Online Curriculum Tools | News
Lesson Planet Adds Site License Option
Online curriculum search engine Lesson Planet has announced it will offer a site license version of its service exclusively to schools and districts. The company said that, given the current economic climate, it wants give volume users of the service an option that is both more cost effective and easier to administer.
The company offers teachers a way to locate curriculum content and tools from the entire Internet using extremely narrow and specific search parameters, an approach designed to save teachers time over having to examine the offerings and benefits of an overwhelming number of sites and/or options that a much broader search (e.g., Google) would return. In some instances, teachers whose time for such curriculum is very limited might have no choice but to use poorly vetted material that ultimately did not fulfill their instructional needs.
Lesson Planet's search options include very narrow curriculum subtopics, as well as grade, subject, lesson theme, resource type, teaching method, technology, and duration. In addition, the service offers a complete database of quality ratings and detailed peer reviews from certified teachers who've used the same respective resources and can make judgments as qualified educators with insight into the quality, effectiveness, and ability to engage students offered by a particular resource.
"Our Lesson Planet School Edition site license allows us to provide over 4,000 teachers in Santa Barbara County with full membership access to Lesson Planet," said Steve Keithley, director of instructional media services for the Santa Barbara County Education Office in California. "[It] is quite simply the quickest and easiest way for teachers to get lesson plan ideas on the Web. The high quality of search results, ease of use, and suggestions for related resources [are] an excellent value for any teacher who is interested in saving time and gaining from the expertise of other educators around the world."
With the site license version, individual teachers who use the service will now be able to extend its benefits to their entire schools for one price, regardless of the number of users. Base pricing for the version is $799 per year for elementary schools, $899 for middle schools, and $1,199 for high schools, with discounts available for small schools and special volume rates for district-wide and system-wide use. Additional pricing information and a free trial are available here.
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Scott Aronowitz is a freelance writer based in Las Vegas. He has covered the technology, advertising, and entertainment sectors for seven years. He can be reached here.