Archive for the ‘elearning’ tag
Replace That US History Textbook with Learner.org’s “A Biography of America”
Now that I’ve left schooling, it’s wonderful to explore things for teaching. Case in point: Annenberg Media / Learner.org’s A Biography of America series. It’s an astonishingly media-rich 26-part series - count ‘em, 26 half-hour PBS episodes featuring leading US historians, plus transcripts of each episode, plus interactive maps, photos, primary sources, and more for each episode - that covers US history from pre-Columbian times to the present. And it’s free.
(Click screenshot for full-size view, including “chapter” headings.)
Can somebody remind me why, with free online resources like this, schools are spending tens of thousands of dollars on short-shelf-life textbooks, often dumbed-down and intellectually neutered (or worse, downright propagandistic) due to the textbook industry’s fear of alienating their biggest markets in conservative Texas and California?
[Update: I should have mentioned that the US History resources are only one example of Learner.org's offerings. They have full-year courses in just about every subject area imaginable, k-college, plus professional development courses for teachers. Browse them here. Amazingly good use of US tax dollars at work via the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.]
If you like this post, please spread it: 
(But don't tag it "education." That will bury it.)
