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Definition
Digital Resource
Centers (DRC) are Internet-based academic collections that (1) have
the potential to transform university teaching and learning, (2) withstand
peer review at other universities, (3) have connections to K-12 education,
and (4) include products that are relevant for K-12 education [as well
as a broad range of applications in college and university programs].
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Curricular
Goal(s)
- Expose students
to authentic data
- Allow students
to explore material as professionals may
- Encourage students
to think critically about material, interpret from multiple perspectives
and make connections among events and disciplines
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Uses
- Use varies according
to curriculum, goals and objectives and discipline area. Digital Resource
Centers are typically extremely large and intricate. For example, the Valley of
the Shadow Digital Resource is a comprehensive collection of information
about a northern and southern community during the Civil War. The project
is a hypermedia archive of more than 100,000 primary sources that include
newspapers, letters, diaries, photographs, maps, church records, population
census data, agricultural census data and military records. Thus, teachers
usually focus on a particular part of a Digital Resource Center during
a lesson. For example, students can explore various artifacts related
to the Gettysburg Address to reconstruct the event through primary sources.
(See Commemoration
of the Gettysburg Battlefield: The Gettysburg Address)
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Steps
for Creating
- Digital Resources
Centers are not created by teachers (see definition). However, connections
between Digital Resource Centers and the K-12 curriculum [or university
curriculum], are often developed by teachers. See the Valley
of the Shadow teaching materials for an example of this.
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Examples
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References
and Resources
- Bull, G., Bull,
G., Dawson, K. (1999). The Universal Solvent. Learning and Leading
with Technology, 27(2), 36-41.
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