Amazing+Links+Page

McDowell Library Resources:
Here is an obvious place to start that is also widely overlooked by my students: The McDowell Library! We have subscriptions to databases for research that will be very useful when completing assignments from home. I'll suggest starting with EBSCOhost or the GALE resources. If prompted for username and passwords, use these: Username: mcdowell Password: trojans __[]__

Second lesson: Share your bookmarks!
====[|Diigo.com] combines networking and social media thinking with student research needs that take place at various locations. Using Diigo allows us to access our bookmarks from any computer. By bookmarking to the Diigo account, students can log in at home and access the same bookmarked sites that they found in class or in the library, or from any Internet connection including while traveling.====

====The real power of this tool is for researching. If we have a topic for class, students will "create a list" and save their bookmarks for that topic to that list. We can have many lists to keep classes separate, or to keep projects separate. We can create a "Group" so that we can share within small groups for collaborative research.====

====The amazing feature is that Diigo creates an "annotated list" of the bookmarks. Using the diigo tools, we can highlight pages on the screen, post "sticky notes" with messages to group members or as reminders to self. All these "annotations" are published in the list view along with an active link.====

NO MORE PRINTING WEB PAGES! With Diigo, we highlight, write marginal notes, and leave comments for ourselves, our partners, and for our teachers!
===This tool is an excellent way to learn to avoid plagiarism, and for teachers to easily assess whether or not students truly understand how to assess the quality of their resources, have in fact plagiarized, or if they have been honest in their writing.===

The Khan Academy
Here is a link for The Khan Academy, an online database of amazing web-based instructional videos. If you need tutoring in math or science, check this out! Use these directions to get started and to set up an account. It is free, and absolutely worth your time. There are entire libraries of links to short instructional videos on an assortment of high school courses from math, science, finance, humanities, and beyond. The math consepts include practice equations, help in solving them, and the process builds toward mastery of the standards. __[]__ If you want to know more about the Khan Academy, and how Salman Khan is changing perspectives about learning and education, watch his lecture... it's amazing to see the profound impact his simple idea has had on learning across the globe. __[]__

BrightStorm:
====Here is another link to a terrific and comprehensive tutorial site. This site is developed by teachers across disciplines and has multiple content areas and an incredibly easy format to access topics and to view tutorials.====

Flashcards:
====This is just a great site for independent studying of course materials. You can quiz yourself using flashcard sets that other students or teachers have created and shared, or else you can create your own flashcards with materials specific to your current classes. I will suggest you do a search for content, or you could scroll down to the "Courses" section and click on the subject area that you need to study. I'm using this site to train my ear for music theory.==== []

=Free University?:=

Udacity
Its beginnings come from Stanford University, and this site offers actual college courses within the scope of computer engineering, mostly. Topics explore basics of algebra, physics, and statistics, and progress deep into artificial intelligence, programming and web development, and even principles of founding your own Internet Start-up business. Truly amazing, they seek to replace the modern university and to provide a free education with certificates of advanced learning in secialized topics. []

Harvard at Home
Interested in what they are teaching and learning at Harvard University? "Harvard at Home" is the link for you: __[]__

TED-Ed:
The people at TED took the "lesson-flipping" concept from the Khan Academy and have gone viral with it. Here teachers and students can view video presentations and complete lessons and activities built to individualize the learning and teaching offered in the video. Teachers can view a video and devlop a lesson around it, or they can use lessons already posted to the site. This is an opportunity for extending learning from interests we first learn about in regular classes here at McDowell. []

TED:
If you are wondering what role do intellectuals play in shaping our world and our experiences, the TED talks site will give a pretty good idea of how genius and business are coming together. Be prepared to spend a lot of time here, once you are hooked, you can loose hours at this site! Try clicking on the "Most jaw-dropping" link, or others near it! __[]__

Mind Tools:
====Here is a sight that includes many tools and strategies for improving efficiency and communication. Addressing 21st Century skills, leadership styles, and professional habits such as time management, planning and organization, and improving productivity.==== []

Other Wikis you might enjoy:
Is it your turn to cook? Do you need to put together a dish for a potluck? Check out this wiki-based cook book! __[]__ This next site, "Wikipedia," might have great information for simple matters, but it is not really a valid resource when researching for a paper. Because anyone can edit a wiki, there is some danger that the facts could be less than reliable. On the other hand, is it very useful for explaining everyday phenomena or answering questions without an expert in the room. Got a debate or question that must be settled? Wikipedia will likely have something to say about it. [|www.wikipedia.com]