AASL to announce 2012 Best Websites for Teaching and Learning at ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim

For Immediate Release
Tue, 05/22/2012

Contact:

Jennifer R Habley

Manager, Web Communications

American Association of School Librarians (AASL)

800-545-2433 ext.4383

jhabley@ala.org

CHICAGO — The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) will announce the recipients of the 2012 Best Websites for Teaching and Learning during the ALA 2012 Annual Conference in Anaheim, Calif.  The announcement will take place at 8 a.m. on Saturday, June 23, in room 213D of the Anaheim Convention Center.  For more information on this and other AASL events at ALA Annual Conference, visit www.ala.org/aasl/annual.

The 2012 announcement marks the achievement of 100 sites honored for fostering the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation and collaboration since the recognition’s inception in 2009.    It also debuts a new format for the recognition, which will include the announcement of all recognized sites, interviews with the creators of selected sites and tips to use sites in the school setting.

Sites recognized as a Best Website for Teaching and Learning are free, Web-based sites that are user-friendly and encourage a community of learners to explore and discover. They also provide a foundation to support AASL's Standards for the 21st-Century Learner. The sites offer tools and resources in content collaboration, content resources with lesson plans, curriculum sharing, digital storytelling, managing and organizing and social networking and communication. Each website is linked to one or more of the four strands of the Standards for the 21st-Century Learner – skills, dispositions in action, responsibilities and self-assessment strategies. 

Updated annually, the Best Websites for Teaching and Learning list is based on feedback and nominations from AASL members. School librarians can view current and past recipients and nominate their most used websites at www.ala.org/aasl/bestlist.    

The American Association of School Librarians, www.aasl.org, a division of the American Library Association (ALA), promotes the improvement and extension of library services in elementary and secondary schools as a means of strengthening the total education program. Its mission is to advocate excellence, facilitate change and develop leaders in the school library field.