Blog Assignment 13

The Alabama Learning Exchange: What is ALEX and how does it work?

The home page for ALEX has a statement that reads "Quality for every facet of learning." There are 8 links: Courses of Study; Web Links; Lesson Plans; Search; Personal Workspace; Personal Learning; Podcast Treasury; and ALEXville. Under "Courses of Study" the site lists English Language Arts, Science, Mathematics, Social Studies, Arts Education, Languages Other Than English (Foreign Languages), Career/Technical Education, Physical Education, Driver and Traffic Safety Education, Technology Education, Health Education, and Other Courses of Study (which includes Character Education, Counseling and Guidance, and Information Literacy). This website appears to be designed in order to enhance Alabama's connectivity amongst educators or schools. This can be a way to share interesting or helpful information. Creative or innovative ideas can also be developed and shared via ALEX.

I decided to investigate Health Education, and what I found was really neat. The page for Health Ed. has "Links" and "Lesson Plans" on the right with URL links to other pages. I thought this was a really good resource for educators looking for more information for a lesson or standard. For Web Resources, they list sources (through links) for Teachers, Administrators, and Students. You can also recommend a web resource or search for one. The Lesson Plans page was absolutely amazing. The way the search is set up is very similar to ones I've used for online databases, and these usually work very well. You can search lesson plans by Author, Title, School, or Subject. You can also create your own by accessing your personal workspace. To make a Personal Workspace, you have to make an account with ALEX. The Professional Learning page is also very impressive. Here, you can explore the ALEX/Thinkfinity Training or Grant Opportunities. It also has links from the Alabama Department of Education Program website for professional development opportunities, different tools for teaching and learning, news, and advice. There are also links for tips and tutorials on various technology tools. The Podcast Treasury has a bunch of cool links to different podcasts, like one from Space Camp 2009 and another titled "Jim Crow & Me". ALEXville is really neat, too, as it has its own newspaper! That's right. Click on the globe to see the latest in Alabama Education news, like the announcement for open applications for the GEM-U & McWane Science Center Camp-In Exposition!

I think this is a great website with tons of resources that I would love to use as a future teacher! There are some great ideas for lesson plans and podcasts on this site, as well as news/updates on educational events going on in Alabama. Both could be very useful to me in the future. Also, this site is a great way to connect with other educators! If I was having trouble making connections or networking on my own, this site could give me a great start to finding other teachers in Alabama to communicate, collaborate, and share with!