Exploring Content Resources

If the key to efficiently building online courses is finding existing content that can be modified and tweaked to create an engaging online learning experience, the more we know about online resources and content libraries, the better we'll be at building our class.

In this section, you'll get a change to explore five different websites that offer varying levels of free content for teachers. Much of this content can be easily linked to or loaded into a Moodle course. For this exploration, take some time exploring the following sites to see if there is something that can be of use to you as you build your online course.

After you've finished your exploration, please complete the Forum assignment described at the bottom of this page.

National Geographic Educator Resources

Over the past few years, National Geographic has poured funding into creating for the most part free classroom resources for teachers.

Starting Points:
Education Home
Educator Resources

MoodleShare

MoodleShare is a content library of educational resources tailored specifically for Moodle. Units can be imported directly into your Moodle course. The site has increased its content dramatically over the past year and is now one of the most heavily used content libraries for Moodle content. Especially worthy of note are the units in the ED Tech ARRA grant section.

Suggested Pages:
MoodleShare

Merlot

Merlot is a content library of peer-reviewed resources. This library often has links to excellent internet resources that could be used as the basis of an activity or unit.

Suggested Pages:
Merlot Home Page

Apple iTunes U

One of the largest untapped educational tools for online learning, Apple's iTunes is a huge source of excellent audio and video files that could easily be creatively incorporated into online courses. Add in the portability of podcasts, and you've got a win-win situation ready for use.

With many universities jumping on board, such as MIT making all of its educational content available through iTunes free of charge, the potential for iTunes is growing daily.

Suggested Pages:
Apple iTunes U

Education Podcast Network

EPN attempts to glean some of the better educational podcast content from iTunes and make it easily accessible to educators. One of the more robust content libraries, EPN may be worth a look

Suggested Pages:
EPN Home Page

Discovery Education

Discovery Education is another company that has poured funding into developing its resources for schools. Unlike the other sources here, Discovery Education is fee-based, but districts often already have a license, and purchasing one could be worth it if you see content that fits your course well.

Suggested Pages:
Discovery Education

Minnesota Learning Commons

The Minnesota Learning Commons and its Hippocampus content library is dedicated to providing free online resources to Minnesota online educators. This is still a work in progress, but has some excellent resources available in certain subject areas.

Starting Points:
MN Learning Commons
Hippocampus

Once you've finished exploring these sites, take a few minutes and write your impressions on one or more of the sites. Was any one of them particularly helpful? Which content could you see yourself incorporating into your course? Do you know of other resources you could share with others? When you're ready, head off to the Content Resources Forum and begin.

Last modified: Thursday, November 18, 2010, 3:43 PM