N4L’s portal is coming, and it’s going to make a difference. But first, here are 5 things you need to know about the portal in its current state.
1. There are already some teachers using the portal
A handful of teachers are now using the portal. They are, effectively, working for us, using and testing the portal’s resources, as well as reviewing resources from some of our providers. They were selected because of their involvement in the digital community and as a cross sector representation of schools from across New Zealand.
2. The portal is in ‘beta’ phase
The techies call it beta but for the rest of us, we might as well call it ‘better’ because that is what it’s doing – making the portal better for you. While we roll out access to the portal over the coming months, we can address any issues ahead of general release. This beta phase allows us to do this while we work closely with the teachers using the portal. We’ll constantly be getting feedback about what works and what can be improved. We aim to have this beta phase completed by July, which means full steam ahead. Beta is the baby step in our development roadmap, we have lots of features which will be released in rapid fire over the coming weeks. If you want to know more about these feature check out our Development Roadmap here.
3. The portal is more than just a search engine
Providers like National Library, New Zealand Geographic and NZ On Screen (and others) in the portal all have a massive amount of resources available to teachers already, which is great, but how easy is it to find their resources? Not always so easy. The N4L portal will search through the resources on the internet and within the community as well as those resources directly linked through our providers like those above. Alongside the resources from the internet and providers, teachers will be able to create and share learning ideas around resources, creating a users guide on how they have worked well in a classroom environment further reducing your planning time.
4. The portal is free for teachers
It’s true. The portal is free for educators. Some provider services discoverable in the portal will still require a login and subscription. But it will be worth it – especially when you’re looking to narrow down popular and common resource topics.
5. The portal will show you popular resources being used by other teachers and educators
Our ‘Portal Pioneers’ are the teachers who are currently in and using the portal as well as those who will join before July. Part of the beta phase is building banks of responses or reviews of resources by teachers. Straight from the search page, you will be able to easily see which of the resources have been used before and how useful they are, and even if they are trending at the moment. As our community in the portal grows, so does its functionality. The more people share how they’re using resources, the more we’ll learn as a community, sharing good practice and resources easily.
This is the starting point for the portal, from here things will only grow! Regular updates on how educators and providers are finding the portal can be found via this blog.