1. How to Access and Use the Digital Library
Training Module
Welcome to the training module on How to Access and Use the Digital Library. This training module will explain how to access the digital library and use the available resources.
Copyright © 2018 American Institutes for Research. All rights reserved.

2. Objectives
By the end of this training, you will be able to answer the following questions:
What is the Digital Library?
How can I access the Digital Library from the AIRWays Reporting System?
How can teachers use the Digital Library for classroom instruction?
How can I navigate the Digital Library and search for resources?
This presentation will provide an overview of the digital library in order to help you answer the following questions:
What is the Digital Library?
How can I access the Digital Library from the AIRWays Reporting System?
How can teachers use the Digital Library for classroom instruction?
How can I navigate the Digital Library and search for resources?

3. What is the Digital Library?
Hosts a collection of instructional and professional learning resources
Is aligned to Common Core State Standards
Helps educators implement formative assessments to improve teaching and learning
First, we will take a look at the digital library. The Digital Library is a cohesive online collection of educational resources contributed by educators from states and territories in the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. The educational resources include instructional and professional learning resources that are created, reviewed, and approved by educators for educators. These resources are aligned to Common Core State Standards and help educators implement formative assessments to improve teaching and learning.

4. How Do the Digital Library’s Resources Support Classroom Instruction?
Provide guidance on differentiated instruction for diverse learners
Increase educator understanding of assessment
Engage students in their own learning
Design professional development opportunities
Provide materials for Professional Learning Communities
The instructional and professional learning resources available in the Digital Library include ideas, tools, activities, and lessons that can be used to enhance classroom learning. The resources can support instruction by: (1) Providing guidance on differentiated instruction for diverse learners, (2) Increasing educator understanding of assessment, (3) Engaging students in their own learning, (4) Designing professional development opportunities, and (5) Providing materials for Professional Learning Communities.
These resources are time-saving and classroom-tested and are aligned with research on pedagogical best practices for classroom instruction. Before a resource can be posted in the Digital Library, it must be evaluated by three reviewers. The strict quality control processes and high educational standards contribute to each resource’s usefulness in the classroom.

5. Using the Digital Library
The teacher gives students an interim assessment as a diagnostic tool
The teacher uses diagnostic information to identify the target areas needing additional support
The teacher locates relevant resources in the Digital Library
Here is an example of how a teacher can use the digital library to support classroom instruction.
A teacher gives students an interim assessment as a diagnostic tool. Then, the teacher uses the diagnostic information to identify target areas where students need additional support for improvement. Last, the teacher uses the Digital Library to access specific resources for those targeted areas.
The AIRWays Reporting System identifies areas in which students need additional support and provides links to relevant resources in the Digital Library.

6. How Can I Register for the Digital Library?
If you are using the Digital Library for the first time, you must register for an account. Please note that this account is separate from your AIRWays Reporting System account.
There are two ways to access the Digital Library: Directly from the Digital Library homepage or from the AIRWays Reporting System.
To register, first go to the Digital Library home screen at If accessing the Digital Library from the AIRWays Reporting System, you will be automatically redirected to the Digital Library home page as shown here.
On the Digital Library home screen, click the green Register button.

7. How Can I Register for the Digital Library? (continued)
Next, you will be taken to the Register for the Digital Library page as shown here. Complete the required fields (marked with an asterisk) and click Register. Note that in order to register, you must have an address within an authorized institution such as a school or district.

8. How can I Register for the Digital Library? (continued)
Once your information is verified, you will receive a welcome with instructions on how to log in for the first time and set your password.
If the address you provide does not match the authorized Digital Library domains, you will receive an directing you to contact your Digital Library coordinator for further assistance.
Now let’s discuss how to access the Digital Library from the AIRWays Reporting system.

9. How Can I Access the Digital Library from AIRWays?
In the AIRWays Reporting System, you can access the Digital Library resources from the Resources icon with a stack of books located in the upper left corner. On any Interim Assessment Block (IAB) assessment report, this Resources icon directs you to the resources in the Digital Library. When you click the icon, you will be taken to a Test Resources window.

10. How Can I Access the Digital Library from AIRWays? (continued)
If a test has a longitudinal report available, there will be a drop-down icon next to the test name. Click the drop-down icon and select Test Resources. You will then be directed to the Test Resources window.

11. How Can I Access the Digital Library from AIRWays? (continued)
The Test Resources window includes a link and description to one or more playlists associated with the assessment report you are viewing in AIRWays. After you click a playlist link, you will be directed to the Digital Library sign-in page on the Smarter Balanced website. You will need to sign in using the and password you entered when registering. Once you sign in, you will be redirected to the listed playlist. We will discuss playlists in more detail later in this presentation.
Next, we will discuss the various types of resources available in the Digital Library.

12. What Resources Are Available?
The Digital Library has three resource areas available from the navigation bar:
Instructional Resources
Professional Learning Resources
Playlist Resources
Now lets take a closer look at each type of resource.

13. What is an Instructional Resource?
Units
Lessons
Activities/Assignments
Tools (rubrics, organizational tools)
Assessments (tests, quizzes, exit tickets)
Other ideas
Instructional resources are designed to enhance instruction and supplement curriculum within K-12 classrooms. Instructional Resources can be Units, Lessons, Activities and Assignments, Tools (like rubrics), Assessments, and other ideas. When you click on the Instructional tab in the navigation bar, you will be directed to the Instructional Resources page.

