Web trends: ASPs & Curriculum providers; Application Service Providers offer educators new tools and content via the Web - Instructor 2001 Teacher's Tech Guide

Since its earliest appearance on the education horizon, the World Wide Web has offered educators new ways to supplement classroom instruction. Today, the Web can also provide useful tools like school calendaring, all kinds of curriculum courseware, plus software applications for grading, assessment, communication with parents, and more. In just a few short years, the Web has evolved from data-delivery boy to a sophisticated supplier of software and services.

Emerging from this new paradigm are ASPs, short for Application Service Providers. For a fee, companies offering ASPs will host programs and complete administrative data on behalf of a school or district. Programs and data "live" on the ASP's own secure servers, which teachers and other users then access remotely via the Web. It's really a lot like renting software.

For K-12 schools, ASPs should prove compelling. Automatically, the hassles involved with software upgrades, performance, and technical support shift from campus staff (you!) to the ASP. Teachers can concentrate on using the software with their students, not on troubleshooting technical problems. In addition, an array of Web-based curriculum is now available by subscription, accompanied by lesson plans and more. These firms may not call themselves ASPs, but functionally, they're pretty much identical. Below are brief synopses of some ASPs for K-12 schools and Web-based curriculum providers. Log on, review the free tools, demos, and trial periods offered, and discover what the Web can bring into your classroom.

ASPS WITHOUT CURRICULUM

Chancery Software

This company entered the ASP arena by offering a Hosted option for Open District, its student information system that aggregates data from multiple Mac School and Win School sites. Plus, at K12Planet.com, parents and students can securely access grades, attendance, homework and more. www.chancery.com Reader Service Card No. 111

Centrinity

FirstClass Collaborative Classroom Gold, software for Mac or PC servers, delivers a rich set of communications tools in an extensible framework. In essence, a district becomes an ASP itself. Extras include Zebu, enabling project-based student learning via template and Web browser, and Unified Messaging (UM), which will collect and deliver messages from any source (voice mail, email or fax).

www.centrinity.com

Reader Service Card No. 99

iMind

A three-legged platform integrates lesson planning, assessment, and remediation. Via iMind Integrator, teachers create and deliver lessons correlated to standards. Optionally, iMind TutorPro assesses a student's skill levels, creates an EP, and assigns appropriate curriculum-based resources. Five iMind Learning Hubs aggregate resources for students in K-4, 5-8, and 9-12 grade levels.

Reader Service Card No. 100

www.imind.com

NCS Pearson

The merger of NCS and Pearson Education has resulted in the ASP debut of SchooICONNECTxp, a trio that combines the SASlxp SIS with the InteGrade Pro grade book and ParentCONNECTxp parentcommunication tool. www.ncs.com

Reader Service Card No. 101

PowerSchool

This firm's browser-centric school management system for site-based schools is now

available under an ASP option with remote hosting. It is cross platform and built for the Web from scratch.

www.powerschool.com

Reader Service Card No. 102

Timecruiser Computing

From its popular Webcalendaring origins, this firm now offers an array of K-12 communications tools via SchoolCruiser. ASP or selfhosting options are available, plus third-party applications can be seamlessly integrated.

www.schoolcruiser.com

Reader Service Card No. 103

ASPS PROVIDING CURRICULUM

CCC/NovaNet

Two long-time providers of K-12 curriculum are now together under the Pearson Education umbrella. Currently, NovaNET delivers online curriculum for grades 6-12. SuccessMaker, CCC's courseware for K-8, seems likely to follow the same model.

www.novanet.com and

www.ccclearn.com

Reader Service Card No. 104

Encarta Class Server

Available in April 2001, Microsoft's new curriculum-management system will enable a school or district to become, in essence, its own education ASP. Textbook and education vendors are supplying Learning Resources (lesson plans, content, and assessment) for the open platform, which features a built-in grading tool and customizable rubrics. Wizards guide teachers in creating lesson plans correlated to standards and providing feedback Students or their parents can track performance via a Web browser.

http://ecs.msn.com

Reader Service Card No. 120

LearningStation.com

This full-fledged ASP will host all of a school's Microsoft Office applications, for example, and can deliver curriculum too. Its i-LAN Learning Network lets schools transfer selected LAN functions to a centrally managed, Internetaccessed server farm, All users get a custom Education Desktop, tools and support, pius access to i-Curriculum Library's hundreds of titles.

www.learningstation.com

Lightspan

Reader Service Card No. 105