As a consumer of online learning, you should recognize the differences between a portal and an application service provider.
Content Delivery
Learning portals deliver text-based courses with simple graphics directly to your desktop computer through your Internet connection. Since the ASP hosts the courseware on its own server, it can provide interactive, multimedia programs and live, instructor-led learning.
There are differences in technical requirements too. Courses at learning portals can be viewed with most desktop computers and browsers and require no plug-ins. Multimedia courses delivered by an ASP require a high-resolution display and high-speed connection. A basic PC with a 28.8 modem won't cut it. (There are other technical considerations such as firewalls, but we won't get into those here.)
My Place or Yours?
Learning portals provide a gateway to online courses offered by different vendors. When you sign up for a course, you take it from the vendor's site, not from the learning portal.
The learning ASP hosts computer-based training courses for organizations that prefer not to buy, implement and maintain a system themselves. The ASP provides a learning management system for tracking usage and storing training records.
Learning application service providers vary widely. A basic ASP service will host a site for a company that wants to provide its own courses. For companies needing content and hosting, some ASPs provide courses through partnerships with content providers who may also offer customized courses. The upscale application service provider offers a virtual university complete with live, instructor-led courses, discussion boards and chat rooms for collaborative learning.
Naturally, ASPs charge for the services they provide that may include assessment, testing and certification.
Members Only
You can enter a learning portal but you have to knock on the door of an ASP.
Visit one of the learning portals mentioned in my article "A Hitchhiker's Guide to Learning Portals". You can browse through the catalog, view a demo, fill your shopping cart and pay with a credit card before you leave. A shopper's delight!
Now visit a learning ASP (I've listed some below). At one ASP I visited, the first thing I noticed is the difference in the look and feel. The learning portal looks and feels like an e-tailer. The ASP looks and feels like a corporate Web site. The copy reads like an annual report without the financials.
I couldn't look at the course catalog without signing in as a visitor (i.e., knock at the door). Then I was allowed to look a demo and partial list of courses. Everything else was for members only. I also noticed that pricing information was unavailable unless I contacted the company. The ASP is set up to pre-qualify buyers. You know the old saying, "If you have to ask how much it costs, you probably can't afford it anyway."
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