How do I access the Curriculum Exchange resource centre?

You can access the CX resource centre from any internet connected computer or device by using your Learning Place username and password. If you are accessing the CX resource centre from the Education Queensland network (ie at a school or EQ office) you do not need to logon.

The CX resource centre is only available for Education Queensland staff and students and Affiliate members.

Please join the Learning Place, if you are not a Learning Place member.

What will I find in the Curriculum Exchange resource centre?

The CX resource centre provides a huge range of evaluated online materials and resources to support learning:

• The Le@rning Federation and Distance Education learning objects;
• Evaluated digital resource collections including images, animations, video and audio files;
• EduSites: website evaluations;
• TIPS (Teaching Ideas, Practices and Strategies) including lesson plans and integrated units of work written by Queensland teachers and other educational experts; and
• Federated searches of external databases including edna and MERLOT.

Resources are available in all curriculum areas and for all age levels. Further resources include: student activities, assessment, bibliographies, interactive resources, presentations, professional development and WebQuests.

Read more about using the Curriculum Exchange resource centre.

What is the advantage of browsing the collections?

Select the Browse by option to quickly gauge the number and types of resources available which are relevant to a particular curriculum area, resource or topic.

Selecting from the list of categories provides a further list of sub-categories and generates a more specific result list. You can quickly drill down to find a suitable resource to support learning.

What is a Guided Search?

A Guided Search is provided as a search option available in the top left of the CX resource centre home page. This search is similar to a Basic Search, but it allows you to limit your search to specific collections.

Search help is available by selecting the Search Syntax Help positioned directly below the search box. As with the Basic Search you have the option to save your search for later use.

What is a Power Search?

A Power Search is provided as another search option available in the top left of the CX resource centre home page. The Power Search allows you to select very specific criteria relevant to your search.

1. Select a search from the drop-down list and wait for the new search options to load on the page.
   
2. The relevant metadata fields are displayed. Fill in the subsequent fields to refine your search criteria.
   
3. As soon as you select a Curriculum area it will load your options for that selection. Please wait until this page loads before you continue.
4. When you have completed your selection (ticking the relevant year levels etc) press enter/return on your keyboard or select the Search icon to show the results
5. Optionally, keywords can be entered in the search box at the top of the page to narrow the search further.

Note: The more general your search the more results will be found.

What is a Federated Search?

A Federated Search is provided as another search option in the top left of the CX resource centre home page. This allows you to search for items simultaneously across multiple repositories, including external collections such as edna.

Results are grouped by repository, unless the Interleave results box is ticked. If you tick the Interleave results box the results from each repository are intermingled and the source is noted in a right hand column.

How do I save a search?

1. Select the Save Search option at the top of the results list.
2. You will be asked to name your search. Type in an appropriate title and Save.
3. The screen will refresh automatically and will show you your new search results.
4. Your saved searches can be accessed in the search option box under My Search.
   

Note: You need to logon with your Learning Place username when you use the My Search function to have the system recognise you.

1. If you enter from a school, select Log out. You will be logged out as eqguest.
2. Type in your Learning Place username and password to login again.

Alternatively use the Log in/Log out link on the left under LP Membership.

My search brought up too many results. How can I narrow it down?

If you are doing a Basic Search locate one useful document and select 'more' to go to the Item Summary page. Look for more specific terms under Descriptors heading that you use in your search.

Other options include:

• Use the Boolean operator AND to look for documents containing two or more search terms.
• Select the Search within results option.
• If you are searching for a phrase, enclose the phrase in double quotes, eg. "Australian animals".
• Use the Guided Search to limit your search to a selected collection or set of collections.
• Use the Power Search and select a search which will allow you to select very specific criteria which will narrow down the results.

My search isn't finding enough results. What should I do?

If you are doing a Basic Search locate one useful document and select 'more' to go to the Item Summary page. Look for more Descriptors or broader descriptor terms that you use in your search.

Other options include:

• Use the Boolean operator OR to look for documents containing either of two or more search terms.
• In the Guided Search add more collections to widen your search.
• In the Power Search remove some of the limits from your search. For example don't limit the KLA or curriculum level.

Can I change the search results list display?

The search results list is sorted by rank (relevance to your search term) as a default setting, but you may change this by selecting Sort by... options (rank, date, title or rating) from the drop down list in the top right of the screen.

Can I change the number of results displayed in the search results list?

No. Each results list screen will only display a set of ten items from the total result list. A statement at the top of each screen indicates which set of ten results from the total number of results is currently displayed.

Scroll to the bottom of the page and select subsequent result pages.

Where do I find more information about a resource?

Select the more link that is positioned at the end of each brief description. It links to the Item Summary which contains a longer description as well as information about the curriculum area, strand and outcome level, year level, subject descriptors, and educational rating.

What do the icons next to resource titles represent?

• EduSites - Evaluations and descriptions of websites that are useful for teaching and learning.
• TIPS - Useful teaching ideas, strategies, activities, lesson plans and units of work provided by Queensland teachers.
• SDE learning objects - Interactive multimedia curriculum resources originally developed for the Queensland Schools of Distance Education.
• TLF learning objects - Interactive multimedia curriculum resources developed specifically for Australian and New Zealand schools under the auspices of The Le@rning Federation.
• TLF digital resources - Moving footage, photographs, other images and audio files gathered from Australian and New Zealand cultural institutions by The Le@rning Federation.
• Media bank - Video and audio resources on a range of teaching, learning and other education topics.
• Australian resource – These resources have been published in Australia.

