Verizon Foundation has awarded to Texas teachers, parents, and students a grant that allows free access to the TCEA Thinkfinity Partner Program. Thinkfinity’s free online portal is found at http://www.thinkfinity.org. This site provides quality professional development through expert resources, online applets, lesson plans and educational web sites. Through the use of these expert resources, the learning community can integrate technology-based activities into curriculum to increase all students' learning. The International Reading Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science are just two of the many “content partners” providing the resources for the Thinkfinity website. Teachers, students and parents can easily navigate and explore the 55,000 standards-based lesson plans, materials, interactive tools and reference materials on the Thinkfinity website. Free on-line courses provide teachers with the knowledge base to enhance their own professional development in the application of technology in the classroom. Thinkfinity uses current technology and communication tools in the professional development program.
The positive aspects of the Thinkfinity website are easy navigation, current technology application, relevant information, and a wide variety of content. The only negative aspect that I found was the volume of information made the search for specific content a little time-consuming. This might not be a site that young children could independently use.
I highly recommend this website to teachers and administrators. The possibilities for professional development (at no cost to the campus) are endless.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
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