Problem or Mismanaged Opportunity?
The broadcaster Discovery Communications Inc. … has launched a site, called Cosmeo, giving students access to more than 30,000 video clips, interactive educational games and other tools. Discovery says the resources were selected to comply with the curricula and education standards of all 50 states.
The company, whose television networks include Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel, says it already provides a similar product to about 70,000 public schools that have broadband Internet service. AP via Yahoo.
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Speaking of homework problems: A problem is just an opportunity that is being mismanaged.
Here Discovery Communications obviously sees homework as an opportunity that it can manage. Profitably. The view of the entrepreneur.
Other web sites offer homework help. They may be useful. But they are hard to evaluate. We have been evaluating Discovery Channel and Animal Planet for years. The content is popular enough to survive on cable. The content has already been evaluated by the target audience for Cosmeo, school children. Better yet, many families have access to these channels and can get direct evaluation from their own children.
Brain-based Education. Video clips. Animations. Interactive games. The world is to see. The world is to do things with. To do things with and to see what happens. Too often, education sees the world as something just to talk about. The potential is huge.
How well do they execute? The cable channels are for entertainment. They do entertain. Some of the content would be appropriate for educational purposes. I can’t evaluate much of the online content without becoming a member. I could do that for 30 days without cost, but I probably won’t. I don’t like that marketing model.
I think the marketing model used by Second Life is better suited to the web. Earlier, they charged about $10 (one-time charge) for a basic membership. That let you access the game and try out everything. Indefinitely. You could upgrade to a paid membership for extra benefits. That was last year. They had about 40,000 members. Then they dropped the charge for basic membership. Now they have 166,922 members (as of today).
Old-fashioned thinking will say, “Of course. You can get lots of customers if you give away your product.” New-fangled thinking will say, “I have 170,000 potential customers coning to my site. Some of them are buying. Others haven’t bought yet. But they are still here, so I can still market to them. “
I am sure Discovery's execution will be variable and open to improvement. Evaluation and improvement of educational materials present another problem for educational psychology. Or they might present an opportunity. If there are psychologists smart enough to manage opportunities.
The company, whose television networks include Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel, says it already provides a similar product to about 70,000 public schools that have broadband Internet service. AP via Yahoo.
----
Speaking of homework problems: A problem is just an opportunity that is being mismanaged.
Here Discovery Communications obviously sees homework as an opportunity that it can manage. Profitably. The view of the entrepreneur.
Other web sites offer homework help. They may be useful. But they are hard to evaluate. We have been evaluating Discovery Channel and Animal Planet for years. The content is popular enough to survive on cable. The content has already been evaluated by the target audience for Cosmeo, school children. Better yet, many families have access to these channels and can get direct evaluation from their own children.
Brain-based Education. Video clips. Animations. Interactive games. The world is to see. The world is to do things with. To do things with and to see what happens. Too often, education sees the world as something just to talk about. The potential is huge.
How well do they execute? The cable channels are for entertainment. They do entertain. Some of the content would be appropriate for educational purposes. I can’t evaluate much of the online content without becoming a member. I could do that for 30 days without cost, but I probably won’t. I don’t like that marketing model.
I think the marketing model used by Second Life is better suited to the web. Earlier, they charged about $10 (one-time charge) for a basic membership. That let you access the game and try out everything. Indefinitely. You could upgrade to a paid membership for extra benefits. That was last year. They had about 40,000 members. Then they dropped the charge for basic membership. Now they have 166,922 members (as of today).
Old-fashioned thinking will say, “Of course. You can get lots of customers if you give away your product.” New-fangled thinking will say, “I have 170,000 potential customers coning to my site. Some of them are buying. Others haven’t bought yet. But they are still here, so I can still market to them. “
I am sure Discovery's execution will be variable and open to improvement. Evaluation and improvement of educational materials present another problem for educational psychology. Or they might present an opportunity. If there are psychologists smart enough to manage opportunities.
posted by Selby Evans at 12:02 PM
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