Learning for the post-MTV Generation: Discovery Channel's Cosmeo
A new website from the Discovery Channel offers interactive homework assistance through thousands of online articles, images, video clips and educational games designed to take classroom concepts to next level via the Internet.
It's just another educational website, right? Not according to the team behind Cosmeo.com, the latest in educational Web offerings from the Discovery Channel's online media group. Cosmeo challenges students by illuminating complex topics through video clips, games and other interactive features that include quizzes and feedback materials. But not just students can use the site-parents can participate, monitoring a child's progress and working with the student to achieve greater results at home.
Unlike most educational resources, Cosmeo is a subscription-based service aimed at reaching children where they are spending more and more time-online. Media "multi-tasking" has been identified as one of the key ways today's modern pre-teens and teens are spending their time. These days, Johnny doesn't just use an instant messaging program, he does so while listening to a digital music player and typing out a research paper. Cosmeo is aimed at hooking Johnny on its multi-stream media output as a one-stop shop for homework aid.
The $9.95 per month charge includes access to all the sites features, including more than 30,000 video clips; 15,000 interactive quizzes, puzzles, and educational games; and more than 27,000 research articles. There's more, the company says, in the form of constant live updates to the site full of fresh content. To take the offering one step further, all the content complies with the educational standards for each of the 50 states.
Students can search by grade level from kindergarten through 12th grade, by subject, or by keyword to find the information they need to complete a single homework assignment, a special project or to just help them beef up in a specific area. Articles and clip art are downloadable for use in term papers and reports.
The heartbeat of Cosmeo is United Streaming, Discovery Channel's online delivery service. Currently, Discovery is unmatched in offering such content in a push that the company founder, John S. Hendricks, described as "platform neutral." Discovery does not want to be limited to one form of content delivery, but will strive, Hendricks said in an interview with the Washington Post, to keep as diverse an offering as possible.
The website is currently being marketed through direct mail, print ads and a two-spot television campaign that while featuring kids surfing the web and achieving academic success, seems to be aimed at the parents more than the student. In addition, the company is offering a 30-day free trial in exchange for registering on the site. For more information, visit www.cosmeo.com.
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