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Marie's Top Picks of Useful Websites -- NEIU SPED 453 011903

Name of website ASCD for the Success of All Learners
Address (URL) of website http://www.ascd.org/
Intended audience (teachers? students?) Teachers, administrators, parents
Possible ways you will use this website This site has links to news, resources and professional development.  I will use it to search for information on Problem Based Learning.  The site's search engine found over 2000 hits with 500 sorted for relevance.  The top hit is a book by Robert Delisle, How to Use Problem-Based Learning in the Classroom.  The introduction and two chapters are published on-line, and the book is available for sale.  Some hits require a member's password.
Why it's useful for teaching students who are difficult to teach: This site is useful for those who need a global view of PBL.  The first hit explains the theoretical context of PBL, quoting Dewey, the historical context, and current use.  One of the chapters that can be viewed on line explains development of  the problem and offers a checklist for developing a problem.
Name of website The Development of Student Understanding in a Problem-Based Psychology Course
Address (URL) of website http://kml.carnegiefoundation.org/gallery/bcerbin/
Intended audience (teachers? students?) undergraduate students in educational psychology
Possible ways you will use this website This site offers several PBL examples designed for adult learners.  It could be used as a resource for developing in-service professional development of PBL.
Why it's useful for teaching students who are difficult to teach: Five problems are given on this site as well as class materials, definitons, and lectures.  Graduate students who are having a hard time seeing how PBL can be used with adults would find this site useful and practical.
Name of website IMSA Center for Problem-Based Learning
Address (URL) of website http://www.imsa.edu/team/cpbl/cpbl.html
Intended audience (teachers? students?) teachers, parents, administrators
Possible ways you will use this website This site has a PBL tutorial, a comparison between PBL and traditional methods, instructions for developing/designing PBL units, and model problems. (The problems from American Studies do not seem to be linked.)  The site links to the ASCD Problem Log, a newsletter for PBL that offers many PBL ideas and lessons.
Why it's useful for teaching students who are difficult to teach: This site provides information about person to person connections at conferences and institutes, an Internet List Serve to facilitate day to day dialogue among practitioners, multidimensional PBL Web Page, PBL NET start-up and continuation support, publishing support for The Problem Log, and hosting the PBL Forum at the ASCD annual Conference. 
Name of website Center for Advanced Research and Technology
Address (URL) of website http://www.cart.org
Intended audience (teachers? students?) parents, students, educators
Possible ways you will use this website This site provides information about a 11-12th grade high school in California that is designed to use PBL in combination with a business-style organization.  It is useful in offering a vision of PBL as educational reform.
Why it's useful for teaching students who are difficult to teach: A high school designed based upon the principles of PBL would provide reasons for students who want to know why what they are learning is relevant and important.  This site also offers encouragement to those who would have PBL take a greater role in education of our secondary students.
Name of website Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction
Address (URL) of website http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/pbl/ubuytutor/index.html
Intended audience (teachers? students?) teachers, students
Possible ways you will use this website Problem solving process is clearly outlined for teachers and includes a clever page describing how people solve problems.  The site also includes a problem template, suggestions to the tutor, questions and answers relevant to UBUYACAR for the tutor, debt to income ratio, generic assessment template, group and PBL experience evaluations, and resources for UBUYACAR project.
Why it's useful for teaching students who are difficult to teach: This site will be useful to middle school algebra teachers.  The problem here is presented in such a way that a teacher new to PBL could try out the approach and gain some experience with PBL before designing an original unit.
Name of website
Address (URL) of website http://www.newcastle.edu.au/services/iesd/learndevelop/problarc/
Intended audience (teachers? students?)
Possible ways you will use this website
Why it's useful for teaching students who are difficult to teach:
Name of website
Address (URL) of website http://www.cotf.edu/
Intended audience (teachers? students?)
Possible ways you will use this website
Why it's useful for teaching students who are difficult to teach:
Name of website
Address (URL) of website http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/97/reservation/teacher.html
Intended audience (teachers? students?)
Possible ways you will use this website
Why it's useful for teaching students who are difficult to teach:
Name of website
Address (URL) of website http://edweb.sdsu.edu/clrit/learningtree/Ltree.html
Intended audience (teachers? students?)
Possible ways you will use this website
Why it's useful for teaching students who are difficult to teach:
Name of website
Address (URL) of website http://www.edcoe.k12.ca.us/tech/pbl.html
Intended audience (teachers? students?)
Possible ways you will use this website
Why it's useful for teaching students who are difficult to teach:

