pelinks4u becomes PHE America

At long last I’m delighted, excited, and not-the-least bit relieved to share the rebirth of pelinks4u into a completely redesigned format and to announce a new name.

When I created pelinks4u in 1999 the Internet was still new. Heck, Mark Zuckerberg the Facebook creator was a 15-year old high schooler! But it quickly became clear that the Web was going to be a great way to share professional information. For the past almost 18 years, pelinks4u has tried to keep teachers updated with links to helpful teaching information. We’ve also published hundreds of articles with how-to tips and personal reflections on ways to advance the profession.

Today, it’s time to move on. Search engines such as Google make finding information easy and our efforts to provide “links” a bit redundant. New formats for publishing have evolved. There’s now no reason to restrict an online publication to a monthly format. It makes sense to add information as it becomes available. But most of all, to attract and retain readers a publication has to be easy to use.

With these – and many more things – in mind, pelinks4u has been completely transformed. Here’s a list of 10 key changes:

1. New postings will be added approximately weekly. New postings will replace previous postings. Postings will be visible for about one month on the home page and then move into archives.
2. You can easily search for postings by article title, author name, date, etc. This is a great improvement because it’s now easy to find and share previous contributions with others.
3. Related to the above, if you simply click on an author’s name at the top of an article it will bring up a listing of ALL of the articles this person has ever contributed.
4. Readers can now add comments to each posting. Authors appreciate feedback and it’s a chance to request clarification or share differences of opinion.
5. Buttons have been added at the end of each posting so that with a click you can easily share pages and information with others via email or social media.
6. The design of PHE America automatically recognizes the type of device you are using. The format reconfigures if you choose to use a phone, tablet, or computer. Clever huh!
7. There are currently SIX categories of articles: PHE Issues, Elementary School, Middle & High School, Coaching, Adapted PE, & Technology. If you want to limit your reading to one of these categories you now can.
8. The “News” section will be shorter but will be regularly updated to highlight things happening outside of PHE America.
9. If you would like to be notified immediately when new items are posted on PHE America there is now a way to do this by using an “RSS Reader.” Ask one of your young students how to do this if you don’t know how!
10. pelinks4u will still exist as an archive. If you want to look at previous issues going back to 1999 click the Archives link at the bottom of the page.

Right now, using the search box on PHE America you can instantly access anything that was published in pelinks4u in 2015-16 (nearly 100 articles). Over the next few months we plan to work backwards until everything beginning in 2008 is accessible through the PHE America search box. It takes time doing this so be patient with us!

Two last things. First, I want to thank the companies and organizations that have supported us over the years. They will be more visible on the new web site. Please consider supporting them.

Finally, consider this transition a “soft launch” of PHE America. I would love for you to try out the site, see how it works, and give us feedback. If you think it is great tell your friends. If you find problems or have suggestions for improvements tell me! Thanks. Your support in the past, today, and into the future is greatly appreciated.

Steve Jefferies, PHE Publisher
Email – jefferis@cwu.edu
Phone – 509-607-1775