5 Free Instructional/Technology Resources

Guest Post from Karen Schweitzer....

5 Free Instructional Design and Technology Resources

Learning more about instructional design and technology and how both relate to teaching and learning can help educators create better lesson plans and curriculums for their classroom. There are several different sites on the net that offer resources related to instructional design and technology. Some of the best include online communities, forums, and information that can't be found anywhere else. Here are five instructional design and technology resources worth exploring in your free time.

Instructional Design Central - Instructional Design Central provides instructional design resources and an online community for educators. The community forums are a great place to discuss instructional design and collaborate with other education professionals. Visitors can also learn more about conferences, jobs, and new instructional design and technology resources.

Instructional Technology Connections - Instructional Technology Connections is an ambitious project created by Martin Ryder of the University of Denver's School of Education. The project provides an amazing collection of instructional technology resources and information in one easy-to-navigate place. Educators who visit this site can learn more about instructional design models, theory, and philosophy as well as current news and research.

InstructionalDesign.org - Created specifically to provide information about instructional design, this website bridges the gap between teaching and learning. Some of the resources that can be found at InstructionalDesign.org include instructional design models, a glossary, information about assessment, learning objects, useful conferences, and usability testing.

NCRTEC Lesson Planner - The North Central Regional Technology in Education Consortium (NCRTEC) is no longer in operation, but the organization's online lesson planner is still available. Teachers can use the planner as a template or starting point when they design lesson plans for the classroom. The planner helps educators address the goals of the lesson, education standards, student assessment, curriculum connections, class management, necessary learning materials, and more.

We the Teachers - We the Teachers is a unique social networking site. It maintains the resource aspect of teacher-focused sites, but also facilitates communication and collaboration within the site's online community. Teachers can use the site to post or find lesson plans, share classroom resources, and meet teachers from around the world. We the Teachers also encourages educators to join or establish on-site groups with like-minded teaching professionals.

Guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes for OnlineDegreePrograms.org, an [ http://onlinedegreeprograms.org/ ]online degree resource.