World Book, EBSCO, netTrekker, ERAC what do these words and acronyms mean? Well ERAC stands for Educational Resource Acquisition Consortium which is basically a buying group, aiming to decrease resource costs by buying on mass: "a cooperative member based organization. We work in partnership with our members, BC public school districts as well as independent schools. Our goal is to support quality education for public and independent K-12 students." Their services include "evaluation, licensing and acquisition of print, software, and digital learning resources"
World Book & EBSCO are two of many products ERAC offers as resource bundles to their buyers. World Book is the digital version of the go-to encyclopedias we all know well. Encyclopedias are good starting points for most research as they offer basic information about mass topics. The digital version, unlike the print 24 volume set, is updated daily, available 24/7, and offers special features such as video, suggested web links, interactive time lines, citation builders, dictionary definitions, and more.
EBSCO also offers encyclopedia articles and dictionary features but further offers quality resources such as magazines and academic journals. These latter quality educational resources are acquired only through paid subscriptions - thus, information which is only part of the "hidden net.” Thus remember the adage "you get what you pay for" - much of the internet's credible, accurate and current information exists only in the HIDDEN NET).
In contrast, NetTrekker offers educationally sound websites. An American company founded in 1999, netTrekker offers over 300,000 Canadian curriculum-aligned digital resources hand-selected by expert educators to keep searches safe, focused, and relevant. The websites offer credible, accurate, and current information as well as special features such as read-aloud support, reading levels, games, video, and “my portfolio” organizational potential (See Ms. Murrells to create individual accounts for this feature). Try out this netTrekker Video for a 5 min overview. For an example of a suggested netTrekker website try this informative and fun site on liquids, solids, and gases - a topic currently being studied by Ms. Quinton's class
Phew – that was a lot of information!
Try em out!
See District Teacher-Librarian help stickers front inside covers of agendas for user names and passwords. Also, drop by or contact me for further information. Together let’s test these resources out and critically think if they are worth spending decreasing budgets on. Thanks for your time, Ms. Murrells. smurrell@sd83.bc.ca , 250-836-2871 (Wed., Thurs).
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