David Levin’s Learning@Web.Sites (http://www.ecnet.net/users/gdlevin/home. html) is a practical site for high school level users ‐ students, teachers and librarians. The author has taken thousands of education‐related Web sites and categorized them with a high school curriculum in mind. He has also included an extracurricular section for a well‐rounded high school experience. For most sites linked from this guide, there are brief annotations as well as indications of their usefulness or overall quality: a “hot chili pepper” marks an “excellent” site while a “cool ice” sign marks a “cool” site.
The initial page serves as a gateway to all other pages within this site. It is divided into the following six sections:
- 1.
1Greetings from the Author (a 210Kb audio file);
- 2.
2a Link to My Reference Points, another of the author’s sites;
- 3.
3the Departmental Directory, a list of scholastic departments arranged by subject;
- 4.
4Extra Credit, a list of “extracurricular” activities;
- 5.
5About the Author and Awards; and
- 6.
6details on Web Rings to which the site belongs.
The author describes My Reference Points, an external site, as “a guide to available quality references on the Internet”. Within this site, reference Web sites have been linked together under five categories:
- 1.
1The Reference Aisle;
- 2.
2The News‐stand,
- 3.
3Biographies;
- 4.
4Sports News, and
- 5.
5Search Engines.
This Web site is a little easier to navigate than Learning@Web Sites, as users can reach each area from each individual page. After clicking on a category, users are taken to an alphabetical listing of the Web sites. Academic libraries will likely find the ready reference information here of use.
Within the Departmental Directory are icons and links to 19 departments:
- 1.
1Art;
- 2.
2Business Education;
- 3.
3Career Resources;
- 4.
4Educational Computing;
- 5.
5English/Language Arts;
- 6.
6Foreign Languages;
- 7.
7Guidance/Counseling;
- 8.
8Home Economics;
- 9.
9Library Media Center;
- 10.
10Mass Media and Communications;
- 11.
11Mathematics;
- 12.
12Music;
- 13.
13Nurse’s Station;
- 14.
14Physical Education;
- 15.
15Science;
- 16.
16Social Studies/History;
- 17.
17A Social Workers’ Office;
- 18.
18Special Education and
- 19.
19Vocational Technologies.
Simply clicking on an individual department’s name will transport users to a listing of appropriate Web sites, with corresponding links. The only way to move between departments, though, is to scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the “Back” button. A way to choose a particular sub‐area within a department is not provided, i.e. only algebra‐related pages within the Mathematics Department.
The extra credit sites will interest users of all ages. They include Best of the Best, Chicago Web Sites, Children’s Interests, Field Trips, Indexes and Hot Search Engine, Multicultural Resources, Professional Development, and a Teacher’s Lounge. Users who click on an area of interest will find a fairly long list of Web sites on that particular topic.
The search engine was removed after I had a discussion with the author about problems I encountered while attempting to search; it would not work in the manner that he described.
David Levin is the Library Media Center Director at Rich Central High School in Olympia Fields, Illinois. He began this Web site as a hobby in August 1995; it was originally created as a site for teachers at his school. In the weeks that I was looking at the Web site, the author made four updates. The author adds new sites periodically and accepts users’ recommendations for sites to add. The site receives between 100 and 150 hits each day.
The site belongs to the Web Ring of Student Resources, a guide to Web sites that offer educational resources for students of all ages. The purpose of this ring is to offer students and parents the resources they need for enhancing their education using the Internet.
I would recommend David Levin’s Learning@Web:Sites to academic libraries supporting programs of study in the field of education. Instructors in secondary education may consider presenting this site to their students. High schools, middle schools, and vocational schools can also benefit from the information available. Finally, this site can be used by English as a Second Language (ESL) laboratories or developmental reading/writing laboratories to get ideas and/or motivate students who are working on developing their reading or writing skills. While the site needs more organization in order to make navigation easier, a large number of useful Web sites are represented here.
