Teachers returning to Nebraska classrooms this month will have a new tool they can use to create multimedia lessons for students, state officials said Wednesday.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Gov. Dave Heineman announced that the Nebraska Virtual Library system is now online and ready to use. The library offers more than 20,000 digital resources, including video, audio and interactive programs, free to students and teachers.
The site is part of a larger, statewide educational initiative announced last year. The Nebraska Virtual Partnership was formed to serve students from preschool through college, emphasizing science, technology, engineering and math.
The library contains resources from the Library of Congress, National Archives, PBS NewsHour, NOVA, American Experience, Electric Company and SciGirls.
"This is a significant step forward for the future of education in Nebraska," Heineman said. "The Virtual Library will provide Nebraska teachers and students with enhanced digital resources to enrich teaching and learning."
The site is run by Nebraska Educational Telecommunications and paid for with NET membership dues. NET General Manager Rod Bates said the site may develop in a way that lets educators share their own content with other teachers.
Nebraska Commissioner of Education Roger Breed said the site blends content with visual images to strengthen classroom lessons.
"I tried it out last night," Breed said. He then joked: "If this was around when I was an eighth-grade teacher back in 1970, my students might actually have learned something about history."
www.net.pbslearningmedia.org/
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
