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Pick a Peck of Portals on the Web. SouthEast Initiatives RTEC Margaret Bingham, SERVE Jennifer Burke, SREB. Portal? What is a Portal?.
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Pick a Peck of Portals on the Web SouthEast Initiatives RTEC Margaret Bingham, SERVE Jennifer Burke, SREB
Portal? What is a Portal? • A website or service that offers a broad array of resources and services, such as e-mail, forums, search engines, and online shopping malls. The first Web portals were online services that provided access to the Web. --Webopedia
Portal? What is a Portal? • Three types • Horizontal Portals • Vertical Portals • Enterprise Information Portals
Horizontal Portals • Horizontal Portals are sometimes called Consumer Portals. They are aimed at consumer audiences and typically offer free e-mail, personal home pages, sports scores, stock tickers, instant messengers, auctions, chat, games and more. Examples: Yahoo, MSN, AOL. --Traffick.com
Vertical Portals • Vertical Portals differ from horizontal portals in that they target a specific audience, such as a particular industry, and offer many of the consumer portal features, but only for the target audience. Many times the user must be a member of a group to access the vertical portal. --Traffick.com
Enterprise Information Portals • Enterprise Portals are also similar to consumer portals, but these portals are offered only to corporations or similar organizations. --Traffick.com
What is an Educational Web Portal? • A Web portal is a website that provides access to many resources and services, such as instructional materials, lessons plans, news about current events, instant messaging and email, and the ability to conduct controlled searches. --SREB
Who Uses Educational Web Portals? Why? Who? • State Departments and Districts • Schools (K-20) • Teachers Why? • To communicate with and provide resources to students, teachers, administrators, and parents.
How To Pick a Portal? • Decide to develop or purchase • For purchases of a commercial Web portal, • assess the school/district’s needs • assess the value and content of the commercial Web portal • Checklist: Web Portals: Guidelines for Selection (SREB)
Web Portals: Guidelines for Selection • Content – what materials are available • Supports curriculum • Error-free, current & timely • Bias-free images & text • Relevant outside links • Frequently updated
Web Portals: Guidelines for Selection • Content – what materials are available • Adequately covers topic • Logical progression among links • Appropriate for student abilities • Experienced, reputable researchers provide content
Web Portals: Guidelines for Selection • Technical Information – How does it work? • Technical requirements clearly defined • Compatible with networks, filters • Easily recognizable icons & menus for navigation • Mix of text, graphics, sound, motion
Web Portals: Guidelines for Selection • Technical Information – How does it work? • No software conflicts • Standard multimedia formats • Advertising does not conflict with school’s policy • Adaptable for special needs students
Web Portals: Guidelines for Selection • Administrative questions • How much does it cost? (start-up and ongoing) Expected increases? • How is the cost assessed? (or how funded, if “free?”) • Who provides training? • Privacy policies to protect students?
Web Portals: Guidelines for Selection • Administrative questions • Technical assistance 24/7? • Can students & teachers access resources from home? • Is there a less expensive alternative? • Explain “free.”
But, at my district, we want…. • a site for which we can control the content • multiple tiers or levels with the district able to override information on the other levels • regular updates and maintenance done (a reason why we did not make our own portal) • a site that loads quickly
But, at my school, we want…. • a site with sections for students, school staff, and parents • announcement and message broadcasting features • ease of use in posting materials • training available for our staff
But, as a teacher, I want…. • a site that is easy to navigate • a structure that allows me to post and to change my lesson assignments and projects easily • lots of resources only a click away • a way to communicate and collaborate with colleagues
Picking from the Portal Field www.edgate.com
Example: edgate www.johnston.edgate.com
Picking from the Portal Field www-1.ibm.com/industries/education/solution/SOLUTIONS_19443.html
Example: IBM Learning Village www.wfl.dpsnc.net
Picking from the Portal Field http://marcopolo.worldcom.com & http://marcopolo.mde.k12.ms.us/
Picking from the Portal Field www.bigchalk.com
Picking from the Portal Field http://school.aol.com
Picking from the Portal Field www.ed.gov/index.jsp
Picking from the Portal Field www.learnnc.org
Picking from the Portal Field www.eduplace.com
Picking from the Portal Field http://school.discovery.com
Picking from the Portal Field http://teacher.net
Picking from the Portal Field http://edhelper.com
Picking from the Portal Field http://teachers.teach-nology.com
Picking from the Portal Field http://educationplanet.com
Picking from the Portal Field http://pbs.org/teachersource
Picking from the Portal Field Picking from the Portal Field http://earthsciencesportal.gsfc.nasa.gov/Cool/
The Portal Peck You Pick Should…. • have quality resources that your audiences will use • always have up-to-date local information • be accessible easily by all users • promote communication and collaboration • be affordable …money, time, resources
Conclusion • Contact info • Margaret Bingham • mbingham@serve.org • Jennifer Burke • jburke@sreb.org • www.seirtec.org/present.html • www.sreb.org/programs/EdTech/pubs/ PDF/WebPortals.asp