 

Annotated Bookmarks List

http://cuip.uchicago.edu/www4teach/98/mnavik/homepage.htm
Mrs. Navik’s Home Page

 http://www.hotmail.com

http://neiu.blackboard.com/?bbatt=Y

General Professional Information
http://www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=02newkirk.h20
Thomas Newkirk presents in Education Week a case against the trend toward using rubrics in the instruction of creative arts like composition.

http://www.ncte.org/inbox/currentissue.html
NCTE Inbox

http://www.nytimes.com/mo/day/yr
The New York Times

 http://www.washingtonpost.com
The Washington Post.

 http://www.middleweb.com/LatestUpdates.html
Middle School News

http://www.faithwriting.homestead.com
Sue Butler includes sample journal writing exercises in the web site for her new Bible-based writing curriculum Icthus Ink.

http://www.capecod.net/schrockguide/
Kathy Schrock’s general guide

 DESIGN CURRICULUM & BRAINSTORM IDEAS!
    ALPS, Harvard's online Teachers Lab, includes model lesson plans and activities; curriculum design tools; online educational publications; interactive forums, workshops and conferences. At this page, you'll find resources that can help you design curriculum and brainstorm teaching ideas, including "The Collaborative Curriculum Design Tool" to create unit designs by yourself or by using the built-in collaboration features. Requires free registration. http://learnweb.harvard.edu/alps/bigideas/q4.cfm

Useful Web Sites on Educational and Gifted Program Evaluation

Name of website  Planning Evaluation Service Frequently Asked Questions (part of the U.S. Department of Education website)
Address (URL) of website  http://www.ed.gov/offices/OUS/PES/eval_faq.html
Intended audience  This site is for anyone interested in general information about evaluation of educational programs.
Possible ways to use this website  Although the FAQ page warns that the content of these pages is not to be used as guidance for conduct of an evaluation, I found the information useful in understanding the structure of evaluation.  The site explains what questions an effective evaluation must answer and what information if must include.  Evaluation methods are compared and discussed.  Advice is given about how to get the greatest number of responses and what the minimum percentage for validity is.  Questionnaire design information
Quality/Quantity  The pages are easy to link to and all links are complete.
 

Example of a Program Evaluation Model
Name of website  Education Program Evaluation at NSF: What Difference Does It Make?
Address (URL) of website  http://www.ehr.nsf.gov/REC/publications/NSF_EF/chubin.htm
Intended audience   Chubins has written a reflective piece for those interested in evaluation of National Science Foundation projects.
Possible ways to use this website  This site explains the program evaluation model used by NSF.  By following the design of the evaluation, I could replicate the process in my school district for the ET Program.  Chubins also has included a page of definitions germane to evaluation.
Quantity /Quality  The visual representations of the Program Evaluation are clear examples which could be modified.

Pathways to School Improvement
Name of website  North Central Regional Educational Laboratories Literacy Evaluation Tools
Address (URL) of website  http://www.ncrel.org/
Intended audience  Educators who are involved in school improvement plans would find this site to be useful.
Possible ways to use this website  This site is interactive and allows the user to customize a School Improvement Inventory profile.  For each section, a “Critical Issue” is examined.  Each Critical Issue has eight components:  issue statement, overview, goals, action options, implementation pitfalls, different points of view, illustrative cases and contacts.  There is also a searchable database of summaries.  I linked to Evaluation tools for a literacy program.  The site took me to steps for establishing a committee, building a knowledge base, conducting a needs assessment, Formulating questions to focus the monitoring, collecting information, organizing and analyzing information, and taking action.  Examples of a letter and a worksheet for identifying roles are included.
Quality/Quantity  The major fault with this site is that the user can not save a work in progress but must complete the effort at one sitting or lose his work.

