Discovery Education

Pamela Homer

12/14/2016

Final Essay

Introduction

        Discovery Education is a website that can be utilized in nearly any educational environment. The website itself offers a wealth of knowledge as well as tools and resources to give students, teachers, and parents alike the opportunity to learn about a plethora of topics. “Discovery Education transforms classrooms, empowers teachers and captivates students by leading the way in providing high quality, dynamic, digital content to school districts large and small, rural and suburban and everything in between” (Discovery Education). The website itself offers learning material for different subjects such as math, science, and social studies, English, world languages, and more. In addition a section dedicated to homework help with its own section dedicated to math lessons and supplemental information. The website also offers different research resources and what they call virtual fieldtrips, which can take a student via the website to different places around the world and give them a more worldly background, teaching them about different places that they would not otherwise have the means or the resources to learn about first hand. What is unique to Discovery Education’s website is that the resources are not just for students. They offer games and project ideas and different supplemental educational material for different age ranges-specifically tailoring the information more closely to the appropriate age level. In addition to the resources they have provided for use in the classroom, they also have partnered with Wilkes University to offer a Masters in Education certificate program through their website for teachers looking to finish their education. This offers resources for the teacher to become a student and finish off their education strongly before they go out and are responsible for transforming the minds of the youth, and furthermore, their program is online, once again utilizing technology in the digital age to help accelerate teacher’s success which will then be carried out to benefit the students.

Section 1:  Mission, Structure, and Organization of the Website

        The mission of the Discovery Education website is simple, to bring the educational environment to the 21st century and utilize technology to maximize a students ability to learn. Technology is so widely accessible in today’s society, this website in particular takes advantage of the Internet to provide education resources for parents, students and educators. It allows students the opportunity to seek help, as well as fulfill their curiosity and desire to learn with all different kinds of information that they otherwise would not ace access to After reviewing some other websites that offer educational resources, I found that Discovery Education appears to be the most well rounded and beneficial to the largest general population. It is not just for students, or specifically for teachers, but offers resources students, parents, and teachers. . Discovery Education even offers a range of textbooks via computer, cellphone, or tablet, bringing an otherwise necessary material into a more convenient and technologically advanced form. “With award-winning digital content, interactive lessons, real time assessment, virtual experiences with some of Discovery's greatest talent, classroom contests & challenges, professional development and more” (Discovery Education). Their easy to use interface with specifically organized categories for each audience is what makes this website so user friendly. Everything is categorized for each demographic that the material is specifically designated for, making it not only appealing but also convenient.

        The organization of the website is relatively straightforward. The homepage of the website is composed of five drop down boxes of website features under three main categories, which are to follow. The first of the three categories is district solutions, which are suggestions and tools for school districts with different resources such as educational materials and their own textbooks. The two drop down boxes are what we offer and who we are, which are comprised of all of those tools as well as the mission statement and information regarding the purpose and foundation of the website. The second, and most important category are the free resources offered by Discovery Education- which are comprised of the drop down sections for parents, students, and teachers. This area of the website contains different resources and educational features for each population, and for the parents section it offers tools in order for them to be bale to assist their children with homework, resources specifically for parents, homework help and more. The final category, the community blog, is not as educationally geared as the rest of the features on the website, containing only one drop down box which is conversations and connections. This section brings you to a whole different webpage, which is the Discovery Education blog, and you can explore different posts which includes educational information, news, programs, resources, and different products that they are associated with. Below is a graphic organizer containing the fundamental features of the website under each of the categories that they fall under.

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        The mission of Discovery Education is simple, to combine technology along with educational resources for a revolutionary educational experience for the modern day student. While the website does offer resources for both teachers and parents as well, the educational resources are most beneficial to a student. One of the most beneficial resources that Discovery Education offers is their Techbook, their version of an online digital textbook, available in math, science, and social studies. The Techbook is comprised of more than just information found in a textbook, but includes model lessons, enrichment activities, and assessments to check where the student is at as well as the incorporation of both text and media for a very different learning experience. There is so much more than can be done here than in an ordinary textbook, and gives students a great advantage as well as benefits the teacher with its already organized lesson plans and breakdown of each topic. As part of their revolutionary digital learning environment, the Techbook incorporates more than just information, but pools together lessons and learning games, quizzes, and more into one interface in order to maximize the learning potential for the student. Additionally, this brings a whole new level to the accessibility of learning materials, because unlike resources that have to be left in school, the Techbook is available online on the computer, tablet, or cell phone, making it easy for students to use whenever they need it. By creating the Techbook, Discovery Education has taken a tool that has already been out on the market (digital textbooks) and revolutionized, changing the game of digital technology in education entirely.