Teachers around the world will have the opportunity to tap into a site designed specifically with their educational needs in mind. The PEI Department of Education today officially launched Links for Educators and Students To Educational Resources, or LESTER as it is better known, on the World Wide Web.
The site's address is http://www.gov.pe.ca/educ/lester/introduction.html. It is also accessible though the Department's home page, http://www.gov.pe.ca/educ/
LESTER is a significant accomplishment for Prince Edward Island, says the Minister of Education. "LESTER is the first government World Wide Web-based educator resource in the Maritime provinces," said the Hon. Chester Gillan. "Projects like this enable us to showcase our educational expertise to the rest of the world, while fulfilling a need within the province."
The Education Minister says the site is part of the Department's overall technology in education plan. "If we are gong to successfully integrate technology into curriculum, we must give teachers the necessary tools with which to work," said Mr. Gillan.
"LESTER was designed for teachers, by teachers and we are confident it will prove valuable."
Teachers have already received professional development training on the resource. Additional training is offered through the Educational Technology Centre. As well, Department software support staff are available to visit schools and provide one-on-one or group training.
So far, LESTER has over 250 links. As links are added everyday, it is expected this number will increase exponentially over the coming months. Many of the links are Canadian-based. "We have tried wherever possible to emphasize Canadian content," says Ron Moore, education technology coordinator. "This hasn't always been an easy task since American sites outnumber Canadian ones by a hundredfold. However, we are pleased with what we have now and will work to add more."
Link suggestions from teachers are not only appreciated, they are encouraged says Mr. Moore. "We hope educators will share their expertise and suggest links that can be added to LESTER. The links will be reviewed for educational merit and if found appropriate, they will be posted.
Navigating the site is easy. LESTER is a starting point where educators can access current learning resources on numerous areas. Instructional resources are grouped into four headings: Classroom, Library Resource Centre, Special Education, and Professional Development.
Under the Classroom heading, resources are arranged by school level: primary, elementary, intermediate and senior high. Each level is categorized by topic and subject which are then split into Lesson Ideas, Resource Links and Other Learning Resources. The Library Resource Centre will connect teacher-librarians to information on many topics including children's literature and information processing. Educators interested in Special Education will find resources on many current issues in this field. For those people looking for Professional Development pages, there are links to professional interest sites, Internet tutorials, and resources for homepage creation. A number of resources are aimed specifically at Island educators.
The site is currently designed for English language educators. Over the next few weeks, the Department will be posting French resources. In the upcoming months, student resources will be added with an emphasis on making learning fun. As with the educator resources, students are invited to share ideas and sites.
In addition to providing valuable learning resources, LESTER also links to many popular search engines and home pages of Island schools. Schools can have their homrpages added to LESTER free of charge by contacting ednet@gov.pe.ca
For more information contact: Ron Moore, Education Technology Coordinator, 368-4658