ISTE11 NEWS: Free digital library from PBS

PBS and WGBH , and their producing partners WNET and KET, along with 31 other PBS member stations, today launched PBS LearningMedia (pbslearningmedia.org), a free service for all teachers, students and families nationwide. In addition to a rich public media library, PBS LearningMedia has content contributed from other publicly funded organizations, including the National Archives, the Library of Congress and NPR, as well as content funded by NASA, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the US Department of Education, to deliver thousands of resources for use in the classroom and with home-schoolers.

Beginning today, teachers and students have immediate access for their lessons and homework to more than 14,000 research-based instructional resources – including videos, interactives, images, audio files, mobile apps, lesson plans, and worksheets. Combining dynamic and engaging instructional content with professional development support, PBS LearningMedia empowers educators to create media-rich curriculum lessons that meet the needs of 21st century learners. Through PBS LearningMedia, teachers can:

  • find relevant resources, localized to their needs, to differentiate instruction for a diverse range of learners;
  • personalize the site by tagging resources and share ideas, recommendations and comments on how they’ve used media assets in their teaching with their professional learning networks via email or social media tools, such as Facebook and Twitter; and
  • develop “class pages” -- curated content lists -- for student viewing, feedback and instruction on interactive white boards and school-based intranets and other networking tools.