Evaluating Your Own Program
Name of website  Taking Stock: A Practical Guide to Evaluating Your Own Programs
Address (URL) of website  http://www.horizon-research.com/publications/stock.pdf
Intended audience   This site is intended for those considering the merits and procedures of an internal evaluation of any educational organization or program.
Possible ways to use this website  I will use this website to better understand the process of evaluation and develop a model suitable for my program.  It contains examples of both formative and summative models, questions, methods of making sense of data, and a glossary of terms.   The site contains 97 pages that may be viewed on Adobe Acrobat.  Paper copy is available for $25.
Quantity/Quality  This is a complete program.  Although it is not possible to print it from the internet, all the information and pages are available to view.  It is probably worth the $25.

Statistics on Gifted Education in Illinois
Name of website  Gifted Education in IllinoisSchool Year 2000, 1999, 1998
Address (URL) of website  http://www.isbe.state.il.us/research/Gifted00.htm
Intended audience  These pages would be useful to educators, administrators, and researchers who are trying to compare present conditions in Illinois with past years.
Possible ways to use this website  This site has tables which represent selected results collected from 786 school districts with Gifted programs.  It give the number of students receiving Gifted services, at what levels they are offered, in what categories students were identified, training of professional staff, gender, race, grade level, high school, middle school and elementary program types, areas of learning in high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools.  This will be useful for me in providing historical and background information to the evaluation proposal.
Quantity/Quality  This site is thorough and appears to have accurate data.

NAGC Program Evaluation Standards
Name of website  Gifted Education Programming Criterion: Program Evaluation
Address (URL) of website  http://www.nagc.org/table4.htm
Intended audience   Gifted coordinators, parents, teachers, and administrators would be interested in this site.
Possible ways to use this website  This site offers a rubric of criterion for program evaluation based on guiding principles.  The minimum standards and the exemplary standards are explicated.  This should provide the hallmark for the evaluation of the program.
Quantity/Quality  Four principles guide this evaluation instrument.

Glossary of Terms Related to Gifted Education
Name of website  A Glossary of Gifted Education Giftedness and education from the perspective of sociologic social psychology
Address (URL) of website  http://members.aol.com/svennord/ed/GiftedGlossary.htm
Intended audience  Students and parents could use this site to better understand the terms used by the practitioners.  I found it useful in offering concise statements of elemental theories like constructivism.
Possible ways to use this website  I will use this site to provide the basis for the definition of terms for my evaluation model.
Quality/Quantity  This site was very complete and easy to use.

Criterion for an Effective Program
Name of website  Education for the Gifted Child What Constitutes an Effective Program?
Address (URL) of website  http://www.baycongroup.com/education/ed_gifted.htm
Intended audience  Parents, teachers, coordinators, administrators, and board members would find the information in  this site to be a helpful beginning point for discussing the need for evaluation of a program.
Possible ways to use this website  I might use this a discussion vehicle for a focus group at the onset of the evaluation or before to establish the need for evaluation.
Quantity/Quality This site is brief and to the point.

Postings of NAGC Conference Power Points
Name of website  National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented
Address (URL) of website  http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/curry/dept/edes/gifteded/NRC/projects/projectframeset/frameset.htm
Intended audience   This site is intended for those who attended the NAGC Conference and did not receive copies of the handouts.
Possible ways to use this website  The information provided in these Power Points could serve as the foundation of explanations to focus groups or participants in an evaluation of the program.
Quality/Quantity  Not all the handouts are posted.  However, the site does like to other useful and relevant articles and executive summaries (“Instruments Used in the Identification of Gifted and Talented Students,” and “Evaluation of the Effects of Programming Arrangements on Student Learning Outcomes.”

Educational Research Links
Name of website  The Texas Education Agency
Address (URL) of website  http://www.tea.state.tx.us/research/ed_links.htm