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The Next Generation of Learning Tools
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The Next Generation of Learning Tools
Online Curriculum Portal Opens Up New Channels of Knowledge for Students and Teachers
By Judith Wellner
The Santa Cruz County Office of Education’s new online learning portal " or as it is often referred to, ed1stop " will soon be available for every student in Santa Cruz County from kindergarten through 12th grade.
The portal will provide free access to a plethora of research tools, as well as to applications that will help students and teachers widen their knowledge base, plan course curricula, and prepare for tests.
Resources include material to help with daily classroom planning, various applications that help students develop and advance skills in math, English, science, health, technology and social studies, tutorials, quizzes, and comprehensive search engines.
“Ed1stop allows the County Office of Education to deliver resources and tools over the Internet to teachers, students and their families,” said Rowland Baker, Assistant Superintendent for Educational Services. “We are very excited to provide curriculum resources and technology tools that transform the teaching and learning experience.”
Baker said that the portal also allows teachers to better assess a student’s effort.
“It makes education transparent for all the stakeholders,” he added.
While teachers and students will see somewhat different layouts, they will both have access to the same tools. The portal also aims to involve parents more in the learning process.
“Parents can see guidelines, students can see what the teachers are looking at. … It makes communication much easier,” Baker added.
Teachers Learn Too
Kelly Wade, Technology Coordinator for the County Office of Education, said that the portal will provide resources for teachers to develop their professional skills.
“There are also administrators’ resources, as well as resources for parents, also available in Spanish,” she added.
The portal is familiar to Internet users.
“The portal is like a web page, but you have channels that take you to specific, useable tools,” said Thom Dunks, Project Director for ed1stop. “This is how a portal is different from a web page. It’s a single access point. This is the future of sharing knowledge.”
For school districts, 95 percent of content will be free. The remaining 5 percent includes some extra content that will be available for a small extra charge.
“It’s like cable television,” explained Baker. “You get all the main channels, and if you’d also like HBO you’ll have to pay a little to the companies with the copyrighted material.”
The portal is password protected. The County Office of Education will maintain a database of teachers who will use the resource. These teachers will be given a password, which they can then pass on to their students.
Ed1stop will be accessible from students’ home computers as well. “This way they will have access to the same resources at home as in the classroom,” Baker added.
From Truck Delivery to Online Access
The idea behind ed1stop has been around for many years.
Baker explained that in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s it was a cumbersome and very expensive process to deliver content on different media to schools.
“We had a van that ran to each school,” he said. “Teachers had to fill out various forms to request material from our library. It was a very expensive way to get the media out there. We’ve been looking for ways to make it simpler since then.”
All the resources available on ed1stop are reviewed by a team of teachers and administrators.
“The last three months we reviewed applications and resources to determine what we want to have on the site,” said Baker. “But it’s dynamic. The content is going to change over time.”
The portal has been developed together with the Contra Costa County Office of Education and a consortium of districts. Baker said that more counties are likely to join the project over time.
“As we get more counties we’ll have even more content,” he added.
Ed1stop will first be introduced in the Pajaro School District. Project coordinators expect that by November, all the other districts in the County will be able to take advantage of the new resource.
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