AASL announces 2010 best websites for teaching and learning
For Immediate Release
Fri, 07/16/2010
Contact:
Melissa Jacobsen
CHICAGO – At the American Library Association’s (ALA) 2010 Annual Conference the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announced the 2010 Top 25 Websites for Teaching and Learning. In its second year, the list of websites honors the top 25 Internet sites for enhancing learning and curriculum development for school librarians and their teacher collaborators. It is considered the "best of the best" by AASL.
"The committee worked very hard to target websites that support learner-centered, inquiry-based curriculum. In the hands of knowledgeable educators, these innovative and versatile Web 2.0 tools and resources can be used to engage and motivate students in the learning process and to develop 21st century skills," said AASL Best Websites for Teaching and Learning Committee Chair, Pam Berger.
The Top 25 Websites for Teaching and Learning were named so because they foster the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation and collaboration. The websites honored include: Creative Commons, debategraph, Edsitement, Evernote, Exploratree, Glogster, International Children's Digital Library (ICDL), The Jason Project, Jing, jogtheweb, Learn Central, Live Binders, Masher, MuseumBox, The National Archives' Digital Classroom, National Science Digital Library, Pageflakes, Prezi, Professor Garfield, SchoolTube, Scratch, Storybird, TED, WatchKnow.org, and Weblist.
Ann Weeks, director of the International Children's Digital Library (IDCL) Foundation and founder of IDCL, one of the recognized sites, said, “This is like receiving an Academy Award."
The Top 25 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, media sharing 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 Top 25 Websites is based on feedback and nominations from AASL members. School librarians can 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.