In the past year I’ve become aware of two subscription services marketed at schools, NetTrekker and Renzulli Learning. Both of which are essentially portals to the internet. NetTrekker allows teachers to search the internet and get readability information on web sites and Renzulli allows teachers to assess students’ interests and then assist them in finding web sites. Although they each have something to offer, I can’t help by wonder why we need these services particularly at their high price. Both of them prey upon a fear of Google and teachers’ ignorance of how to locate and utilize information on the internet.
I thought it was just me but then I came upon Miguel Guhlin’s review of Renzulli Learning which confirms some of my worst fears:
I am disappointed that Renzulli Learning is being touted as a valid tool for differentiation and enrichment. Every non-tech savvy Curriculum & Instruction Gifted and Talented Director/Coordinator is staring with longing at Renzulli Learning…it’s going to save them, integrate technology, and change how teachers teach.
These sites give you a smaller internet which may be less intimidating to some people but it still doesn’t much help with you with what to do with those sites once you get there. I think it would be much more valuable to teach students (and teachers) how to conduct their own searches and evaluate information that they find. If you’re really scared of google, try KidsClick.org but if you want to learn to use google better, try the google cheat sheet which explains boolean searching and some hidden google features.
Absolutely right. So many teachers lack internet literacy themselves and it can be seen in the classroom and the labs. Not only does that lack of knowledge lead to less effective searches, they also are failing to do what is a major charge in education: that of preparing this generation for THEIR future, not for ours.
At times this lack of knowledge even builds up so far as to form a wall between that class and any technology.
I am not surprised that there are companies that feed off of that fear (which, is a form of ignorance, of a lack of teacher education). But as you have said, there are options out there of safe internet possibilities for searching.
www. tekmom.com is a great site and there are countless others. My site has some more, but there are definitely out there.
Thanks for your post.
I can see what you’re saying, and understand. However, let me point out why I support the use of netTrekker d.i. in classrooms:
1. My son is a learning disabled student. Using netTrekker d.i. I can find resources for him of high interest and use the read aloud tool to encourage him to follow along and still be empowered to learn.
2. My neighbor is from Spain, and while her English has gotten much better, she’s still a struggling 7th grader. She likes how easy it is for her to open a webpage in Dictionary Hot Key mode and translate words she’s uncomfortable with. Her English is improving, and research is not as daunting as it was before.
3. My niece loves the famous people search and the Time Line tool. She was able to use these tools to really enhance her Abraham Lincoln Project.
4. The My Portfolio allows computer literate challenged teachers to QUICKLY make a web project, including adding resources outside of netTrekker d.i.’s database. Not every teacher feels comfortable, nor wants to find the time, to create all these different accounts and figure out which one works best from their school to create learning folders of websites and project descriptions. The My Portfolio is great for that reason.
5. A new teacher needed some help with a standard that she was struggling to teach. She was able to pull up the standards and aligned resources to find lesson plans, interactive media, a couple of videos, and some great ideas on how to really get this standard across to the students.
6. I agree that students need to learn to use tools like Google and learn how to read a result description. Not every result in netTrekker d.i. is what you want, and you’ll have to read those descriptions as well, or use the refinement menu to find what you’re looking for.
7. Various businesses have databases of resources for their profession to save time and energy that would normally be expended if using a tool like Google for searches. Lawyers, doctors, researchers, etc. These tools all are there to help save time and energy in their given professions. netTrekker d.i. is that for educators.
8. Oh the readability! I almost forgot- most of the websites have reading scores, which is great if you have a classroom of multiple intelligences. You can find resources for those that are on a fifth grade level, a true middle school reading level, and a beginning high school level and meet the educational needs of each of those students while still covering the same material.
9. And the sites are all reviewed by educators – which I appreciate.
I could list more – but we’ll stop there.
There are many, many reasons why I enjoy using netTrekker d.i. for educational searches, and I think of myself as a computer literate person. I taught for four years, was a technology coach for over six, and now actually work for netTrekker d.i. as a trainer. I tried using the great free sites, encouraging teachers to learn how to search -but none would really jump in and learn because they either were afraid of recourse if a computer allowed a bad site to come through or didn’t want to waste time going through millions of websites versus only a limited results that you know match your needs.
With that, I’ll also thank you for your post. Using a tool such as netTrekker d.i. can actually help teachers take down that wall, encourage them to use technology, and help them feel comfortable. I just taught a class on digital storytelling with netTrekker d.i. resources in Georgia and the teachers seemed to really enjoyed the class.
Thank you, Danielle, it’s good to hear from an employee of the company. I am not denying that there are some cool features that come with these subscription services. Some of the features you mentioned are available elsewhere on the web for free. Filamentality comes to mind for putting a web project together quickly and easily. I disagree that either Nettrekker or Renzulli are easier to use and save time over a google search. For those who are tech savvy they’re not hard but for the non-tech savvy it seems harder to teach these services than it is to teach smart googling.
I have staff members that get upset with me for teaching the 3rd – 5th graders to use Google. “We pay good money for Nettreker”
My response is yes that is the problem. We also pay good money for convocation speakers – and renting out a place to have it since we don’t fit in any of the spaces in our district.
Google is free – they don’t have to remember a password to get in it from home, and it is a real tool. Oh and a good portion of the nettrecker recommended sites – are blocked by Bess.
I am in a district with NetTrekker, and I do find it helpful for many of the reasons that Danielle listed, BUT it will not work in all situations, ex. sixth graders were doing a report on their favorite music artist. Their taste ranged from Rap, to Latino Rap, to Asian Pop (including some rather obscure Lao artists). Google was a much better tool. Learning boolean searches anywhere is a good idea. I did a short mini-unit for fourth grade on boolean searches, and basic evaluation of sites (is this a good site for a research paper, or to buy something?). It saves me some time in coming up with a “hot list” at a good lexile level (ex. many science sites are at a college reading level, and not great for elementary students), but they will use google either because they want to or have to, so you have to teach them how to use it.
Very valid points made – but also some good meaty debate 🙂 which I’d like to add to. Here in New Zealand we are using Renzulli Learning – and in my opinion (as a teacher, an advisor and a computerholic) Renzulli offers the advantages of:
– sites tailored specifically to chosen age level/ability level, students interests, and also learning areas (e.g. social sciences, creative thinking, reading etc)
– pre-vetted sites
– the ability for both teacher and students to preview sites and to ‘send’ them to each other with comments
– teachers can see exactly which sites students have been looking at (VERY useful)
– frameworks/templates for planning and for assessment.
YES I agree you can do Boolean searches, and can teach this to your students (in fact I hope we all are doing that already!) but try simply searching for sites on a topic/concept by reading-ability level, and for specific learning strengths/weaknesses… never mind student interests… it’s SO quick and easy on Renzulli! As teachers, we can also easily ‘push’ recommended sites to other teachers in our school along with comments etc- it’s all highly interactive. At between $1 and $2 a week for Renzulli (depending on your numbers), I wouldn’t call this expensive….?