PRACTICABLE - FUNCTIONAL - MEASURABLE
Does the Web deliver?

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Workshops and master classes
Whether it is a workshop, seminar, teleconference or master class, anyone preparing a professional development (PD) activity, thinks deeply about best practice and tries to assemble useful, evidence-based information and resources for people to take back to their workplaces. 

Those who mount such events are mindful of the positive reception attendees give to low-cost, easily implemented, practicable and relevant procedures, techniques and activities that lead to functional outcomes and measurable gains for clients. From the PD activity audiences' point of view, presenters and organisers alike are obliged to deliver.

Evaluation forms bristle with ticks when a presenter has hit exactly the right level, and happy participants have been provided the means to obtain ready-made, inexpensive (or even free) materials that require minimal adaptation. Satisfaction is often expressed not only in terms of the attendees having extended their knowledge and skills, enjoyed contact with colleagues, appreciated the ambience of the venue and the nice nibblies, but also in relation to what they are "given" in a literal sense. Adverse evaluations of individual PD events seem often to reflect a seemingly unquenchable thirst, not just for knowledge, but for more, more and more practical resources.
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Guru sites
Much the same can be said of the way Internet guru sites devoted to professional issues are often valued. Visitors approach such sites in the expectation that they will be given something, and that they will not necessarily have to wade through a lot of theoretical data, or do much reading in order to get to it. 

An individual or a small group of individuals usually creates a guru site. They are expert in, or passionate about, a certain subject. Guru sites typically offer many links and pointers to carefully selected Internet (and sometimes non-Internet) resources. Ideally, these are selected, organized and annotated in such a way that they streamline on-line research saving the researcher hours of time.

They range in style and content from meta-directories, to one-page lists of annotated links, to mega sites comprising many documents relating to a group of topics (e.g., communication sciences and disorders) or a specific topic (e.g., stuttering), to smaller topic specific sites, and to listservs with associated web resources.
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"The real work of doing a directory site is, not creating it, but keeping it maintained".
Eric Rumsey
Hardin MD

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Meta-directories
The highly selective, minimally annotated Hardin Meta Directory is a meticulously maintained directory of directories: a list of links to sites (preferably simple and fast-loading) that have lists of links to other sites. Like other resource lists there, the Speech Pathology page indicates which of the sites included are current holders of the Hardin MD clean bill of health, boasting connection rates of at least 93%. Quick and easy to navigate the Hardin MD pages include sections devoted to Alzheimer's Disease, brain pictures, hearing disorders, larynx pictures / throat disorders, nervous system, neurology, otolaryngology and telemedicine.

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Annotated links
At the top of the list of well-maintained speech and hearing guru sites comprising sensibly organised, intelligently annotated lists of links are Sandy and Liz Herring's SLP and Neurology Related web sites, and the American Library Association Communication Sciences and Disorders list. 

Across the Atlantic we find the eclectic links section on the RCSLT site, the Speech and Language Therapy in Practice links page, and the UCL resource list.
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Mega sites
In speech-language pathology on the Net, the guru's guru is Judith Maginnis Kuster. Judith is an ASHA certified SLP, an associate professor in the Department of Communication Disorders and Speech Clinic Director at Minnesota State University, Mankato.  Endlessly creative, this amazing woman is responsible for Net Connections, the ASHA Leader Internet columns, large and useful databases such as her materials that can be adapted for therapy, and, famously, the Stuttering Home Page, mission control, since 1998, of the annual ISAD online conference on stuttering.
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Topic specific sites
There are many small to medium sized topic specific sites that offer practical resources. For example, in the area of AAC the University of Nebraska at Lincoln offers AAC Intervention Resources and the YAACK pages. Child language sites include Planning Language Therapy, Talking Point, eLr Software, the Story-Making Machine and Vocal Development. 

For stuttering we find the generous handouts pages from the Australian Stuttering Research Centre and the Bankstown Stuttering Unit and Tony Wray's contribution: stuttering prevention. One of the pick sites for English language learning is ESL Flow, while for voice we have Voice Therapy Techniques, Voice Academy (focusing on the care of teachers' voices) and Frequently Prescribed Medications and their Effect on Voice and Speech. Quite a haul.

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Listservs
Listservs are small software programs that automatically redistribute email to subscribers to a mailing list or discussion group. Some of the most productive listservs are those with associated web sites where messages are archived and "searchable", and documents of interest to the group can be stored and accessed. There are 50 to 60 active Speech Pathology listservs in Yahoo! Groups alone, as well as specialist discussion lists such as Apraxia-Kids, easyspeak (for anyone with an interest in children's language and communication difficulties, and how they are supported), and the Neurology Webforum.
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Does the Web deliver?
An ever-present theme in guru site feedback is requests for more. More links, tips, answers, resources and ideas; more information, more ... everything! And most visitors want it in a form that is ready to use, NOW! Which begs the question, "Does the Web deliver?" Do speech-language pathologists find resources they can put to immediate use when they turn to the Internet?

The answer has to be, "Not always". Despite the wealth of information on the Internet, on Web sites and in discussion groups, there are still huge gaps in the free-for-all resource base. Much of the good stuff that is now available is password protected, and only available by paid subscription: just like a PD workshop, seminar, teleconference or master class. Increasingly on the Internet there is no such thing as a completely free lunch. So to really take advantage of what the Web has in store, on the members only areas of the ASHA or PATSy sites for example, we have to pay for the privilege. You know it makes sense.


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Page updated 
February 05, 2010