I did get a request for a hit so here it is on Questia:
Ilana Locker
Elementary Librarian
Colegio Internacional de Caracas
lockeri@ciccaracas.com.ve
***********************************
I am working on my doctorate and the books that I need about theorist, etc. are on
Questia. The journal articles are scholarly. I have not worked much with the
basic magazines but I recommend to graduate students.
****
We have been using Questia for about two years. So far, it meets our needs. Ours
is a new library so we don't have many materials yet, so the online resources meet
our needs. I realize that two years is not a long time to really tell how well a
program like this is working, but I like it so far. We used to subscribe to
InfoTrac, but students were not using it. Questia is more student-friendly and I
like the "work area" and the bibliography area. The depth of the sources are more
than adequate for us. We use it in our high school and not the Jr. High because of
this. Also, our faculty has been using it also for continuing education and to
look up information for presentations and proposals. Hope this helps.
****
I do not subscribe to Questia, but I did take a trial of it last year. I thought
the whole product was awesome! However, it was too advanced in content to be useful
for our entire high school population, so we did not subscribe. It would have been
wonderful, but too expensive, for
just our advanced students.
****
We have used Questia with a singler user account for about four years and have
found it to be an excellent backup system and right now we are previewing it with
our humanities departments. One English teacher also has individual accounts for
her students. Two of her students came up to me and enthusiastically thanked me for
providing the database. I have been working with databases since the early 90s
and don't ever recall having been thanked before. It made an impression on me.
So my first point is that Questia will immediately make life much, much easier for
students because of the strength and ease of use of the database and its abilities
in creating notes, citations, bibliographies, separate projects, and a bookshelf.
For students all this is done instantly, doesn't require much effort and saves
them an immense amount of time. For a teacher to make equally effective use it
isn't as easy. They need to setup student accounts, learn to use the system, which
doesn't have the best search engine, and explore what's in the database. Few
teachers will be willing to do this. Right now my thoughts are going in the
direction of having one teacher from social studies and one from English pilot the
program next year with their classes. This would be about 200 students from a
population of 800. The students using it would have access to it for all of
the their classes and that should help create interest. If it did, we would expand
it to the entire school and pursue having it added to tuition as a fee. My biggest
concern is whether the database has the depth of content that is needed and need
teacher feedback. I love the individual use accounts and teacher management.
****
I didn't subscribe to Questia, but had a month free evaluation (I think that's
still available, if you want to try it). I found--even at the high school level,
that most of the information was too scholarly for most of my students. We did find
a few full-text books that supplemented our collection for research use, but it was
way to difficult and too much to wade through. We also have a free subscription,
compliments of our State Department of Libraries, for Ebscohost and I would highly
recommend that! We use it ALL the time and I have college aged kids coming back to
me and thanking me for showing them how to use it.
****
My other thought is about Questia an online database with individual accounts for
students that allows them to create separate projects or folders for each
assignment, make notes, underline, adjust the font, create citations and a
bibliography all while searching by lextile or reading level. The account stays
with the student in college. The teacher has access to the student account and can
monitor the entire research process, including when materials were looked at.
Currently the database is 65 online texts and one million articles. How long
before it contains, for all practical purposes, everything?
****
Our principal subscribed to it for advanced high school students. I think it has
come good points but is too difficult for elementary level. It is many for
advqanced high school students and college. I find using it to be rather a slow
process. That is my opinion.
***
Our library subscribes to Questia for students in the International Baccalaureate
Programme only. I place it at a community college level, yet one of my teachers is
using it extensively for his masters degree work. Most of the books are from
university presses and all are full-text. Many of my IB kids plan to purchase a
personal subscription for themselves when they head off to college next year.
It is very different from the other databases out there. Each student has an
individual account, a personal bookshelf, and a personal workspace. It allows
students to highlight and make notes in the text, stores it with page numbers, and
generates a bibliography. You should definitely view the video demo before
determining if this will meet your needs.
***
I had a complimentary subscription last year to it and was able to find some book
sources for students doing research papers that I could not find elswhere.
***
I had a trial subscription but I couldn't find a use for a database that told me
what books I did not have.
***
I subscribed on my own at the time I subscribed for the HS library. Not a good
product. They tell you that they replicate reference and info books, but they are
hard to search and only part of the document is available because of copyright. You
never know until to attempt to get there. Stay with the tried and true databases
and increase the books in your reference. Many of the books on Questia are somewhat
college level, but so hard to find. Fill your reference sections with Gale and
other great reference and up your collection with non fiction in areas that your
students always request. Much better sources!
***
Here is what I found out with Questia - It is better suited for a college library
then for a high school library, as the material available within it is written for
the college students.
My high school students used Ebscohost, SIRS and several of the Gale products.
***
I use Questia. It is very different from the databases you mention. Sources are
layed out like a book. You get an index. However, you can get a trial offer if you
go to Questia. They also give a lower rate to students.
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