Education- Portal subscriber information

[elegantlion]

Here's an email I received this morning for those interested in their paid services: 

 

Thank you Beta users!

Starting this Friday, we will be transitioning to a paid service in order to continue producing high quality lessons. To thank you for using Education Portal, we’d like to extend a special offer.

Get free access for 6 months & 50% off the list price

Here’s what you need to do, after Friday, April 25th:

1. Login to Education Portal
2. Select a plan
3. Activate your extended free access and special discount

Your plan options:

• Basic Edition- Includes unlimited access to all video lessons and transcripts.
  
  List price $49.99/month
  Your price $19.99/month after free trial period
   
• Premium Edition â€“ Includes everything in Basic plan, plus quizzes, tools for tracking progress, certificates of completion & access to instructors and coaches. 
  
  List price $99.99/month
  Your price $49.99/month after free trial period

This update to our site will begin Friday, April 25th and be complete by Sunday, April 27th. For questions, please contact support and we will be happy to help you! 

[elegantlion]

Which now takes me back to the drawing board for a few subjects for the next few years. *Sigh*

[swimmermom3]

Were you going to use them for chemistry?  We found those videos to be quite helpful and I am disappointed with the new arrangement. While I find EP to be a useful tool, I am not sure I value it at $120 to $600 per year. I wonder how that is really going to work out for them.

[SkateLeft]

I've put individual EP videos on my daughter's weekly planner. They were nice, but they're not complete enough to be worth $20 a month to me. There are plenty of free educational videos available, between Youtube, Learner.org, Hippocampus and others, so I'll just have to do a bit more hunting for the supplementary stuff now.

[Mandylubug]

I've put individual EP videos on my daughter's weekly planner. They were nice, but they're not complete enough to be worth $20 a month to me. There are plenty of free educational videos available, between Youtube, Learner.org, Hippocampus and others, so I'll just have to do a bit more hunting for the supplementary stuff now.

We had just recently started utilizing some of their middle school courses. I was highly disappointed in those selections or variety. I was going to use it as much as I could though. Not at a monthly subscription price and definitely not at 20 a month. I'd consider 20 a year per student, max.

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

I was given 12 months free access not six, I wonder why the difference.

 

ETA my email because it's a little different:

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you Beta users!

 

Starting this Friday, we will be transitioning to a paid service in order to continue producing high quality lessons. To thank you for using Education Portal, we’d like to extend a special offer.

 

Get free access for 12 months & up to 85% off the list price

 

Here’s what you need to do, after Friday, April 25th:

Login to Education Portal

Select a plan

Activate your extended free access and special discount

Your Plan: Teacher Edition

Includes:

Unlimited accesss to all of our video lessons and transcripts

Unlimited access to quizzes

Ability to show videos in class

Ability to assign lessons for students to access for 30 days (students do not need their own account in order to watch assigned lessons)

 

List price $129.99/month

Your price $19.99/month after free trial period

[foxbridgeacademy]

I'm so very up the creek on a couple subjects..... I'd pay the $50 if it were per year.  I can not afford $20 or more per month.  This actually makes me very angry.  They have been touting that they are helping make College cheaper.  Really?  So they're now going to charge $50-$100 per MONTH? 

[elegantlion]

Were you going to use them for chemistry?  We found those videos to be quite helpful and I am disappointed with the new arrangement. While I find EP to be a useful tool, I am not sure I value it at $120 to $600 per year. I wonder how that is really going to work out for them.

 

I was, and a few other subjects, like their high school English. 

 

 

I know my sociology professor used several of the videos for lessons this year - perhaps, that is the market they are trying to appeal towards. 

 

There are too many other open course options to make $120 a year for videos cost effective for me. Six months free barely gets me into next year either. 

 

Oh well. *grrrr* :cursing:

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

Edited my post above to add my email since it was slightly different.

[elegantlion]

Edited my post above to add my email since it was slightly different.

 

Maybe I signed up as a student as I initially was going to use them for a few of my own self-education? 

