A new tool for finding and evaluating Canadian Social Studies resources
VANCOUVER March 31, 2007
Access.ca, recently launched by 7th Floor Media in partnership with Historica, is a gateway site to resources of particular use to Canadian Social Studies teachers. It enables teachers to find those resources in their original online locations, and to rate their usefulness, review them, make notes about their appropriateness, and save their information in personal libraries.
With Access.ca, teachers can focus their search for resources, rather than use broad web searches. They can select for particular subjects, resource types and formats. They can even look for resources that are geared to their teaching level and provincial curricula. 7th Floor Media has designed Access.ca to grow as more institutions make their holdings available, creating the promise of a truly powerful teaching tool.
"We developed this site as a direct response to teachers' needs," said Noni Maté, Co-Director of 7th Floor Media. "We conducted focus groups across Canada and the message was consistent - teachers need to prepare lessons quickly and creatively. They want a central site that will rationalize, organize and intelligently link these resources for easier access."
Access.ca was developed in partnership with Historica, a foundation committed to improving the teaching of Canadian history. "The problem of authenticity in the new Wiki world of subjectivity threatens good practices in both the work of students and teachers," said James Marsh, editor in chief of the Canadian Encyclopedia, and director of content development at Historica. "The resources from our content partners have been tagged and vetted by our editors. Teachers can rely on Access.ca as an authoritative source for Canadian resources."