America Online Launches Back to SchooloAOL: a One-stop Online Resource for Parents, Students and Educators.DULLES, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 25, 1998-- Company Kicks Off Campaign to "Sign Up Your School" on the Internet with FamilyEducation Network America Online See AOL. Helps Parents and Teachers Around the Country to Get Their Schools "Connected" With Free Customized School Web Sites Fostering Communication Between Parents and Educators In an effort to raise awareness among parents and teachers about the availability of free customized Web sites to every school in the country, America Online today kicked off the "Sign Up Your School" campaign with the FamilyEducation Network. The campaign, a key element of "Back to School@AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. ," is designed to tap the potential of the Internet to play a more central role in education through improving local parent - teacher communication. The AOL-FEN Sign Up Your School campaign begins today and runs through October 31, 1998. Parents or teachers who are interested in the Sign Up Your School program can get more information by going to AOL Keywords: FEN or Education, by going directly to FEN's Web site (http://familyeducation.com), or by calling FEN at 1-888-881-3472. As schools sign up to establish their free Web sites, the school names (as well as the names of the parent supporters) will be entered into a drawing to win one of 150 free AOL accounts for a year. In addition, every school signing up with FEN during this back to school season will receive a video with important information about Internet safety for children. Rated the "world's best parenting Web site" by Family PC magazine, the FamilyEducation Network has built a network of Web sites for schools throughout the country. These Web sites allow parents to communicate directly with their child's teacher through e-mail and chat enabling much more regular contact between the key figures in a child's education as well as providing valuable information for parents like school event listings, activities and PTA PTA or parent-teacher association: see parent education. meeting notes. "We know that parental involvement is the biggest factor in the academic success of a child," said Steve Case Steve Case (born August 21, 1958) is a businessman best known as the co-founder and former chief executive officer and chairman of America Online (AOL). He reached his highest profile when he played an instrumental role in AOL's merger with Time Warner in 2000. , Chairman and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of America Online Inc. "We want to move parent-teacher communications into the 21st century by enabling an easy and convenient dialogue over the Internet instead of through the more traditional routes of notes pinned to coats or tucked in backpacks. Today we invite every school district in the nation to take advantage of this free resource and get connected." "Sign Up Your School is a unique partnership between FamilyEducation Network and America Online," said Jonathan Carson, President and Co-Founder of FEN. "We are striving to foster increased parent/school community through the use of the Web. This campaign is founded on the premise that communication between parents and schools can be greatly enhanced by harnessing the power of the Internet." America Online entered into a partnership with the FamilyEducation Network in April 1998. In addition to carrying the award-winning content and educational resources of the FamilyEducation Network on AOL's Families and Research & Learn channels, each school participating in the FamilyEducation Network will be assigned an AOL Keyword to allow AOL users to navigate directly to a specific school's site. Participating schools in the FEN network will also take advantage of AOL's Instant Messaging Exchanging text messages in real time between two or more people logged into a particular instant messaging (IM) service. Instant messaging is more interactive than e-mail because messages are sent immediately, whereas e-mail messages can be queued up in a mail server for seconds or technology which enables real-time private communication between Internet users Internet user n → internauta m/f Internet user Internet n → internaute m/f - a resource that is well-suited to communications between parents and teachers. In just over 12 months, 335 school districts - representing a total of 2,855 schools - have signed onto the FamilyEducation Network's initiative. FEN has built a unique public/private alliance with the leading grass roots grass roots pl.n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb) 1. People or society at a local level rather than at the center of major political activity. Often used with the. 2. The groundwork or source of something. education organizations including the American Association of School Administrators The American Association of School Administrators (AASA), founded in 1865, is the professional organization for more than 13,000 educational leaders across the United States. (AASA AASA American Association of School Administrators AASA Asian American Student Association AASA Association of Academies of Sciences in Asia AASA Aging and Adult Services Administration AASA Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army ), the National PTA, and the National School Boards Association (NSBA NSBA National School Boards Association NSBA National Small Business Association NSBA Nebraska State Bar Association NSBA National Snaffle Bit Association NSBA National Steel Bridge Alliance NSBA North Saskatoon Business Association (Canada) ). Through private sector partners like AT&T Learning Network, Fleet Financial Group and Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley, the company provides its program at no cost to school districts. Back To School@AOL Launches In launching Back To School@AOL (Keyword: Back To School), America Online has created the world's largest online resource for parents and kids going back to school. Back To School@AOL is one the most popular programming sites on America Online, offering homework help, advice for parents, college preparation resources, Fall fashion tips, and continuing education continuing education: see adult education. continuing education or adult education Any form of learning provided for adults. In the U.S. the University of Wisconsin was the first academic institution to offer such programs (1904). information. The Back To School area also offers members access to the content and educational resources of the FamilyEducation Network. "More than 43% of the more than 12.5 million households in the AOL community have children ages 6-17, so back to school is a busy time for many of our members," Barry Schuler Barry Martin Schuler (born September 7, 1953 in Jersey City, New Jersey) is American Internet pioneer, perhaps best known for making the Internet easy to use consumers while working for America Online for seven years, and being the CEO for three years. , President, AOL Interactive Services. "Many of these members rely on AOL's Back to School area - for example our AOL homework