Most of the digital teaching materials are interactive web sites that include student use of simulations, gaming, PDAs, and other forms of technology. The focus of this section is on science, mathematics, and technology. This does not mean that some of the resources of this section could not be used in a different subject area. A colleague of mine teaches digital tools and is always trying to find materials to help teach the PDA section. I showed her some of the math and science sites that integrated the use of a PDA, now she can demonstrate to students how to use this tool in a variety of situations.

The professional development section of this web site is also very useful There are links to multiple online tutorials such as Excel, creating a web site, and how to write grants just to name a few. There is a section called "Tools" that has many links, but one in particular I thought would be very useful to most of the teachers in my building--A Technical Glossary! It lists the latest terms in technology such as Is your PING working? What FTP does your WAIS use? Or is WYSIWYG?. Links are also available to articles for those teachers who are growing professionally.

The addition of the Moodle service allows teachers the accessibility of using a content management system without having their own server space to do so. They have designed this so that any teacher in Indiana can set-up a free account to post their classroom community and has made it compliant with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998. I would like to try this out for myself. Our technology coordinator is planning on setting up a server just for the high school and allowing use to use Moodle. I've already been warned that I will be training the teachers in our building how to use it. I have never used Moodle, at this point I've always used Moveable Type, so this feature would allow me to set-up a class and begin exploring.

The most recent addition to PRISM is a page of Classroom Software links. All links lead to open source and/or freeware applications. Two very cool, free links are to Celestia a space simulation software and Stellarium an open source planetarium for your computer. Celestia lets students explore a close-up of the space shuttle Discovery in orbit over Florida and the 1989 flyby of Neptune by Voyager 2 in three dimensions. Stellarium shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope. Other useful downloads include a PDF file converter and Microsoft Office alternatives.

I like this web site because I do not have to spend so much time searching on the Internet to try and find interactive projects for my technology students to use. Too many times educational type web sites tend to have a lot more resources/lesson plans for the required classes and not too many of the elective type classes such as techology. I am also excited to incorporate some of the other resource sites listed such as MarcoPolo, which is a web portal for teachers sponsored by Verizon. They have a few lesson plans focusing topics I could include in my Multimedia course. Another site is the Digital Library for Earth System Education. I'm planning on using some of the projects from this site when I help start our environmental student club at the end of this month.