WELCOME TO THIS WEB SITE!
Dear Teacher,
As media teachers, one of the most gratifying aspects of our job is that we get to collaborate with classroom and subject teachers when they have their students do research. When speaking to them about teaching students how to do research, I have often thought, "Wouldn't it be great if I could go to just one web site and find most of what I need to help teachers plan quality research assignments?" The web site should encompass all aspects of the research process in a logical and systematic manner, as well as provide access to really useful resources that could be used by teachers with little or adaptation when planning research assignments.
When given the task to plan and produce a multi-media presentation as part of a class I was taking at St. Cloud State University (Minnesota, USA) recently, I mentioned the idea to my fellow students, and lo and behold - there were two other licensed media teachers in our group, both whom immediately realized that a web site of this nature could become a very valuable resource for any educator wanting to teach students research skills. We formed a group, collaborated, planned and did a ton of work, and now, here it is: a web site that will hopefully provide you with the means to plan and produce research assignments that your students will find challenging and enjoyable, while helping them to become more information literate!
The best way to use this web site would be to go to the home page and then, beginning at the top of the list, work your way through all of the topics listed there. While in the web site, you should not experience any problems getting back to to the home page at any time. However, once you leave the web site, you will have to use the BACK BUTTON in your Internet browser to get back to where you were.
Useful as you may find this web site though, we have to remind you that it is not the intent of this web site to replace the most valuable resource you have access to - the media teacher at your school! Smart teachers soon learn that there are many ways that media teachers can assist them and their students, and the sooner they become involved, the better! They're good brainstorming partners when you're looking for ideas and very creative when it comes time to put pen to paper and plan the specifics. They know about resources that you would never have thought of incorporating, and if you're a little intimidated by having to try something you've never done before, they'll be there to help you learn what you need to know. Like you, they are qualified teachers, and able and willing to teach the students how to go about doing quality research. If nothing else, they'll make your teaching task a good deal easier, but we're willing to bet that you will benefit far more than that from the collaborative process!
We hope that you will enjoy using this web site, and if you find it to be the valuable resource we wanted it to be, please recommend it to your colleagues. If you have any recommendation to make on what we can do to improve the web site, please contact us - we'd love to hear from you!
NEXT: INFORMATION LITERACY AND THE RESEARCH PROCESS
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