14. Understanding the Instructional Resources Page
The Instructional Resources page allows users to filter resources based on various criteria such as subject, grade, or Common Core State Standard. When users apply filters to display a specific type of instructional resource, the filter is immediately applied and the results will automatically refresh.
To search within the results, you can use the search bar. Type in a key word or words you want to search for, and click the magnifying glass. All results containing the key word or words will display. To sort results by most viewed, most downloaded, or highest rated, select the desired option in the Sort drop down menu.
Each resource displays how many people have viewed and downloaded the resource. If the resource is rated, the stars will be filled in and will list the number of ratings.
Next, we will discuss how a resource will appear once selected.

15. Instructional Resource Example
Here is an example of an instructional resource available in the Digital Library. The resource title and type appear in the upper-left corner of the page along with the name of the author. In this example, the title of the resource is “Reading Closely: The Wolf You Feed”.
If you want to favorite a resource, select the Add to Favorites icon in the upper-right corner. Adding a resource to favorites allows you to quickly and easily access the resource in the future.
To view all materials in the resource, select the green View All Materials button in the lower-left corner of the preview. To download the resource, click the green Download button in the lower-right corner of the preview. All materials for the resource will be downloaded.

16. Instructional Resource Example (continued)
Additional information about a resource is available using the tabs under the resource preview.
The About This Resource tab contains the relevant Subjects and Domains, Common Core State Standards, Assessment Targets, Grades, Intended End Users, Intended Student Populations, Media Types, Module Type, Summary, Attributes of the Formative Assessment Process, Glossary, Learning Goals, Success Criteria, Context(s) in Which the Resource Could be Used, and Supporting Evidence on the resource’s usefulness.
The Rate and Discuss tab allows teachers to view a resource’s reviews from other teachers. Teachers can read feedback about a resource to decide if they want to use the resource in their classroom.
The Share tab allows teachers to share a link of the resource with other teachers who have access to the Digital Library.
The Related Resources tab could include documents for download, video, audio, presentation, or an interactive tool related to the resource’s content.
The Flag tab allows teachers to indicate any issues they may find with the resource, such as if the resource is outdated, duplicated, inaccurate, or misleading.
These resource tabs are also available for most resources in the digital library.

17. What is a Professional Learning Resource?
Professional Learning Resources focus on educator professional development, mentoring, and coaching, and they serve as useful tools in professional learning communities. These resources help educators understand:
The formative assessment process
Common Core State Standards
Balanced assessment systems
The second type of resources in the Digital Library is a Professional Learning Resource. Professional Learning Resources focus on educator professional development, mentoring, and coaching, and they serve as useful tools in professional learning communities. These resources help educators understand the formative assessment process, Common Core State Standards, and balanced assessment systems.

18. What is a Professional Learning Resource?
Here is an example of a Professional Learning Resource. Professional Learning Resources are formatted the same way as Instructional Resources, with tabs providing various information about the resource. However, unlike Instructional Resources, Professional Learning Resources are intended for educator development and not for direct classroom instruction. For example, the resource shown here is a guide to support educators in assisting students struggling with mathematics. An educator could use this resource to provide additional support to his or her 6th grade students struggling with a specific math concept such as multiplying and dividing fractions.

19. What is a Playlist?
A collection of links to related resources that address the same standards, grades, and content areas
Serve as a quick resource guide for a specific content area
The third type of resource in the Digital Library is a playlist. A playlist is a collection of links to related resources that address the same standards, grades, and content areas. Playlists serve as quick resource guide for a specific content area.

20. What is a Playlist? (continued)
Playlists appear similarly to Instructional Resources and Professional Learning Resources. Playlists can be viewed on the preview screen, as shown here, or downloaded as a PDF file. As with instructional resources and professional learning resources, additional playlist resource information is provided in the tabs below the preview.

21. What is a Playlist? (continued)
Playlists include links to resources in the Digital Library intended to supplement learning on a specific grade and content area, such as grade 5 fractions. Playlists may also include information such as Student Learning Objectives, or Goals, differentiation of student performance level, or an overview of each resource to help teachers understand which resource will enhance classroom learning.
This screen shows two examples of playlists. The Grade 5 Fractions Playlist on the left is organized in a different manner as the Grade 6 – Ratios and Proportional Relationships playlist on the right.
The Grade 5 Fractions playlist presents a Student Learning Objective at the top of the page. Then, it divides the individual resources by 3 performance levels, Above Standard, At/Near Standard, and Below Standard. The left column lists skills that the student is working towards at each performance level and the right column lists the recommended next steps and links to Digital Library resources.
The Grade 6 Ratios and Proportional Relationships Playlist lists Learning Goals and Success Criteria. The table near the bottom of the page lists links to the individual resources in the left column and gives a brief overview of the resource in the right column.

22. Using an AIRWays Report with a Playlist
This screen shows an example of how to use a playlist based on information from an IAB report in AIRWays.
The left side of this screen shows an IAB report in AIRWays. As you can see, each student is given a performance level. This can be used to determine if the student is above, at/near, or below standard.
The right side of the screen shows the playlist that corresponds to the IAB report. The playlist then gives information for classroom instruction based on the student’s performance level. In this example, the students in this report have performance levels of “Below Standard.” A teacher would then refer to the “Below Standard” portion of the playlist for resources to support additional instruction for these students.

23. How Can I Use the Forums?
Finally, the Digital Library also contains a Forums section. Forums provide users opportunities to discuss, standards, curriculum, summative and interim assessments, professional development, the formative assessment process, and various other topics with colleagues across the country.
You can filter forum discussions by subject, grade, formative assessment attributes, intended participants, and intended student populations. You can also start a forum topic by clicking on Start a Forum.

24. Thank You! For additional information, please visit:
Smarter Balanced Digital Library
AIRWays Reporting System User Guide
You have reached the end of this training module. For additional information on accessing and using the digital library, please visit the Smarter Balanced Digital Library website at the address listed on the screen. You can also refer to your AIRWays Reporting System User Guide.
Thank you for viewing.