Students at Clark-Pleasant schools can now learn more than 120 languages, all through free accounts gifted by the Johnson County Public Library to students across the county.
Earlier this month, Clark-Pleasant joined Center Grove schools and Ss. Francis and Clare Catholic School in offering Student Multi-Access Resource Tool (SMART) accounts to all students and staff members, who can use those accounts to access resources that would otherwise require a costly subscription service, said Sarah Taylor, the library system’s programming manager.
One such resource is the Cloud Library, which contains more than 9,000 fiction and non-fiction electronic books, commonly known as eBooks. These resources not only save the district money, but can also be targeted to different age groups based on their content, said Raenell Smith, Whiteland Community High School’s library media specialist.
“It’s excellent, it’s very to use,” Smith said. “We can check out digital books and magazines, at the high school there’s driving test preparation, online courses and online videos and tutorials. At the elementary school there’s World Book Kids, Tumblebooks, biographies and a wealth of materials available we couldn’t afford otherwise.”
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As the accounts are connected to school identification cards, every student and staff member has one. In total, there 16,102 student accounts and 1,774 staff accounts, Taylor said.
“One of the things we want to do is make databases available for research,” Taylor said. “The databases (are used) for students’ research papers and (they use) resources (to prepare) for when they get to college, using these more in-depth databases for research projects."
At Ss. Francis and Clare, middle school science teacher Abby Roach uses the World Book Online application, which includes a 22-volume encyclopedia, to supplement science lessons. Having these accounts that have age-appropriate material can help students prepare for a presentation or research project and understand what they’re reading, rather than relaying information from a more advanced source that they might not be old enough to understand, Roach said.
"It’s definitely easier," Roach said. "It gives them ownership of research instead of regurgitating information they don’t understand. Google is meant for adults as opposed to middle school students. I want them to really understand what they’re writing about."
Eighth grader Olivia Jackson was able to find reliable sources for her research project on scientist Gregor Mendel using her account, she said.
"On Google, it was hard to get information on him; he’s an older scientist from the 1800s," Jackson said. ""I was able to use the SMART account and the resources on it. It’s easy to access. There’s a lot of information on him for me to be able to write the paper and make it a quality paper."
With TumbleBooks, an entire classroom can read the same picture book at the same time on their screens. Sixth grader Gabby Stink was able to find Christmas stories quickly and read along with a kindergarten reading partner instead of having to search through the library’s hardcover books, she said.
While the resources can be used for research purposes, the ArtistWorks program allowed Center Grove to offer ukulele lessons at one of its elementary schools, Taylor said.
Whiteland High School junior Sebastian Nadj enjoys listening to audiobooks during his commute using Cloud Library, he said.
Another resource students can use with their accounts, Linda.com, allows students to take video tutorials for technical programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Office. Through different learning paths the website offers, students can learn how to become a photographer or a web designer, Taylor said.
Spanish classes can use the Transparent Language Online program, which also provides lessons in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Hindi and over 100 other languages, said Rebecca Stone, Ss. Francis and Clare assistant principal.
“For research, dealing with children and minors, it’s safe and vetted,” Stone said. “(Johnson County Public Library) put their stamp of approval on the sites. It allows teachers to give those (resources) with confidence.”
Taylor hopes to work out the logistics of getting these accounts to Indian Creek and Franklin schools, she said. Greenwood and Edinburgh schools have their own library systems, and are not in the coverage area of the Johnson County Public Library.
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Here’s a look at the students from area schools using the program:
Center Grove;8,365 student accounts;784 staff accounts
Clark-Pleasant;7,242 student accounts;951 staff accounts
Ss. Francis and Clare;495 student account;39 staff accounts
Source: Sarah Taylor, Johnson County Public Library Programming Manager
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