| SIRS Publishing, Inc. has announced the launch of its
eCurriculum
educational tool. According to the company, SIRS eCurriculum provides
cutting-edge content with state-of-the-art technology to create a citizenship
curriculum that emphasizes reading, writing, and critical-thinking skills.
Utilizing an e-textbook that supplements other textbooks, SIRS eCurriculum
links users to information from SIRS' databases and Web sites.
Developed for students at adult reading level (8th grade or higher),
this product, which aligns with National & State Curriculum Standards,
provides continuously updated content, an online educator's guide, a user's
guide, e-mail communication capabilities, and research tools. SIRS eCurriculum's
other features include graphics, full-text articles, documents, a glossary,
a dictionary, and statistics.
SIRS eCurriculum allows users to assimilate their research within
the textbook to create their own e-book. According to the announcement,
this personal archive becomes a diary of the user's educational experience
while promoting lifelong learning skills and problem-solving techniques.
SIRS eCurriculum lets educators customize the program as a supplement
to an existing textbook or curriculum, or use it as a stand-alone reference.
National and state standards have been analyzed by SIRS' staff, and the
e-text is aligned to these standards. Links to state Web sites containing
standards are also provided.
SIRS eCurriculum is integrated with SIRS Knowledge Source. Both
are continuously updated as new articles and primary sources are added
to SIRS databases—SIRS Researcher, SIRS Government Reporter, and SIRS Renaissance.
According to the announcement, this updating provides an improvement over
print textbooks and curricula, which are often outdated by the time they
go to press. Immediate access to timely information, including hourly up-to-date
news items, provides students and educators with current content material.
The first e-book in the series, What Citizens Need to Know About Government,
includes basic concepts and structure of the discipline while providing
a basic understanding of today's issues. The e-book is organized by chapter
and offered in two formats. The HTML format allows users to dynamically
link to resources and enlarge graphics. HTML assures cross-platform and
-browser compatibility and compliance with the strictest accessibility
standards. The second format, Adobe PDF, can be viewed using Adobe Acrobat
Reader, and allows easy printing of typeset pages for off-line reading.
It also lets users add on-screen notes.
Source: SIRS Publishing, Inc., Boca Raton, FL, 800/232-7477; http://www.sirs.com. |