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

Maybe I signed up as a student as I initially was going to use them for a few of my own self-education?

 

Oh that might be, I'll have to check if ds received a different email.

[Mom22ns]

Shoot. We liked their videos, but we only used them for review, not for full content. That messes up part of my plans for next year too though. Hmm... maybe I need to renew my audible subscription and download a few more Teaching Company courses.

[foxbridgeacademy]

What other options are there that are very similar?

We need audio and visual plus each video needs to be short, like 20 minutes or less (oh yeah, free or seriously cheap.).  DS likes EP so much that if I can't find an alternative I may just have to give up something else and pay it. 

[susanah4]

I signed up my daughter for an account and got first email.   Just went back and started my own account

as an instructor.  I wonder if I will get the other email.  I am actually willing to pay 20$ a month for access

to videos and quizzes as I can use this for several subjects.  50$ is crazy.  Plus would you have to continue

to pay for account when kids not in school in order to not lose discounted rate?

 

I could maybe see 50$ a month for someone trying to CLEP a few courses where they would only

have an account for a month or two.   But for homeschooling where you need it all year?  I wonder

if their usage drops so much that they come back with a different pricing structure.

[swimmermom3]

I signed up my daughter for an account and got first email.   Just went back and started my own account

as an instructor.  I wonder if I will get the other email.  I am actually willing to pay 20$ a month for access

to videos and quizzes as I can use this for several subjects.  50$ is crazy.  Plus would you have to continue

to pay for account when kids not in school in order to not lose discounted rate?

 

I could maybe see 50$ a month for someone trying to CLEP a few courses where they would only

have an account for a month or two.   But for homeschooling where you need it all year?  I wonder

if their usage drops so much that they come back with a different pricing structure.

 

I suspect that will be the case. The free six months will get most people over the end of this school year and the summer, but people may feel differently about those charges in the fall.

[swimmermom3]

Yes, my son has the 6 month free and 50% off email (student) and I have the 12 month free  and 85% off email (teacher account). What really irks me is that the cost is the same; the list price for the teacher is just higher - $129 per month. It will be interesting to see if there is backlash.

[deannajo]

I did notice that the email says that the teacher account will have the ability to assign things to students without the students having their own accounts, so maybe that accounts for the difference in list price?

I'm really bummed, I planned on using this more next year, but likely as a supplement, so I don't know that I want to pay for it at all. I'm going to have to really think about it. Up until now, I've barely used it, but I did create an account when I heard that they were moving towards being a subscription service.

[susanah4]

Is there any reason the student can't just use the teacher account and cancel the student account since teacher is less expensive?

Or am I missing something?

 

[bobbeym]

Is there any reason the student can't just use the teacher account and cancel the student account since teacher is less expensive?

Or am I missing something?

 

No there isn't.  I'm signed up as a teacher and my son uses my login to complete his classes.  It's easier this way because there's only one account for me to log into and it still tracks his quiz grades and overall progress.

 

As of this morning, teacher accounts get 12 free months before the $20/mo begins. 

[susanah4]

Thanks, then it looks like I will keep the teacher account and let my student account go.  

[Haiku]

I'm reading a book right now about the trend toward free in the digital economy. It's a shame that EP doesn't realize that less than 5% of their users are going to stick around and that they could make more money offering the content for free. No way in hell am I paying them $20, $50, or $100  :scared: a month!

[DonHomeschool]

I came across the following job posting from Education Portal (EP):

 

http://www.higheredjobs.com/adjunct/details.cfm?JobCode=175881993&Title=Online%20Instructional%20Technology%20Expert%20%28Contract%29

 

Now we know why they are going to charge for their content.  Unless they improve the quality and quantity of their instruction, EP will not be able to sustain the new business model.

[swimmermom3]

I started to follow the link and even put in my cc info to continue on with the year of free teacher availability, but it looks as though you create an entirely new account. So you lose whatever quizzes the student has done?