Gale Integrates Video and Classroom Tools into GVRL eBook Platform, Improving Student Engagement
PLA Conference, PHILADELPHIA – March 21, 2018 – Gale, a Cengage company, is taking instruction and student engagement to the next level. Video and curriculum-aligned classroom tools have been integrated into selected eBooks on the Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL) platform. Now teachers can incorporate content from these eBooks—text, video, classroom activities and more—into their lesson plans, creating a more effective and engaging learning experience for students, while meeting curriculum standards. Read our blog about it, here.
The enhanced eBooks on GVRL were created in partnership with librarians, teachers and advisors to meet appropriate curriculum standards. The videos were carefully selected and curated by Gale’s editorial team and embedded within an article or chapter in the eBooks, alongside prompts and related questions to directly support the content discussed within the article or chapter.
Every video includes closed captioning and an interactive transcript that highlights the corresponding text as the video plays. Additionally, the transcripts make the videos fully searchable. Clicking on a section of the transcript takes users directly to that point within the video. Users can even search within the actual video, helping them easily locate and jump to specific points of interest.
A visual indicator on the search results page lets users know which documents contain videos or users can limit search results to show only documents containing video. GVRL’s bookmark tool offers a stable permalink back to the document page, making it easy for librarians and teachers to share with students. The video player supports HD streaming and is compatible with all mobile devices.
“Teachers know the value that video brings to student learning and engagement. They want to include it in their lesson plans, but find it challenging and time-consuming to manually curate the content themselves and often turn to their school librarian for assistance,” said Douglas Enns, a middle school science teacher and advisor for Gale’s UXL Ignition Science: Collaborative Projects enhanced eBook. “The new enhanced eBooks on GVRL integrate video, instructional guides, templates and other curriculum-based learning materials, making lesson planning easier. This saves teachers time and enables them to focus on teaching, with classroom-ready content at their fingertips.”
Key new capabilities of enhanced eBooks for GVRL include:
- Integrated Video: Video is carefully selected and/or created to support and enhance content, which makes concepts more meaningful to students.
- Curriculum Mapping: Aligns learning materials, assessments and instructional techniques to a set curriculum.
- Instructional Guide: Suggests ways the content can be used in the classroom, emphasizes connections to the curriculum, provides practical tips and more.
- Critical-Thinking Questions: Questions posed for students to engage, analyze and evaluate the learning materials.
- Classroom-Ready Activities: Aligned to specific curriculum standards, skill and level of rigor.
- Worksheets: Printable templates align to text material and guide students in research and writing.
Gale has released four new enhanced eBooks on GVRL. Titles include:
- UXL Ignition Science: Collaborative Projects: Includes 70 projects that promote collaboration skills and knowledge of the scientific method. With the demand for STEM careers growing each year, it’s crucial for students to develop these skills early on.
- Animal Rights and Welfare: A five-title set that provides coverage of engaging and timely topics related to social issues around animal rights and welfare.
- Unlocking Current Issues: A five-title set that provides foundational historical information to help students gain a better understanding of current events and controversial issues.
- Genetics, 2nd Edition: Clear and comprehensive introduction to the many facets of genetics. Includes foundational concepts, key scientific and historical themes, ethical issues and advancements in science.
“Gale is taking student engagement and research content to a whole new level with the new enhanced eBooks on GVRL,” said Liz Mason, Senior Vice President of Product at Gale. “Integrating video and classroom tools into our eBooks for GVRL is moving us beyond traditional reference to creating content specific to teaching and research, making our eBooks as valuable in the classroom as they are in the library.”
Demonstrations of the new enhanced eBooks on GVRL will be conducted at the Public Library Association (PLA) Conference, March 21-23 in Philadelphia at the Gale booth #501.
To learn more about Gale’s enhanced eBooks on GVRL, visit: https://www.gale.com/ebooks/on-gvrl.
About Cengage and Gale
Cengage is the education and technology company built for learners. The company serves the higher education, K-12, professional, library and workforce training markets worldwide. Gale, a Cengage company, provides libraries with original and curated content, as well as the modern research tools and technology that are crucial in connecting libraries to learning, and learners to libraries. For more than 60 years, Gale has partnered with libraries around the world to empower the discovery of knowledge and insights – where, when, and how people need it. Gale has 500 employees globally with its main operations in Farmington Hills, Michigan. For more information, please visit www.gale.com.
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Kayla Siefker, Gale-Cengage, 248-915-9624, [email protected]