How do I find WebQuests?

There are two ways to find WebQuests to support student learning.

1. Browse by Resource type then select WebQuest; and/or
2. Go to the Power Search and select the Resource type search. Tick the WebQuest box and select Search.

To find resources on 'How to build a WebQuest' go to Browse by Topic and select Professional topic and then select WebQuests.

How do I find units of work by Queensland teachers?

The TIPS (Teaching Ideas, Practices and Strategies) collection includes evaluated units of work contributed by Queensland teachers.

1. On the CX resource centre home page select Browse by collection.
2. Select TIPS.
3. Select Resource type.
4. Select the resource type Unit of work or Integrated unit of work.
5. You can choose to narrow your search results further by browsing by Curriculum area or Year level.

How do I find units of work which integrate learning objects?

You can find units of work that integrate learning objects by:

1. Select Browse by cross-curricular area.
2. Select ICT integration.
3. Select Integrating learning objects.
4. Select SDE learning objects or TLF learning objects to display units of work that integrate learning objects.

How can I find good quality websites to use with my class?

1. Browse the EduSites collection by Curriculum area or Year level.
2. Go to the Guided Search and select the EduSites collection.
3. Go to the Power Search and select the EduSites search option. Here you can select very specific criteria including Highly recommended and Australian resources.

What's the quickest way to find different resources on a specific topic or theme?

Select Browse by Topic then Curriculum topic to find a selection of topic categories e.g. Celebrations and events. Select from the list to show further sub-categories and generate a result list.

How do I find out about new resources in the Curriculum Exchange resource centre?

There are two ways to find out about new resources.

1. The What's new link on the home page of the Curriculum Exchange resource centre shows all items that have been published recently. For ease of browsing they are organised by collection.
2. Set up the option to receive regular Notifications emails when resources from nominated collections are published.

How do I set up the option to receive email notifications about new resources?

1. Logon with your Learning Place username and password to have the system recognise you.
2. Go to Edit my details. A new window will open.
   
3. Select the Notifications tab.
   
4. Select the collections to be notified about by using the arrow buttons to move the collection names from the left to the right.
5. Select the General Settings tab.
6. Select the frequency at which you receive the notifications. The options are: Once a day, Once a week and Once a month.
7. Save and Close the window.

Where do I find learning objects?

Select Browse by collection to find The Le@rning Federation (TLF) learning objects and the SDE learning objects.

You can also select Guided Search to limit your search to the collections of TLF learning objects and/or the SDE learning objects.

How do I download learning objects?

1. On the search results page locate the title of the learning object that you wish to download.
2. Select the more… option at the bottom of the brief description for the item.
3. This takes you to the Item Summary page.
4. You are given the option to View or Download the object.
5. Select the Download this package option. This opens a new window where you can Save the object to your local PC or server.

When I try to view a number of the The Le@rning Federation (TLF) learning objects, a blank screen comes up.

It is probably because one or more software requirements for those particular learning objects are not installed on your computer or device.

On the Item Summary page for each TLF learning object you will find the following message: "See the TLF Software and hardware requirements for more information or analyse your software to see if your system meets the requirements."

The TLF 'analyse your software' tool will open a new window and provide instructions on how to test your software and, if necessary, how to download software updates.

• TLF Software and hardware requirements
• Software analyser

Where do I find the Curriculum Exchange homepage?

1. The homepage of the Curriculum Exchange can be found at www.learningplace.eq.edu.au/cx
2. From the DETA website select For schools and educators and then select Curriculum Exchange.
3. From the Learning Place website select Curriculum Exchange from the left-hand side navigation.

Where do I find the Curriculum Exchange resource centre?

1. The homepage of the Curriculum Exchange resource centre can be found at www.learningplace.eq.edu.au/cx/resources/
2. From the Curriculum Exchange homepage select Curriculum Exchange resource centre
3. From the Learning Place homepage select Curriculum Exchange resource centre from the left-hand side navigation.

Do I need a password to get into the Curriculum Exchange from my school?

Passwords are not required from Education Queensland schools. Seamless access is provided to the Curriculum Exchange website and Curriculum Exchange (CX) resource centre. This is based on the range of IP addresses for EQ schools. Passwords are only required when you are not at an EQ school or other EQ location, or if you are an Affiliate member.

Which passwords do I use from home?

From home, EQ teachers may access the Curriculum Exchange (CX) resource centre by using their Learning Place logon details. If you are not currently registered you need to join the Learning Place.

Related question:
I want to join the Learning Place

Why aren’t my CX passwords working from home?

Check that you are using your Learning Place username and password, not your MIS logon (EQ users only) or your old AccessClub passwords.

Related questions:
I have forgotten my Learning Place password

I am using Firefox as a browser and I can’t login to the Curriculum Exchange resource centre.

Add /logon.do onto the usual logon address of http://learningplace.eq.edu.au/cx/resources. The full URL learningplace.eq.edu.au/cx/resources/logon.do ensures that the logon screen displays correctly in your browser.