Adding Value to Software

Structured lessons offered by CCC on Web

CCCnet, a recently launched Computer Curriculum Corporation (Sunnyvale, CA) Website (http://www.cccnet.com), offers structured interactive online curriculum correlated to CCC's educational software. It represents one of the first substantial efforts to use the Internet to enhance the value of traditional electronic media products. CCC hopes it will also be a new source of revenue. "This is a new publishing model for the Web," said Tammy Cunningham, Market Development Manager. While initially offered for free, CCC expects to begin charging for access on a subscription basis sometime in 1996.

"We want to be hip and cool and grab today's kids," she said. "We want to give teachers a real reason to be on the Web." She added that the initial focus was on secondary schools because they were so much more likely to have Internet access.

"Travel Ship" will provide students curricularly-purposed virtual field trips to relevant sites. In a typical activity, CCCnet will provide students with questions; after students find the answers, they return to the CCCnet site to report them and get the next questions. This keeps students focused on material pertinent to the subject at hand rather than wandering around other Web sites, Cunningham explained. She said as CCC identifies relevant Web sites, the design team contacts them to develop a relationship. "We want to know if a site stops doing something or changes it," Cunningham said. "We won't point to a site without talking to the people about a relationship."

 

Project to Extend SuccessMaker Line

CCCnet will provide a series of projects, many an extension of the SuccessMaker software line. The first online project, targeting middle school science, is Energy Flows in Amazonia. Students learn about food chains and plant and animal species while visiting the Smithsonian's National Zoo home page. As a part of the activity, the students also contribute to a Web page on Amazonian species, developing a food chain. Students can demonstrate their knowledge by first submitting questions and later answering the ones chosen by CCC staff.

 

Teacher Link

CCCnet also has "Teacher Link," an area for discussions between teachers and CCC consultants. Registered users can access lesson plans and projects, which correlate to the national standards in curriculum areas. The registration feature will allow CCC to build a database of users, which can be searched to find someone with similar teaching interests for collaborative projects. To help teachers understand how CCC might be used, CCC will provide implementation models, covering, for example, how classes with one computer or five computers can best use the materials.

An education "webmeister" will be available to answer questions during posted times or through e-mail. Another part of CCCnet, "Gallery," exhibits student-created Web projects, initially showing student work from a project called "Paintbrush Diplomacy." Other areas provide information about the company and its products, and answers to general questions about the Web.

 

School-Home Connection

Activities at the site will have ties for students to CCC's existing ILS curriculum which is delivered on networked systems. But others, including parents, can use the Web-based curriculum from stand-alone computers. In addition, a School-Home Connection for parents is under development, so they can help their children and interact with teachers, Cunningham said. More users access the Internet from homes than from K-12 schools today, and parents want to make the most of online time.

CCC has partnerships with BBN systems and Technologies (Cambridge, MA) for network Internet access and with Classroom PRODIGY (White Plains, NY) for single station Internet access. CCCnet literature includes a PRODIGY starter disk.

CCCnet was developed by CCC with vivid studios (San Francisco, CA), a studio that specializes in creating online Web communities. Its Web site is http://www.vivid.com.

Contact: Tammy Cunningham, 408-541-3338

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