While you might expect eLearning initiatives to be developed by governments and educational institutions, many colleges are slow to provide online courses. In the interim, a number of companies, like vtc, have built fee-based training sites where students can learn a range of topics. Generally, there are no certificates or diplomas, since this requires government certification, but they are successful places to pick up knowledge. In most cases the site is membership driven or fee-per-course.
- Who validates the quality of the education? Was it written by subject matter experts? What are their credentials?
- Will you track student progress and provide tests to validate learning? If yes, what do you do to protect the privacy of student scores?
- Is there an instructor or subject matter expert who can be contacted for help?
- What technology does the student need to complete the course? Do they need to download and install software? Do they know how to do this? Is there a support center to call if they have technical problems?
- Will you sell software or kits that students need/can purchase to supplement the course
- Will there be advertising during the course?
Requirements for building an eLearning website.
- Brand the site to promote trust and loyalty.
- Find out what courses appeal to your students.
- Use the best tracking / testing software you can afford.
- Let return visitors login without re-entering personal data and let them resume from where they left off.
- Break material into short segments that students can complete in 30 minutes or less.
- Provide some ongoing means of support for both technical and educational queries. Help files, wikipedias, links to more information.
- Cater to different learning styles with video, text and other formatted information.
- Provide downloadable worksheets, offline activities and opportunities to think about the materials.
- Only ask for information you need.
- Make the privacy policy prominent.
- Encourage readers to provide comments, feedback and user-based content.
- Provide zones for advertisers. Don’t clutter the workspace.
- Consider adding features to make your site accessible to people with disabilities.
Article: Creative Online Education
Mathematics
Library of Virtual Manipulatives A library of interactive virtual manipulatives or concept tutorials, mostly in the form of Java applets, for mathematics instruction (K-12 emphasis).
Geometry Online Interactive This interactive geometry web site uses shapes, patterns, and symmetry as themes and allows students to run experiments in geometry labs.
Science
Science U Science U has designed interactive exhibits about various science topics. This site contains engaging multimedia articles and activities to help students learn about science.
Celestia Celestia is a real-time 3D space simulation, which lets users travel through the solar system and to over 100,000 stars.
BrainPop Educational animated movies that explain concepts, Students can watch BrainPop movies and exchange messages with a dynamic cast of five characters who lead users through related activities on their web site — interactive quizzes and games, comic strips and experiments.
Virtual Frog Dissection The interactive frog dissection.
Soda Play Construct your own interactive models and machines.
Fun Brain Educational games for kids
Biography
Biographical Dictionary A searchable database of brief facts about over 25,000 persons; no citations given
Biography A&E’s database of over 15,000 famous people
Fashion
Fashion-Era 100s of images and information about the history of women’s fashion
History of Costume Reproduction of a 1880′s book that provided drawings of historical dress from antiquity to the end of the 19th century
History of Fashion Information and photos for each decade from 1900-1990 with bibliographic citations
History Today
Anyday in History Find birthdays, death dates, and special events that happened any day of the year.
Calendars: A Guide to Locating Events Calendars, timelines, and other information
Time Capsule Enter a date to find out about the music, movies, and other items about that day
Today in Black American History
History Timelines Timelines
History
Ad*Access…a content-rich site with images of over 7,000 advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955
America in the 1930′s through films, radio, and many other forms of cultural expressions
American Memory from the Library of Congress Free and open access to media that document the American experience from the Library of Congress and other institution.
Ancient Egypt from the British Museum
Archaeologica current archaeological news and resources on the Web
Avalon Project Digital documents relevant to the fields of law, history, economics, politics, diplomacy and government
Daryl Cagle’s Professional Cartoonists Index
Editorial cartoonsDig: Archaeology Links for Kids
Discoverers Web Llinks to information on discoverers and explorers, from prehistoric man through modern day
Eighteenth-Century Resources scholarly collection
Egyptian Hieroglyphs explanations, resources, and links all about hieroglyphs
EyeWitness to History First-hand accounts of pivotal events in history; with photos, pictures, audio files, and more
Gateway to World History the world history archives.
The Great War: 80 Years On World War poems, interviews, and personal letters home
The History Net An extensive, content-rich, well set-up site which includes world and US history, interviews, feature articles and much more
History on the Internet Resource Guide
HyperHistory Online HyperHistory is an expanding scientific project presenting 3,000 years of world history with an interactive combination of panoramic lifelines, timelines, and maps.
Institute of Eqyptian Art and Archaeology with online artifacts, pictures, a tour of Egypt, and links
Labyrinth : Resources for Medieval Studies
…a easy-to-use site which provides organized access to electronic resources in medieval studiesMiddle Ages all aspects of life in the Middle Ages
Mr. Donn’s Ancient History Page
…original and compiled units, lesson plans, activities and resources for many of the ancient world culturesMr. Jenkins’ History Links By topic, this site leads the user to many useful history sites
Multnomah County Library Homework Center:
Ancient History and Cultures Sites
…a well-chosen list of links to support the study of ancient culturesMy Facts Page : Historical Information Resources
Unannotated list of hundreds of history resourcesNew York Times Learning Network using recent New York Times articles as springboards for examining important topics
Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors
…a timeline list of all the emperors, with some essays and images; bibliography includedPBS TeacherSource video and online resources
Renaissance: What Inspired this Age of Balance and Order?
Theban Mapping Project archaeological database of Thebes with maps, movies, photographs, and more
Twentieth Century History links
Victorian Web links
What Did You Do in the War, Grandma? Oral histories of women during WWII
World History Archives documents
Humanities
Discovery Channel School : Contemporary Studies Lesson Plans
EDSITEment online humanities resources from some of the world’s great museums, libraries, cultural institutions, and universities
Evening News Abstracts Abstracts of what was going on every day since 1968
Houghton Mifflin Education Place : Social Studies Center Ggames, projects, activities, and professional resources
Interactive World Fact Book extensive information ont countries including flags, maps, economy, geography, climate, and much more
Learning Adventures in Citizenship by PBS
Library of Congress Country Studies social, cultural, and historical aspects of more than 80 countries
Open Video Project Digitized video content
Population Topics Statistical information sites put together by the US Census Bureau
Portals to the World selected links to authoritative, in-depth information about nations and areas of the world
Social Studies Educator Link site
Social Studies for Kids Current events and resources to support teaching and learning social studies
Social Studies School Services Online Resources
…links to good resources to help social studies teachers expand their knowledge baseSoutheast Regional Social Studies Conference
…a comprehensive list of social studies linksWorld Area Studies Internet Resources links to use for each part of the world
WWW Virtual Library: International Affairs Resources
up-to-date compilation of over 2400 links to current international affairs sites
Culinary
Food Timeline The evolution of various foods in historical context
K-12 Resources for Food History Lessons with a food timeline, customs, and more
Marilee’s International Food Links recipe pages, arranged by world region
Geneology / Bioghraphy
Genealogy Site Finder Directory of 40,000+ genealogy sites
Multnomah County Library Homework Center: Biography Sites biography resources
Time 100 .Profiles the top 100 influential players of the 20th century
U.S. GenWeb Project Internet websites for genealogical research in every county and state
Anthropology
Camelot Project Arthurian texts, images, bibliographies, and basic information
Anthropology on the Internet produced by the Smithsonian, with a comprehensive overview and resources
Ethnologue information on over 360 world languages; includes locations, dialects, and number of speakers
Foreignword.com tranlators, lexicons, dictionaries, and how they work
Foreign Languages for Travelers common phrases in many different languages; includes basic words, numbers, directions, shopping, dining, and others