Online Resources at Michigan LearnPort
Posted by Steve Denniston on March 6th, 2008
A federal grant has allowed Michigan Virtual University to create a web site called Michigan LearnPort (http://learnport.org). There are numerous resources available to teachers on this site, but the three primary benefits are: free SB-CEU courses, ability to track all of your provisional and professional license requirements, and netTrekker d.i. Oh, that’s right – the fourth benefit may be the best… all of the resources are FREE!!! Even the SB-CEU courses.
It would be difficult to review everything there is about the courses (both self-paced and instructor-led) and the management system in a post like this. I hope to share more information in the future, including how to create an account. However, netTrekker is something you will want to use immediately. It is basically a search engine (or more technically, a directory) designed especially for educators.
In netTrekker d.i., we can pull up a grade level content expectation and find educator-safe web sites that support a given GLCE. Each web site includes a readability level, a rating of teachers who visited the site previously, and more. It also includes symbols that will tell you if the site includes audio, quizzes, video, maps or charts, lesson plans and so forth. All web sites have been reviewed by classroom teachers for appropriateness. And if you find something relevant for your class, the license agreements with netTrekker allow you to display anything you find for the entire class.
Incredible resource – watch for more messages on this blog.