ITSLIFE - Learning for Teaching
| Home | Index | News | Practice | Resources | Issues | Library | About Itslife | Site map |
Resources
Reference Sources
There are some truly excellent reference sources out there on the Internet, so much so that at times the quantity is mind boggling. If you use them effectively however they can save masses of time, and can be used to enhance teaching and learning considerably. Itslife will try to bring you the best.
DEFINITIONS
Getting a definition on Google Did you know that if you need a definition, you can type the word/s you want defined in the 'exact words' search box on Google, and 'definition' in the box above - 'all of the words', this will almost always give you one or more full definitions, usually from good sources.
DICTIONARIES
Ask Oxford is the on line presence of the Oxford University Press dictionaries and other reference sources. http://www.askoxford.com
Cambridge Dictionary Online from Cambridge University Press is at http://dictionary.cambridge.org/
Dictionary.com On line dictionary, thesaurus and other tools and resources at www.dictionary.com
Dictionaries A web of online dictionaries. A comprehensive and wide ranging resource with many features. http://www.yourdictionary.com/
The free dictionary gives you 'English, Medical, Legal, Financial, and Computer Dictionaries, Thesaurus, Acronyms, Idioms,
Encyclopedia, a Literature Reference Library, and a Search Engine all in one! It is enormous! at:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/
MISCELLANEOUS
Answers.com is 'a free, ad-supported, reference search service, created to provide you with instant answers on over a million topics. As opposed to standard search engines that serve up a list of links for you to follow, Answers.com displays quick, snapshot answers with concise, reliable information. Our editors take our content from over 100 authoritative encyclopedias, dictionaries, glossaries and atlases, carefully chosen for breadth and quality.' This is a site with so much on it, and there are so many ways it could be used in teaching. It is US-based, but just give it a try, and see what you think. www.answers.com
CiteULike 'is a free service to help you to store, organise and share the scholarly papers you are reading. When you see a paper on the web that interests you, you can click one button and have it added to your personal library. CiteULike automatically extracts the citation details, so there's no need to type them in yourself. It all works from within your web browser so there's no need to install any software. Because your library is stored on the server, you can access it from any computer with an Internet connection.' at http://www.citeulike.org/
Encyclopedia.com - has a simple front end, gives you very comprehensive results. Somewhat US focussed,and describes itself as follows : 'Encyclopedia.com, the Internet's premiere free encyclopedia, provides users with more than 57,000 frequently updated articles from the Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Each article is enhanced with links to newspaper and magazine articles as well as pictures and maps - all provided by eLibrary.' http://www.encyclopedia.com/about.asp
How stuff works - guess what this site does?! On the site it says:
'HowStuffWorks is an online publishing company widely recognized as a leading source for clear, unbiased, reliable explanations of how everything actually works. With thousands of articles, content features and illustrations populating ten different content channels, HowStuffWorks.com attracts millions of unique visitors each month
There are lots of ways this could be used in teaching. At http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/
The People's Network describes itself as 'your network, whoever you are, whatever it is you want to do. It is delivered by England's public libraries, managed by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and supported by lottery funding. Through this website, the People's Network is here for you to enquire, discover and read online at your convenience whenever and wherever you want to log on. At http://www.peoplesnetwork.gov.uk/
REFDESK Is a huge collection of different reference sources including general and specific encyclopedias, dictionaries, lists and other items. It is easy to become somewhat overawed by the quantity of items on this site, but if you persevere, you should certainly find some sources of use to you. www.refdesk.com
SearcheBooks is on the Web at http://www.searchebooks.com/
Wikipedia - describes itself as follows .. Wikipedia is a multilingual Web-based free-content encyclopedia wiki cluster. Wikipedia is written collaboratively by volunteers, allowing most articles to be changed by anyone with access to a web browser. The project began on January 15, 2001, as a complement to the expert-written Nupedia and is now operated by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Wikipedia has more than 3,200,000 articles, including more than 940,000 in the English-language version, and as of January 2006 it has more than 845,000 registered users. Since its inception, Wikipedia has steadily risen in popularity,[1] and its success has spawned several sister projects. There has, however, been controversy over its reliability.
The size and scale of Wikipedia, and the fact that it is voluntary and self editing is a triumph for the democratic capability of the internet. Have a go, sign up and add something!
Xrefer.com has encyclopaedias, dictionaries and books of quotes from different publishers, and describes itself as follows : xrefer's free site contains encyclopaedias, dictionaries, thesauri & books of quotations from the world's leading publishers. All cross-referenced, all in one place - providing you with a single source for reliable factual information www.xrefer.com
FREE TUTORIALS AND ONLINE LEARNING
BBC Languages - excellent free tutorials with sound and images in Spanish, French, Italian and others http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/languages/learn/index.shtml .
BBC Learning provides a set of online learning in subjects such as basic skills, creative writing and gardening http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/onlinecourses/index.shtml
BBC Skillswise Tutor Centre is more of an interactive teacher centre than tutorial, but is a superb example of the interactive and comprehensive use of the internet. Look at http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/tutors/
GCSE Bitesize Revision is another excellent BBC resource has many tutorials in different areas including English, Business Studies, Science and Spanish http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/
Open Learn - Learning Space - from the Open University. A fantastic free resource. The OpenLearn website gives free access to course materials from The Open University. The LearningSpace is open to learners anywhere in the world.
Starts at http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/
 |
||
|
|