Who are educational service providers?
Educational service providers, or ESPs, are organisations that support learning. Some charge money and some are free. Examples are online libraries, publishers of learning materials and online museums. They are sources of information that a pupil can learn from. Why are they reliable? Their information is usually checked in several educational sources, and it is often written by experts. That makes an ESP different from a random page on the internet, where anyone could have written anything. You can contact an ESP when you need help with research or another learning need. A school librarian is a good comparison: you can ask the librarian a question and expect a careful answer. Online, you must also be careful about yourself. Contact an ESP only with a grown-up, and never give a real name, age, school or address.
| Type of ESP | What it offers | A question you could ask |
|---|---|---|
| online library | books and articles | Where can I find articles about bees? |
| educational publishing site | lessons and textbooks | Which lesson explains the water cycle? |
| online museum | objects and their stories | How were old coins made? |
| Unknown page | ESP page |
|---|---|
| writer unknown | often written by experts |
| nobody checked it | checked in several sources |
ESP sorter. Write six needs on cards: find an article about the Nile; read a lesson about fractions; see an old tool and its story; read a book about camels; learn how an old boat on the Nile was built; find a picture book for a small cousin. Put each under ‘online library’, ‘educational publishing site’ or ‘online museum’, and write your reason. Some cards may fit two answers.