Online resources are Internet-based equivalent of their more conventional counterparts: books, articles, pictures, or movies. The key difference is the information that constitutes online resources is in machine readable (or digital) format. Formats include web documents, audio files (e.g., wav, mp3), images (e.g., gif), videos (e.g., mpeg, quicktime), animations (e.g., flash), and word processing documents.
Online resources are increasingly being used in education. Here has an example of an online resource---an interactive weather simulator. Click on "Start" to explore the simulator.
Consider using some of the following criteria for evaluating an online learning resource.
The websites listed below provide more references on the criteria.
Next Section: Use the National Digital Science Library.