Learning Online Package
EBSCO Publishing has combined its EBSCOlearn Social Studies and Science series with its Online Reader program to form the Learning Online Package. Accessed via EBSCOhost, this package contains more than 3,600 full-text articles offering nonfiction content from such publications as Scientific American, Ranger Rick, Cobblestone, Biography, National Wildlife, and U.S. News & World Report. The Learning Online Package is designed to help teachers comply with state educational standards, while equipping students with skills in reading comprehension, cultural awareness, writing, technology, and standardized test-taking.

The Learning Online Package contains carefully selected articles with corresponding multiple-choice assessments that are formatted similarly to standardized tests. Articles have been assigned Lexile reading levels and are appropriate for grades 2 to 12. The EBSCOhost interface enables teachers to conduct searches by subject, keyword, and individual reading level. Once an article is chosen, teachers can send assignments to individual students or to groups of students via e-mail or direct them to a specified URL. Students can then read the articles and complete assignments online. Teachers are notified by e-mail when each student completes his or her assignment.

Tests are graded automatically, allowing both students and teachers to view correct answers. Progress reports are then generated automatically. Teachers and students are able to view the types of questions that the student answered incorrectly. Teachers can print out the articles, tests, and progress reports in order to document a standard that has been taught to an individual at a specific reading level.

The Learning Online Package includes Web links to state curriculum standards and subject-specific Teacher Guides. Online Reader Teacher Guides are organized by Language Arts standards, and the Social Studies and Science series Teacher Guides are organized by age-appropriate themes, made up of three to eight articles that relate to the theme. Teacher Guides offer compare-and-contrast essays, open-ended activities, and lessons geared toward multiple learning styles. The Learning Online Package can also be used by ESL and special education teachers and for adult literacy and distance-learning programs.
 

Curriculum Online Package
Curriculum Online Package is a compilation of nonfiction articles that support national and state educational standards. Accessed via EBSCOhost, this comprehensive package offers schools and libraries a resource that contains over 50,000 full-text articles from respected magazines, journals, and newspapers.

Through partnerships with McREL (Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning) and MetaMetrics, Inc., EBSCO is able to fill the Curriculum Online Package with the highest-quality articles that both align with education benchmarks and possess Lexiled reading levels, according to the announcement. Articles have been hand-selected from subject areas including U.S. History, World History, Physical Science, Earth & Space Science, Civics, and Language Arts. Searches can be conducted in a single subject area or across any combination of subject areas and can be limited by benchmarks and reading levels.

A broad range of popular and current articles allows teachers to cover many subject areas while catering to the reading levels of individual students. The Curriculum Online Package is available through both the EBSCOhost and EBSCOlearn interfaces, which allow teachers to customize assignments for students.
 

Additional Links
FIZ Karlsruhe, producer of the FIZ AutoDoc service, and CISTI can now be accessed via EBSCOhost. Both are implemented solely on the discretion of the individual library and will only be visible in a result if the administrator has chosen that option in EBSCOadmin. EBSCO Publishing's Technical Support team is also available to help libraries activate their ILS links. Links can be set up so that they do not appear when full text is in the search results or when the full text is available in the library's local holdings.

FIZ AutoDoc, a German document-delivery broker system, assists customers in finding what they seek by directing them to the appropriate journal and full-text supplier. Currently, FIZ AutoDoc offers delivery service for over 100,000 scientific journals.

CISTI provides document-delivery and other services for individuals, libraries, and institutions. According to the announcement, CISTI's collection of over 50,000 serials and more than 600,000 books, reports, and conference proceedings in science, technology, engineering, and medicine is one of the largest of its kind in the world.

Source: EBSCO Publishing, Ipswich, MA, 800/653-2726, 978/356-6500; http://www.epnet.com.