Lesson 2 - Learning Express Library

As confessed in my second post, I completed the Lesson 2 activities last Monday, but for a number of reasons, I am only now blogging about my experiences.

DISCOVERY EXERCISES 1 & 2
Even befoe I could set up my LEL account, I had to get to LEL.

My first comment in that experience is related to the common statement "All resources can be accessed via this alphabetical list." So I start at the alphabetical list and click on "Learning Express Library" or any other title in the list. Can anyone explain why I have to go to a SECOND alphabetical list of all the same titles and click on "Learning Express Library" AGAIN before I can get to the real "Learning Express Library." As I understand html, there's no reason for that...my first click could take me directly to the resource I've chosen initially. Eliminate one list or another, but don't make the user click twice. What's efficient about having to click twice? This was my frustration also in Week 1 and I expect it again in each week.

Obviously I set up my LEL account and browsed through tests.
At Learning Express, I first choose Learning Centers ELEMENTARY then MATH SKILLS IMPROVEMENT then 4TH GRADE MATH PRACTICE - NUMBER SENSE AND OPERATIONS I test. I chose this particular level because I knew our 4th graders would be taking a national test (I just didn't know it was that week) and that the 4th grade teacher was one who might be willing to explore the online resources. (Sadly, not all teachers at my school might be.)

I logged in as though I were at home rather than at school since I expected to access this resource from home later. Thus I am not certain exactly how a teacher or student will access this at school, since most of our students and perhaps most teachers do NOT have library cards at SDLN libraries.

Under the WHAT DO I DO NOW option in the left column, I'm not sure how many of my school's students/teachers can use the F11 IMPROVE READABILITY option that requires Firefox or IEXP.

Isn't the "Welcome to Your Test Instructions Page!" a bit wordy for 4th graders? I thought it was.

RE the directions: "For more instructions on using and taking this test online, please click the blue "Instructions" button found on the top of the screen within your exam."

• Why not make the series of screens here printable for a teacher or student instead of having to work through a series of screens?

In the test itself, I thought some of the font was too small for fourth graders to read, particularly when the questions dealt with fractions.

I have no quarrel with the content of this math test (AND was relieved that I could still do 4th grade math) but I did wonder how closely these math problems compared to the statewide math standards for fourth grade. I don't recall seeing anything on the LEL website stating any connection between the tests and any state standards. Seems to be that would be a logical tie-in.

DISCOVERY EXERCISE #3: "Job Search and Workplace Skills"

I chose to work through BUSINESS WRITING: VOCABULARY AND SPELLING COURSE 1. This was an interesting exercise that provided excellent feedback on responses. But I was surprised to find at the bottom of one screen a button that read ENVIE instead of SUBMIT or whatever all the other buttons said at the bottom of the screen. Where did this come from?

I think these exercises would be useful in many classrooms and probably far more rigorous than most of my school's students ever have to complete.

I was curious about the career information. When I looked at the list of areas I was surprised to see AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL on the list.

The following was under "Air Traffic Control Test Prep - AT-SAT Preparation - Air Traffic Controller." This is an abbreviated quote from under that heading: "Demanding, well-paying, rewarding—Is a career in air traffic control for you? This newly created guide gets to the bottom of that question by providing all the essentials on becoming an ATC professional...Full practice tests with thorough review lessons and answer keys—more than 800 sample practice questions! ...
With the number of increasing worldwide flights and a large percentage of the current ATC workforce set to retire, this part–career guide, part–test prep manual offers candidates A-to-Z guidance in a field booming with opportunity."

Boy, that sounds a pretty easy way to such a responsible position now, doesn't it? And to think my daughter went to school FOUR YEARS to get her ATC certification. What a deal LEL must be, eh? Or, pig in a poke on this career.

I was bothered by this test bank making it sound like all a person had to do was to just take the practice test here. No formal study or college courses. Of course, I'm probably just a little more sensitive to this career description. So I tried the career my other child has.

So I looked under LEGAL. Here I notice that under the LEGAL options that the option CAREER GUIDANCE then only two options popup, i.e., paralegal and legal mediator, but NO mention of lawyer at all.

HMMM.

DISCOVERY EXERCISE #4:

Re Directions: Where's the homepage and link at bottom of page to ebooks?

At the search box I could find at upper left, I searched TEACHING and came up with an impressive list of TESTS, COURSES, and EBOOKS.

Under EBOOKS, I selected PASS THE U.S. CITIZENSHIP EXAM, 3RD EDITION because I know someone who will be eligible to apply for citizenship in a year or so. She is quite apprehensive about studying for and passing this exam, so this might be a good resource for her to use.

I didn't realize that I would have to SAVE it to my computer. I wish the LEL showed the size of the document/Ebook that I was considering saving before I already had to save it.

In previewing the materials in this EBook, I think they will be helpful to my friend. There was lots of information about the entire citizenship application process in addition to the exam questions themselves.

When I went back to the search box, I used the search term CITIZENSHIP that brought up five results: 0 tests, 1 course, and 4 ebooks, including the one described above.

The one course listed sounded particularly helpful: Citizenship Test Practice: History & Civics Questions With 100 civics, history, and government questions, this practice test offers all the preparation you need to pass the newly redesigned naturalization test...

There are lots of resources here at LEL for teachers, students, and the general public to use. I intend to bring this resource to the attention of several teachers who might be open to encouraging their students to use them.