Immerse, Connect, Understand and Excel with NBC's iCue

NBC News has created a free online learning community aimed at students 13 and up called iCue, which stands for "Immerse, Connect, Understand, Excel." Michele Greppi reports in TV Week that iCue has games, "peer talk," and video in a secure environment.

The Cue Card is central to iCue. A Cue Card is

a video player, flash card, note-taking tool, and trading card all rolled into one. With the patented 'flip card' technology, you can watch a streaming video from NBC News, and then 'flip' the card over for additional information from our producers. You can also jot down your own notes, add your own tags, and organize your cards in color-coded categories for easy study. Plus, Cue Cards can be shared with your friends and used in games and activities.

iCue also promises discussion forums, "hundreds" of current and historic news videos, daily challenge questions, essay challenges, and a Student Center that offers non-academic activities. The site is free to use and paid for by advertising. iCue debuted May 1 with a focus on election coverage. There are plan to create collections of resources for U.S. history, U.S. government and politics, and English language and composition, modeled after AP course outlines. The resources themselves, though, can be used to enrich or support non-AP classes.

The site was created based on research from the MIT Education Arcade. MIT will conduct a study on iCue's effectiveness at building critical thinking and communication skills in students. It will be interesting to see how helpful or effective iCue is as a service. Even so, free access to NBC news videos, past and present, can be helpful in any middle school social studies course.

SOURCE: "NBC News Launches iCue for Students" 05/05/08
SOURCE: "iCue FAQ" 2008
photo: screencapture of the iCue homepage