California State Databases

California's K-12 Online Content Project:

"California is now offering, at no cost to local schools, districts or students, three online databases for use by every K-12 school and student in the state, with access starting at the beginning of the 2018-19 school year.

Online content from Encyclopedia Britannica, ProQuest and TeachingBooks.net will be available individually to all K-12 students in California, as well as all public schools in the state.

These content resources, commonly referred to as "library databases," provide teachers, school librarians and students with a massive amount of digital information: books, scientific research, newspaper articles, photos, videos and more – all aligned with the curriculum that California has created for its schools." (California State Library)

Resources:  

• Infographic Image source above by Leanne Morgan

• We’ve Got Game: Ramp Up Your Students’ Research Game with the State-paid Databases Shared by Joy Millam at CSLA SR Fall Workshop 2019

How many of you have heard the term fake news?

How many of you have heard the term clickbait?

Even though the internet is free to you, it is paid for by advertising.  What is for sale is YOU. Your eyes, your mind, and your money.

People will post anything sensational enough to get your click and they are not always trying to sell a thing, but they could be selling you an idea such as what happened with facebook in the 2016 election.  

In a Stanford Study, many students were not able to tell the difference between real news and sponsored content.  

In response to the amount of misinformation on the internet, the state of California has purchased three databases for the entire state (worth 3 million dollars!).

• Britannica School

• ProQuest

• TeachingBooks.net

How to promote your Databases

• Provide and distribute informational handouts to Curriculum Leaders, Department Chairs, and teachers

• Show students how to find the links on your district site

• Show teachers where to find lesson plans provided by the database companies

• Pass along information regarding the training opportunities provided by the State

• Suggest the appropriate database as a resource when a teacher comes in to do research

• Add the links to district and school libraries' websites

• Sign up for webinars via the CA State Library Online Content Page or on the vendor websites.

• Make Passwords available to students in a handout or instruction sheet

• Distribute informational handouts to students and staff

• Create your own educator login so that you can create and save lists, share materials, embed in Google Classroom or your calendar. 

• Set up a webinar for training for your school/district/county with Deb Ford. 

• You can use the tools provided by each service:  

  •  Help and Support page at TB. 

  • Here is info about PQ and access. 

  • Here is info about Britannica.