helpers answer more than 1 million questions per week - because we provide the easiest-to-use and most comprehensive educational resource and community in cyberspace Coined by William Gibson in his 1984 novel "Neuromancer," it is a futuristic computer network that people use by plugging their minds into it! The term now refers to the Internet or to the online or digital world in general. See Internet and virtual reality. Contrast with meatspace. . "In addition, our partnership with FEN facilitates communication between parents and teachers, enabling an open dialogue that allows parents to take a more proactive role in their child's education," added Schuler. Back to School@AOL Back To School@AOL is divided into five categories: Homework Help, Parents' Guide, College Preparation, Back To School Shopping and Continuing Education. Specifically: -- Homework Help features Ask A Teacher, where kids can e-mail teachers questions regarding their homework. AOL Homework helpers provide more than a million individualized in·di·vid·u·al·ize tr.v. in·di·vid·u·al·ized, in·di·vid·u·al·iz·ing, in·di·vid·u·al·iz·es 1. To give individuality to. 2. To consider or treat individually; particularize. 3. responses to homework questions each week. Parents and kids also have access to Compton and Columbia Concise Encyclopedias, an online research library, dictionaries and a thesaurus. -- Parents' Guide offers advice from the FamilyEducation Network on how to prepare your kids for the school year, parental involvement in children's school experience, school safety and children's learning styles. FEN also sponsors the "Electric Library@AOL" and "Hometown Hero" sweepstakes. If users sign-up for a trial membership to Electric Library, the Internet's premiere online resource library, they are eligible to win $3,000 or one of 50 annual Electronic Library subscriptions. Parents and children can also be a "Hometown Hero" by entering a sweepstakes to win $10,000 worth of computer equipment and $2,500 computer for their home. -- College Preparation & Applications provides access to Peterson's Guide to Colleges so parents and teens can determine what college is best for them here and abroad. There are also SAT tips, practice tests and registration and test dates. Scholarship and grant information is also available and users can even apply to more than 1,000 colleges online. -- Back To School Shopping offers an easy way for AOL members to purchase the essentials for the back to school season including, sporting goods Noun 1. sporting goods - sports equipment sold as a commodity commodity, trade good, good - articles of commerce sports equipment - equipment needed to participate in a particular sport & active wear, apparel & accessories, books, music & videos and electronic & computer goods. -- Continuing Education provides valuable information to adults who are considering going back to school. Adults can register for credit or non-credit courses online and take free computing tutorials. Peterson's Guide to Graduate Schools is also available, as well as financial aid and entrance exam Noun 1. entrance exam - examination to determine a candidate's preparation for a course of studies entrance examination exam, examination, test - a set of questions or exercises evaluating skill or knowledge; "when the test was stolen the professor had to information. Other well-known AOL partners, including Teen People, Blackberry Creek, Nickelodeon and MaMaMedia, contribute a variety of educational content and activities for parents and kids of all ages including: -- "School Style Gallery," "Ask Stylegrrl" and "Sari's Back-To-School Advice" are all part of Teen People Online's area devoted entirely to Back to School. "School Style Gallery" displays teens across the country in their ideal back to school wardrobes based on online surveys. "Ask Stylegrrl" is an online fashion guru who answers fashion questions and solves crises. Plus, "Sari's Back-To-School Advice" counsels teens on dating and relationships. -- Blackberry Creek offers kids an opportunity to share their school experiences by submitting poetry and short stories on back to school topics like "what if there were no school," "best friends" and "my teacher's the best." Kids can also send in artwork depicting their new friends and teachers at school. Today's Topic message board provides further opportunities to express opinions about going to a new school, home schooling home schooling, the practice of teaching children in the home as an alternative to attending public or private elementary or high school. In most cases, one or both of the children's parents serve as the teachers. , friends in class and school fashion. -- "Back to School Fashion Accessories Fashion accessories are items apart from the garment itself, which complement the whole outfit. Fashion accessories include jewelry, gloves, handbags, hats, or scarves. ," featured on Nickelodeon Online, includes a questionnaire asking kids to choose which supplies they "must have" to go back to school. The supplies they choose determine their personality and prompt participants to download an item that fits their personality -- an apple for the teacher's pet teach·er's pet n. pl. teacher's pets or teachers' pets 1. A student in special favor with a teacher. 2. One who has gained favor with an authority. Noun 1. or a tiara for a homecoming Homecoming Odyssey concerning Odysseus’s difficulties in getting home after war. [Gk. Myth.: Odyssey] You Can’t Go Home Again revisiting his home town, a writer is disillusioned by what he sees. [Am. Lit. queen. -- MaMaMedia is the first Internet magazine Internet Magazine was a monthly print title launched in October 1994 by the UK publishing house, Emap. Its last issue, number 119, was published in July 2004. History for kids where young people can publish their own work and check out what other kids are doing online in a kid's gallery. There are also links to some of the best children's areas on the Internet and opportunities to use technology skills to build web sites and cartoon characters. America Online Inc., based in Dulles, operates two worldwide Internet online services: AOL Interactive Services, with more than 12.5 million members; and CompuServe, with approximately 2 million members. America Online also operates AOL Studios, the world's leading creator of original interactive content. Other branded Internet services operated by America Online Inc. include AOL.COM, the world's most accessed Web site from home; AOL NetFind, AOL's comprehensive guide to the Internet; Digital City, the nation's most popular local content network; AOL Instant Messenger See AIM. , an instant messaging tool available on both AOL and the Internet; and ICQ ("I Seek You") A conferencing program for the Internet from Mirabilis, Tel Aviv, Israel (www.icq.com). It provides interactive chat, e-mail and file transfer and can alert you when someone on your predefined list has also come online. , an instant communications and chat technology on the Internet.
CONTACT: America Online Inc
Pam McGraw, 703/265-1746
or
Tricia Primrose, 703/265-1746
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