Week Eight: Thing #19.1

The Digital Pipeline has such a wealth of information. Every time I use the Digital Pipeline I find something new! The flash movie showing specific features is informative even without sound.

For Thing 19.1, I created a folder and placed in it current articles having to do with various aspects of internet safety and security. I also created an alert for new articles about computer viruses so I will be notified if more are available for this project.

One of my favorite journals, “School Library Media Activities Monthly” is available on the Digital Pipeline. The description for this great publication is “Supports K-12 school library media specialists as they plan collaborative lessons and units with teachers, and promotes the integration of technology into teaching and learning.”

The Digital Pipeline home page has divided the databases into different levels in hopes of making them easier to access. The elementary level databases include those that would appeal to the elementary age with icons that students can identify easily. The middle school group of databases has more reference resources, and Alaska Digital Archives. In the group of databases for the high school level, even more reference databases have been added for the different topics most typically researched by high school students. All the levels include Novelist and Live Homework Help because these databases include information and help for students in K-12 grades.

I was not aware that Alaskans had access to videos via the Digital Pipeline! I searched the health database for videos about drugs. I intend to show students the link to this animation next week when two classes are coming to the library for the introduction for a research project.
* The “breadcrumbs trail” is a great way to keep track of previous screens and comes in handy.
* The “related images” feature is very useful for students to locate images related to their topics. Often images, especially colored ones are great for reports and needed for multimedia presentations.
* Aha! I have seen those little arrows on the sides of the screens, but had no idea they could be used to close the side panels! This is a nice feature to know about!
* One more new thing I learned about that would be good to show students is the description of the databases on the “Choose Databases” screen.

Last summer another librarian and I took a short class about the Digital Pipeline and we created a "digital pipeline class wiki" about a game that promotes use of the Digital Pipeline. Students would be using the “email article” feature to send us their answers to the questions, therefore learning how this feature of the Digital Pipeline functions!