Keeping Georgia on Our Minds

   Jacqueline W. Jordan, W.L. Parks Middle School, Atlanta, Georgia

The New Georgia Online Encyclopedia is all about people, places, events and institutions that make up the great state of GEORGIA.  It chronicles Georgia’s historical past, highlights images of today, and takes a peek into what’s yet, ahead.  It’s all about Georgia in words and pictures, ONLINE! The New Georgia Encyclopedia was just one of many workshops I attended at the Georgia Technology Conference November 15-17, 2006 that I gained useful information from, on integrating technology into the classroom.  However, it was something unique about the way the presenter introduced the New Georgia Online Encyclopedia that held my attention and lead me to focus on ways to use and share this resource at my school.  The presenter provided an overview of this new teaching and informational website and offered ideas on how the New Georgia Online Encyclopedia could be used in general as well as a resource in our schools.

Who and when NGE was organized?

          The NGE is a collaboration of the Georgia Humanities Council, University of Georgia Press, the University System of Georgia/GALILEO, the office of the Governor, and the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education. First organized in 2003, Georgia was the first to create an online state encyclopedia where anyone in the world with access to the internet can click and learn about our state, created by our state for that purpose. 

How do I connect?

            NGE allows worldwide accessibility by using the URL www.georgiaencyclopedia.org. The homepage provides a wealth of information including authoritative articles and pictures about its citizens, past and present, the arts, natural resources, and recreation in addition to links that direct you to related topics about Georgia.  The index provides a list of categories by articles, authors, forthcoming articles and new articles those added within the last thirty days. From each category information is accessed alphabetically with a click of the computer mouse.

What type of information can I expect to find?

          From NGE’s homepage, you can link from left to right eight different categories across the top including: home, index, quick facts, destinations, galleries, features about NGE and contact information.  The homepage also displays faces of some of our most well known Georgians and famous Georgia landmarks.  The left side of the homepage directory consists of namely:  the Arts, Business & Industry, Cities & Counties, Education, Folklore, Government & Politics, History & Archaeology, Land & Resources, Literature, Media, Religion, Science & Medicine, Sports & Recreation and Transportation.  By clicking on a subject, alphabetized categories appear, followed by an article, suggested readings and links to related websites.  In addition, you may type in your search preference in the search box or choose advance search to broaden your search capabilities.  All articles and images are printable.  All types of interesting and engaging historical and educational information, insight on people, images, music and tidbits about Georgia can be accessed for reading pleasure and scholarly reference.  The information cited is useful and appealing to a variety of readers.

Can NGE be utilized as a teaching tool for educators and students?

          NGE is a practical and innovative tool that will provide teachers with an additional tool for integrating technology to enhance their lessons and engage their students with advanced research strategies supporting the National Educational Technology Standards and Georgia Performance Standards.  NGE galleries contain numerous images, videos, audio recordings gathered from state archives, galleries, museums, and a special collection owned by NGE.  Designed to compliment the featured articles and themes, the galleries offer a comprehensive digital library to further motivate different learning styles.  NGE is web-based so it can serve users at school and home. During the session, the presenter used video of several political leaders and their take on issues so that more than one view was presented.  This resource will greatly impact research on concept-based unit themes and PowerPoints created by teachers and students at my school.  Since Georgia History is taught on the middle school level in eighth grade, NGE offers a wealth of information that would support reports, debates, and projects.  She also navigated to audio recordings and demonstrated ways to incorporate music into our lessons. As a Media Specialist, engaging both teachers and students with books and technology is always my focus.  With that in mind, I used information gleaned from the NGE workshop to introduce the creation of a photo journal of Georgia authors to middle school readers.         

            It’s all about Georgia!  The new Georgia Online Encyclopedia is an invaluable resource tool that supports teaching and learning in schools and colleges in addition to satisfying a wide perimeter of general interest needs worldwide.

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