Chargualaf IRA Effective Literacy Website #2: Discovery Education

Discovery Education is a site I just stumbled upon within the past week.  I have never come across this site before, which is very surprising, but I do plan on bookmarking this site for future use.

This site exceeds any expectation of a Literacy website I ever imagined.  Discovery Education provides high quality, dynamic, digital content to any and all school districts.  Of course it's at a cost, but they provide digital content, interactive lessons, and real time assessments.  The site also provides classrooms around the nation to participate in challenges and contests as well.  A feature that is sure to motivate students to become active learners and participants.  And if a student's native language is Spanish, they will be able to choose the language that best fits their learning needs.

Discovery Education provides the following products and services:

• Digital media content
• Real-time assessment services
• Professional Development
• Free lesson plans, materials
• Contests and challenges
• Administrator, Teacher, Parent and Student access

Digital media includes videos on a wide range of topics to show students, TechBooks or Digital Textbooks, students are able to read and view videos on topics they are learning about.  These videos are basically virtual field trips to discover places they may never get a chance to visit. Students can also investigate the works of their bodies from the inside out, almost like watching an episode of The Magic School Bus, but for a targeted audience.  Media can also be accessed through tablets, depending on the district and platforms chosen. 

Discovery Education also has a streaming line.  They bring technology into the classroom with a huge video library that ties into any curriculum.  Subjects with streaming videos include Math, Science, Social Students and English and Language Arts. 

There is also a network called the DEN (Discovery Educators Network ).  This network was created for professionals to collaborate through blogs and comments, much like our class blog.  But the network doesn't only allow professionals to blog and comment, but the network also provides exclusive promotions to members, rewards member achievements, provides support and you have the option to connect through other social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Assessment services allows teachers to access over 60,000 library items to create, assign and share assessments.  They also have an assessment Response to Intervention tool (RIT) that screens for at risk students, and monitors student progress and student growth.  

The various sites allow Administrators, Teachers, Parents and students to access available resources as well.  Administrators have access to Curricular, Assessment and Instructional resources and  Professional Development courses.  Teachers have access to resources according to their grade levels.  There are lesson plans and a puzzle maker, clip arts and worksheets, to name a few.  Parents have a motivation station, a homework helper station, they also have the chance to enter contests for their child(ren).  WebMath is also available for both parents and students who are looking for help in Math.  WebMath helps to generate math answers as well as providing steps to arrive at the answers.  WebMath helps with problems in general math all the way to Calculus and Trigonometry problems.  
Students also have access to the homework helper and Discovery Education also includes game and interactives for students to complete and learn with.  Videos and contests also motivate students to lean more about topics and also allows them to have fun with virtual investigations too.  How could anyone visit this site and NOT learn something.

Discovery Education seems like an ideal site for schools and districts to move towards.  With the digital age upon us, students would easily take to learning through the internet and digital books such as the ones provided by DE.  Allowing students access to places such as the desert and inside the human body via streaming videos would not only peak their interests, but allow their learning to soar to great heights.  With us having very limited resources here on island, and a curriculum that focuses on the United States and its landforms and history, DE Techbooks would allow our students to SEE and Explore the world around them.


Happy New Year classmates of ED638.  I pray it's a good one for you all!
Lani

Information source: http://www.discoveryeducation.com/
Image sources: http://martintrt.wikispaces.com/file/view/discovery.png/35273681/discovery.png
http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/california/files/2009/05/den_hero.jpg