1. Parents’ Guide to BCPS Digital Content for Students in Grades K-5
Cooking up student research, reading, and learning with digital content AT HOME!
Provide a 2-sided handout (preferably in color) of: Database Remote Access Passwords and Database Menu navigation (in the Parent U Workshops
Introduce the cooking/foodie “theme” as a fun way to look at the role of digital content in 21st century learning environments … as an essential ingredient for student research, reading, and learning.
Presented by:
Kelly Ray, Resource Teacher BCPS Office of Digital Learning
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2. Parent University Objective
Parents will be empowered to have students use digital content at home by exploring BCPS-licensed databases and their features.
Read the PU Workshop Objective.

3. Appetizer What is Digital Content?
Online databases, library catalogs, media repositories
Fee-based subscriptions
User authentication or log on is required
AKA the “Invisible Internet” or “Deep Web”
Not accessible on the Free Internet
Offer an “appetizer” by defining/describing what we mean by “digital content.”

4. Food for Thought Students can use digital content at home for:
Research projects or other assigned work
Reinforcement or enrichment for topics under study in the classroom
Reading, viewing, listening, and exploring ideas and information for pleasure and personal interests
Suggest ways and situations where digital content might be useful to students at home.

5. DATABASES are GOOD FOR YOU and TASTY TOO!
“Today’s students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors.” –- Marc Prensky, Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants
-- Play the video “Research Shift” to illustrate how the idea of “research” has changed.
Share the quotes and discuss how digital content addresses the learning needs of our digital natives, their over-reliance on Google as a search tool, and the need to help students evaluation the reliability and authority of sources, especially crowd-sourced information.
“Can’t I just Google it?”
-- Most students
“Can you trust that the person putting information up at REALLY knows what he or she is talking about?” -- Librarian, Boulder Public Library Website

6. Databases support these goals and standards:
15 K-5 Databases
Databases support these goals and standards:
BCPS Blueprint 2.0 Goal 1 - Academics
21st Century Teaching & Learning:
Building student competencies for information, media, & technology literacy
Providing efficient digital access to developmentally appropriate, curriculum-relevant content
Common Core State Standards
- College & Career Readiness - Complex Text/Nonfiction
- Close Analytic Reading - Writing to Source
Brief & Extended Research - Vocabulary
Content Curriculum Standards – Various subjects

7. Key “Ingredients” in Databases
Multiple media formats, interactivity
Authoritative publishers . Ad-free
Current, frequently updated content (often daily)
Student-friendly interfaces & Search/Browse features
State Standards-aligned (Content/Common Core)
Reading and learning supports:
Read-aloud/MP3 download - Closed captioning
Reading Levels/Lexiles (labeled and searchable by)
Embedded dictionaries - Translation
Quizzes, Games, Practice/Enrichment Activities
Research tools:
Research Guides, Citations, Organization tools

8. Digital Content MENU (BCPS.org)
Accessible 24/7 from School or Home
Click on the Menu to reveal the instructions.
Ask participants to click on the links shown marked with arrows to open the Digital Content Menu.
Instructor should stay on the PowerPoint for now.
SAY:
This is the easiest path for navigating to our BCPS Digital Content “menu” from the BCPS Home page.
Note that passwords are needed for using databases outside the BCPS network.
Teachers can download the passwords handout from the Intranet via the provided link from home.
Students can get the database passwords for home access on a hard-copy handout from their school Library Media Specialist or teacher.
Click to display the next Slide.

9. Digital Content MENU (BCPS One)
Accessible 24/7 from School or Home

10. Grades K-6 Digital Content
Say: Now I’m going to give you a quick overview of each of our digital content resources for elementary school students.
Show how students can use Destiny as a search engine to locate age-appropriate, authoritative databases.
Note that Discovery Education and Safari Montage are large media repositories (mostly videos) which you will not have time to showcase in this session, but which they can explore with their students (student login is required for both).
If parents are on computers and time permits, invite them to explore as you highlight the features of each database.
Start with America the Beautiful and show highlights of each database.

11. Spice Up Digital Learning at Home with BCPS Digital Content!
Bon Appétit!
For help with BCPS Digital Content, ask your School Library Media Specialist
Kelly Ray, Resource Teacher