Electronic resources:

CREATE student equity by bringing success to all students regardless of their ability levels

IMPROVE student productivity and critical thinking skills

PROMOTE cooperative learning

· Information retrieval is quick, thorough, and simple

· It’s student oriented. Kids can do it by themselves and be successful.

· Learning is active and experimental.

· Information can be printed out –full or in part—or transferred to word processing.

This feature helps students with poor transferring skill or handwriting disabilities.

Students can sort and organize the information

CD-ROM /On-line Version Considerations

· Initial and on-going investment in hardware, software, internet service

· Infrastructure of school

· Price comparison per student: initial software, updates, network license, remote site license

· Access Needs: library, classroom, home

· Tech support available

Advantages of CD-ROMS

· Tremendous amount of information is stored on a single CD including sound, video, and animation versus print version.

· Information can be retrieved in seconds. Researching is quicker and more thorough than print version.

· Disks take up little storage space.

· Updates are less expensive than the print version.

· Use is not dependent on any outside service provider as on-line versions.

· Software cost is less than print version

Disadvantages of CD-ROMS

· Initial investment for hardware includes computer, monitor, printer for stand alone use

· Networking use: workgroup servers, CD tower, network software/hardware; speed/reliability of network equipment

· Simultaneous use is limited if network versions are not available

· Updates are monthly; yearly

Advantages of On-Line Versions

· Maximum amount of information in a variety of formats

· Information is constantly up-to-date

· Unlimited simultaneous use; remote site use

· Faster connections

· Links to websites

Disadvantages of On-Line Versions

· Subscriptions are yearly and must be renewed; may charge extra for remote site access

· Use of some multimedia features requires downloading additional software

· Depends on outside sources to access: service provider. If service is down, it’s not useable.