Grant Funds Expansion of Educational Tools Review Web Site
Common Sense Media has received a $3 million grant from the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation to develop Graphite, a ratings and reviews Web site designed to help preK-12 teachers find apps, games, Web resources and digital tools for their students. The grant will be used to expand the site's review library as well as develop a mobile Web site.
Graphite allows teachers to search for reviews by "type of technology, subject, grade level, price and what technology is required," according to a prepared statement. The reviews identify which students – including English language learners and those with special needs – may benefit from the resource as well as which Common Core State Standard it supports.
Teachers can rate tools and include field notes that detail how they used the resource, its impact with the students and additional details from their experience.
The Broad Foundation grant will also be used to develop an online community for teachers and parents as well as to build a Web library of free lesson plans aimed at working with digital tools in the classroom. The lesson plans will be created by educators and members of Common Sense Media's review team.
Additional information about Graphite or Common Sense Media is available online.
About the Author
Kanoe Namahoe is online editor for 1105 Media's Education Group. She can be reached at [email protected].