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Educational Portals?

A portal is a web site serving as a gateway to an identifiable and related set of services (see whatis definition).

It appears that a number of companies are attempting to develop educational portals. The set of services provided will vary with the company, but some resources are fairly common and include:

• Simple methods for teachers/schools to generate web pages using templates and a hosting service for this web content.
• Searchable directories of approved web sites and web lessons.
• Pass through access to third party content providers - reference materials and curriculum materials normally offered as subscription services.
• Professional development opportunities for teachers.
• Rotating features focuses on instructional topics, innovations, relevant issues and news, etc.
• Opportunities for collaborative class activities and opportunities to interact with other educators.

Portals will have to generate revenue in one way or another. The options include:

• money from advertisements,
• money from the sale of other products offered by the company sponsoring the portal, or
• payment for access - subscription services.

We predict a shift toward the third option with schools paying at least a $2500-$3000 annual fee. We are likely to be in the early stages of this trend during which there will be a great deal of experimentation to determine the resources that will attract schools, various collaborations among Internet education companies and content providers, and some instability as emerging educational portals compete for “market share.”

The preparation of the resources used in traditional schools and commercial learning services available as corporate training, tutoring, and to some extent direct instruction represent more than a billion dollars in commercial revenue annually. This market is gearing up to meet the interest in life-long learning, e-learning, and alternative educational approaches (eduventures.com)

Here are some portals you might explore. All offer some content and services without payment. This list is by no means complete and was generated only to provide a starting point for your exploration.

AOL@school.com

BigChalk.com

Classroom Connect

LightSpan

Microsoft Classroom Teachers Network

Netschools.com

SchoolCity.com

As you examine these sites and others you might identify on your own, you might attempt to determine:

What is the funding model of a particular portal?

What would be the cost to a district for all of the resources provided by a particular portal?

Do the resources of a particular portal save sufficient teacher time or offer sufficiently valuable instructional resources to warrant any subscription fees? Presentation on University Portal systems - Howard Strauss (Princeton) at Univ. of Notre Dame - a good general introduction to portals