K-12 Online Content project training:  how to get the most from Britannica, TeachingBooks         and ProQuest

Training will focus on how these resources can assist English language learners and provide a dynamic world/international learning and perspective.

It’s the second year for California’s K-12 Online Content Project that provides access to online educational content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, ProQuest and TeachingBooks for all 6.3 California public schoolchildren at no cost to local districts or schools. The program was launched last year, and will continue for the 2019-20 school year.

This no-cost training on November 12th is provided to help teachers, administrators, educational support staff, and even parents learn how their students can use these resources to improve education. The content providers will be specifically explaining how these resources can assist with educating students who speak a second language at home and augment educational resources and content with a world and international perspective.

These online content resources provide teachers, school librarians, and students with a massive amount of digital information: books, scientific research, newspaper articles, informational entries, photos, educational videos and more – all aligned with the curriculum that California has created for its schools.

Britannica. The Britannica session will cover: Britannica School/Escolar -- offers thousands of curated, articles, images, videos, audio clips, primary sources, maps, research tools, recommended websites, and three separate databases. The Escolar resource is written in native Spanish, and audio learners can listen while reading the articles in regular Britannica Scholar or Escolar.

TeachingBooks. You will also have an opportunity to learn about TeachingBooks's book guides & lesson plans, Meet-the-Author movies, Literature-based vocabulary lists, and much more, including information on appropriate-level diverse books that can aid in English language development by capturing children’s imagination and personal interests.

ProQuest. There are several resources in the ProQuest suite of content. The following ProQuest resources will be covered, with examples of how to utilize the resources for diverse student groups:

• Culture Grams- Concise culture information on countries around the world
• eLibrary- General reference aggregation of periodical and digital media content with editorial guidance for novice researchers.
• ProQuest Central Student- Database of millions of articles from more than 10,000 full-text scholarly journals.
• SIRS Discoverer- Selected content for beginning researchers, especially elementary and middle school students and educators.
• SIRS Issues Researcher- Curriculum aligned database of content organized by complex issues, ideally for middle and high school students and educators.
• Research Companion- Information literacy tools and tutorials to help develop critical thinking.
• eBook Central (Schools & Educators Complete)- eBook subscription database of over 12,000 titles that supports English Language Arts, Science, Math, Social Studies, Health, Physical Education, Information Literacy and Technology.

The training will begin at 8:00am and conclude at 3:30 pm, with continental breakfast, lunch and snacks provided to all participants.

Speakers

• Mary Beth Barber, Special Projects at California State Library-Office of the State Librarian
• Lindsey Skaggs, Senior Customer Experience Training and Consulting Partner, ProQuest
• Deborah Ford-Salyer, Implementation & Training Specialist, TeachingBooks
• Jennifer Keating , Senior Educational Consultant, Britannica Digital Learning

Please bring your own device to view and interact with content websites. Certificates of completion will be provided to all attendees.

For more information, contact Mary Beth Barber: marybeth.barber@library.ca.gov or 916-323-9758.

Space is limited – sign up today!