January 2004 Issue
Internet Resource of the Month
By
Pat Gottschalk, Learning Skills Instructor, USAFA
Email: Pat.Gottschalk@usafa.af.mil
January's web review looks at Southwest Tennessee Community College's academic tutorial website. Found at http://staff.southwest.tn.edu/kfoster/links_4.htm, a browser will find the college's Academic Resource Core LINKS, which provides access to over 60 subject areas with accompanying access to a score of additional tutorial links by topic. When clicking on the address, you are taken directly to a Table of Contents page. This directory is arranged by alphabetized subject headings, starting with Accounting and Finance, ending with Visual Basics & VB.Net Programming. In between, examples of other subjects listed are Anatomy & Physiology, AutoCad, History, Organic Chemistry, Study Skills, and Windows & DOS. With the above mentioned 60 subject headings in all, this address is both a terrific "inlink" (for information within the home site) and "outlink" (to information on other sites). Besides accessing skills through the Table of Contents, there are two other ways to find the help you are looking for. There is a search button by topic or you can simply scroll down under the Table of Contents. If you choose to scroll down, each subject also allows you to click on a Return to Table of Contents icon, making navigation of the site's offerings quick and easy. If you are recommending a site to your students, this is a good one to start with. It's highly usable with all information only one or two clicks away. All links are embedded and each clearly represents the intended information - I browsed through some of the subject headings and was always taken right to the site listed with no message that the page was unavailable or no longer there. This site is well-named; it provides comprehensive, user-friendly academic core links for students and instructors alike.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*