Tuesday, May. 13, 2008

Merced County GATE offers Web-based resources

Students will benefit from custom program

The Merced County Office of Education has just made it a little easier for county students to get the resources they need online.

All while giving students the opportunity to win prizes through a scavenger hunt.

The Gate Portal (gate.mcoe.org) is a Web-based tool that provides access to multiple online resources that can be customized for students and teachers.

Available for K-12 students throughout Merced County, every school in the county has a password-protected student/parent Gate account, which provides access to World Book Online, California Streaming, and many other Web-based resources.

"Teachers and students are excited about the opportunity to access online subscription-based resources that support learning in a single convenient location," said John Magneson, coordinator for media and technology at MCOE.

Students can get assistance with reading, mathematics, art, world languages, science and many other subjects with their Gate account. Now every student can access online resources at home or school that promote student learning.

One of Gate's services is California Streaming, which provides educators, students and parents with access to thousands of high quality reviewed multimedia resources.

With more than 3,000 full length videos on a variety of subjects, California Streaming provides resources to assist with learning at all grade levels and subjects.

California Streaming recently held a state-wide contest for digital images and 10 students from throughout the state won iPods. A student from Le Grand Elementary School was one of the 10 winners. The Le Grand student took his photo in Yosemite National Park while his classes was staying at the Jack L. Boyd Outdoor School in Camp Green Meadows.

In order to provide students with an opportunity to learn more about the Gate resources, the Merced County Office of Education's Instructional Media Center hosted an online scavenger hunt for K-8 students.

More than 250 students from schools throughout Merced County participated.

A drawing for prizes donated by local businesses will be held and prizes will be delivered to school principals. Prizes included: books, tickets to Island Water Park, educational resources like microscopes, soccer equipments, and may other items.

For more information on the Gate, visit gate.mcoe.org, or call John Magneson at 381-6632.