JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO, Texas –
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the home has become the classroom for many Joint Base San Antonio schoolchildren and students.
Students who are learning virtually from home or are being homeschooled have a variety of resources available online and through databases provided by JBSA libraries that can help them with their schoolwork and enhance their learning.
Nita Ford-Hightower, JBSA-Fort Sam Houston School Liaison Officer, said one online source, tutor.com, is a free website that provides tutorial help to students in more than 100 subject areas from kindergarten to college.
Tutor.com for U.S. Military Families, funded by the U.S. Department of Defense and Coast Guard Mutual Assistance, is a program that provides on-demand, online tutoring and homework help at no cost to eligible service members, civilian personnel, and their dependents. With live, expert tutors available 24/7, military-connected students can receive academic help at their moment of need—anywhere they have an Internet connection.
To utilize the resources on Tutor.com, she said parents and students can sign up and register on the website.
Ford-Hightower said Tutor.com provides a personalized tutor who can help a student in subject areas they need help in. The site includes 3,000 tutors who are experts in their subject matter, with tutorials being conducted securely online.
“Tutor.com has a lot of resources that parents can connect to,” Ford-Hightower said. “If the child is having problems in certain subjects, not only do they get the tutor, they also get the resources to help the child and to work with the child.”
JBSA children who are being homeschooled have several resources they and their parents can follow, Ford-Hightower said. Those include the Texas Virtual School Network, Texas Tech University K-12 and the University of Texas UT High School. The Texas Virtual School Network is administered by the Texas Education Agency, or TEA, and both the Texas Tech University K-12 and the University of Texas UT High School are approved by TEA.
Before selecting a program for homeschool students to follow, Ford-Hightower said parents should find out if the online program is accredited.
In addition, parents and children can utilize 50 online learning and educational sources through the online JBSA libraries database. The link to these sources is https://www.jbsalibraries.org/databases.
Diana Lisenbee, JBSA-Randolph Library supervisory librarian, said the online library resources include databases on a variety of subjects for both children and adults.
A few of those online resources in the JBSA libraries database include Gale Academic, Mango Languages LearningExpress Library and OverDrive DOD.
Lisenbee said the Gale Academic database includes peer-reviewed articles and journals for middle and high school students who are doing research on subjects ranging from science and math to history to criminal justice.
“Gale has online resources that will support and promote research and help them with essays and papers,” Lisenbee said.
Mango Languages is a digital language learning program that provides lessons for students in more than 70 languages.
The program is based on speaking and conversation-based learning, with lessons going from basic to advance. During a lesson, a word will come onto the screen and a voice says the word. The student, using a microphone on a computer screen, will say the word and the program will tell the user if the pronunciation of the word was correct.
“It’s a phenomenal resource that is available to all of our customers,” Lisenbee said.
LearningExpress Library is a program that provides preparatory materials for exams including the College-Level Examination Program and for high school students, the college entrance exams including the Scholastic Aptitude Test, SAT and ACT.
Lisenbee said LearningExpress Library gives users the opportunity to prepare for the exams by learning the material and taking a mock test online.
“There is a multitude of college admission tests, high school equivalency tests as well as there are career and workforce preparation exams,” Lisenbee said. “From all of our customers we have talked to, they have said it has really meant a difference to them because they didn’t have to buy a study book or they could check a study book out at the library, and using the Learning Express Library, they can study for the test and be successful.”
OverDrive is a Department of Defense resource that includes e-books and audiobook resources. The database, which includes Army and Air Force collections, totals over 500,000 online books.
Lisenbee said OverDrive provides e-book and audiobooks for schoolchildren who need help learning to read, are progressing in their level of reading or books that help children who have a learning disability such as dyslexia.
To access the JBSA library database, JBSA members, including active-duty members, Department of Defense civilians and retirees need to sign up and register for an account with JBSA libraries. They can do this through no-contact service at the Campbell Memorial Library at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, 3011 Harney Path; the JBSA-Lackland Library, 1930 George Ave.; and the JBSA-Randolph Library, 5th Street East.
Because of COVID-19 restrictions, the libraries reopened under HPCON Bravo + for curbside pickup for customers to pick up reserved materials and for computer use.
Customers can check out books, audiobooks or other materials on the JBSA library website for no contact delivery by calling the Campbell Memorial Library at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, 210-221-4387; the JBSA-Lackland Library, 210-671-3610; and the JBSA-Randolph Library, 210-652-5578.
Library hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday.