Saturday, November 15, 2008

PUWT2008 - Session 1: Treasure Hunting at the Library of Congress Online

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OK, I admit it, my first impression of the session was based entirely on the room.  How's this?  They face forward to take notes, and turn around to use the computers.  The teacher can see every screen from the front of the room.  Sweet.

Presenter is Danna Bell-Russel, from the Library of Congress.

"Not about the site, but how to find things on the site."

Presenting with Microsoft Word - Simple, unorthodox, but effective.

LOC isn't in the business of censorship, but it does have a kid-freandly section.

"Digital Collections" - section with most of the content the LOC has digitized.  Start searches there.

They have a map collection!  I should have used that during my map lesson a few weeks ago...  In any case, their online maps allow you to zoom in and change views.  They even have election maps, as in red states vs. blue states.

Don't type "Civil War" - too many results.  Refine, refine, refine!  It's all about the terminology.  "Gas Station" vs. "Filling Station," for example.

They have Teacher's Pages with categorized topics and resources - even recorded sounds in mp3 format!  The lessons are created by teachers.  Some are quite huge, but there's of course no obligation to use the whole lesson as is.

Some of the resources are RealMedia files.  :P

Buuuuuut, they also have an RSS feed. :)

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