Another (New Student Orientation Day) Viewpoint

View of Davis Library's grounds around 3:20 PM Thursday 6.19.14

It’s another New Student Orientation Day for the Fall Semester 2014 here at the University of Rio Grande/Rio Grande Community College!

We’re hopeful that the few scattered thunderstorms this morning haven’t put a damper on any campus activities.  Preparing for college is always exciting, but we also know it can be stressful at times too.  So, we’d like to take this moment to introduce an online tool that should prove helpful to those making the transition to university life. 

Davis Library now offers access via OhioLINK to the latest version of the LearningExpress Library™, a skill-building resource designed to help students and adults succeed both in school and in life.

LearningExpress Library 3.0 is actually made available to all Ohioans via Libraries Connect Ohio, a partnership of Ohio libraries and library organizations that work together to build and provide the Ohio Web Library, a collection of premium electronic information resources that are vital to keeping people up-to-date so they can thrive in the 21^st Century.  

What does LearningExpress 3.0 offer?

The online resource’s content is organized into nine different centers, which are outlined below:

• Adult Learning Center – provides adults resources to improve their basic math, reading, writing and speaking skills.  Test practice and eBooks to help with becoming a United States citizen also available here.

• Career Center – gives access to information and practice tests relevant to certain professional occupations (e.g., Civil Service, Nursing, Teaching and more.)  A variety of eBooks and tutorials are also made available here to assist with improving workplace development skills as well.  If interested in joining the military or becoming a police officer, then details on how to prepare for those career fields are offered here as well.

• High School Equivalency Center – offers access to skill-building tutorials and practice tests for the new GED® exam and other tests that may help achieve high school equivalency status.

• College Preparation Center – features a number of resources to help prepare for college admissions.  Many higher education institutions want to assess academic readiness for college of potential students so several different practice tests (ACT®, PSAT/NMSQT®, SAT® and more) are found here.  Information on how to write personal essays for college applications is also available.

• Recursos Para Hispanohablentes (also known as Recursos en español or Resources for Spanish) – presents a variety of resources for Spanish speakers to help improve their English and mathematics skills and also prepare for the GED® and United States Citizenship examinations.

• College Center – provides resources to help strengthen fundamental academic skills, prepare for important placement or credit tests (e.g., ACCUPLACER®, COMPASS®, CLEP® and more), and ensure a top scores on select graduate school entrance exam (GMAT®, GRE®, LSAT®, MCAT® and more.)

• School Center – allows elementary, middle, and high school student access to resources that can help prepare them for important tests, get extra help with assignments, and boost their skills in key subject areas.

• Computer Skills Center – offers access to a number of video courses that teach computer basics (e.g., searching the Internet and using of popular programs like Microsoft and Adobe software products.)

• Job & Career Accelerator – provides tools (e.g., self-assessment tests, occupation outlook comparisons, resume builder and more) and guidance to assist with career planning and the job seeking process.

A detailed video user-guide to help orient you to the site is available at: http://www.learningexpresshub.com/learningexpresslibrary/user-guides/full-length-video

Off-Campus Access to the site may require login.  For step-by-step direction on the remote authentication process for all OhioLINK Research Databases, see our video tutorial at: http://youtu.be/j1uzUcyRLxI   

For those who are already familiar with LearningExpress Library 2.0, which has been offered to Davis Library users via OhioLINK for several years now, you’ll notice a sleeker more user-friendly site.  

Unfortunately though, you will have to register again (which is much more simplified process than in the past) to utilize these resources on the LearningExpress Library 3.0 site and whatever work you have completed or saved on the earlier 2.0 version  will disappear after June 30, 2014.  

Some of our library users may also be familiar with a very similar online resource Workplace for 21^st Century Skills™ from LearningExpress Library, LLC too that is offered to us via OhioLINK as well.  If you’re already registered with that site and register with the same username and password for LearningExpress Library 3.0, then any tests or work that you have saved there will appear on both sites.  The sites share a number of resources and are interconnected.

If you’re an Ohio resident, but aren’t an eligible OhioLINK user, then you may access this resource through the home page for the State Library of Ohio or via your public library. 

Got questions?  Need more details? Just... “Ask Us!”