(Published in the July, 2007 edition of  Technology and Learning

Educator's eZine)

 

KEEPING UP-TO-DATE ON WEB RESOURCES

                                                                                                by Larry Ferlazzo

     So many new websites, so little time!  Thousands of new websites come online each day and most have little educational value.  However, many can provide helpful resources to teachers and students.  How can we find those “nuggets” without wasting hours surfing the net?

     There are several organizations and individuals out there that identify these useful sites and will let us know about them – for free!   Here are several free email newsletters that will regularly update you on new sites that teachers can use in the classroom:

TechLearning (http://www.techlearning.com/forms/newsletter.jhtml)

Of course, if you’re reading this article, you probably already subscribe to this newsletter.  In addition to all the other great articles and resources that TechLearning offers, it also provides a new “Site of the Day” every day of the week.

TeachersFirst (http://www.teachersfirst.com)
TeachersFirst has an extraordinary collection of useful websites and other resources.  It sends out a weekly newsletter with new featured sites and updates. 

 

The Teacher List (http://www.theteacherlist.ca)

The Teacher List is a daily email of a new site.  Pete MacKay, a teacher himself, puts it out as a labor love, and, along with his long list of contributors, provides an excellent source of new web resources.

Blue Web ‘N (http://www.kn.att.com/wired/bluewebn/index.cfm)

Blue Web ‘N has published weekly or bi-weekly updates for years of new educational resources on the web.  It stopped for awhile, but has recently begun again.  It’s somehow connected to ATT, but I’ve never figured out exactly how…..

PBS Teacher Previews (http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/preferences/ts_pref_form.html?address=/teachersource)

This newsletter comes out weekly and gives the newest web activities connected to PBS programs, along with listing appropriate grade levels.

Librarians’ Internet Index (http://lii.org/)

“New This Week” is a weekly newsletter published with support from the State Librarians of California and Washington.   It lists new web resources from throughout the world with a particular emphasis sites connected to the western United States.

Education World Education Site Reviews (http://www.educationworld.com/maillist.shtml)

Education World publishes many newsletters.  This one comes out weekly and shares in-depth reviews of web resources.

Neat New Stuff (http://marylaine.com/subscrib.html)

This is another labor of love, this time from a librarian.   Each week you’ll receive an email listing several sites of interest to educators.

Middleweb Newsletter "Of Particular Interest" (http://www.middleweb.com/mw/aaSignUp.html)
Middleweb is a network of educators primarily working in the middle grades.  However, this weekly newsletter includes lists of websites useful to teachers at all levels.

BBC Schools (http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/newsletter)

The BBC schools website might very well be the best in the world for original and engaging online resources.  This monthly newsletter will keep you informed on additions and changes to the site.

Shambles (http://www.shambles.net/newsletter/)

Shambles is an impressive collection of thousands of sites that is published by an organization of schools, primarily in Asia.  The newsletter comes out quarterly.

AOL@School (https://preferences.dc.aol.com/aol/aolschool/signup.asp)

AOL has a steadily increasing collection of school-related resources.  Their monthly newsletter will alert you to additions.

Let me know if you have some favorite newsletters that I’ve missed….

Larry Ferlazzo teaches high school in Sacramento, California.