre Collection.
Do you
want to have your website listed in our web directory? If so, send
a brief description (about 150 words) and the URL to spartacus@pavilion.co.uk.
