BritannicaSchool to Offer Online Professional Development for K-12 Teachers.Business Editors CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 21, 2001 Deals with Education Development Center, Inc. and Knowvation Inc. Announced High-Quality Courses on Educational Technology Planned BritannicaSchool, a division of Britannica.com Inc., today unveiled plans to offer courses in professional development for K-12 teachers and announced agreements with two of its partners in that effort. The Britannica program, to consist initially of 22 online workshops and courses, will be available to teachers before the end of the 2001-2002 academic year. It will be marketed in conjunction with the company's expanded BritannicaSchool service (www.britannicaschool.com), which will be used in K-12 schools beginning this fall. Under one of the deals announced today, BritannicaSchool will license course content from the Newton, Mass.-based Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC EDC See: Export Development Corp. ) (www.edc.org) for the creation of 11 online workshops. The instructor-led courses will cover subjects such as using the Internet for research and lesson planning, technology and literacy development, and using technology to teach specific subjects. Classes will be limited to 35 students in order to promote direct interaction between instructor and students. All courses will be delivered via the HighLearn software platform, a sophisticated learning-management system created at the Centre for Educational Technology (CET CET abbr. Central European Time CET Central European Time CET n abbr (= Central European Time) → hora de Europa central CET abbr ) in Tel Aviv Tel Aviv (tĕl əvēv`), city (1994 pop. 355,200), W central Israel, on the Mediterranean Sea. Oficially named Tel Aviv–Jaffa, it is Israel's commercial, financial, communications, and cultural center and the core of its largest , Israel. Britannica.com Inc. acquired divisions of CET earlier this year. "Teachers today are called upon to master a daunting daunt tr.v. daunt·ed, daunt·ing, daunts To abate the courage of; discourage. See Synonyms at dismay. [Middle English daunten, from Old French danter, from Latin array of new technologies and incorporate them into their teaching," said Ilan Yeshua Ilan Yeshua is the current chief executive officer (CEO) of Walla Communications Channels Ltd. (Since November 2006), an Israeli web portal ([1]), traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. , chief executive officer of Britannica.com Inc. "With all of the other challenges they face, the task can be overwhelming. "That's where we can help. We will offer a range of online courses to help teachers master educational technologies and make the most of them in the classroom. "Education Development Center is an industry leader in this area. By using EDC's superb course content, limiting class size, and delivering courses on the HighLearn platform, we'll create a superior program for teachers who want to improve their command of technology." "In research and development projects during the past four years, we've found online workshops to be a valuable addition to professional development programs," said Glenn Kleiman, EDC vice president and director of the EDC Center for Online Professional Education. "They enable teachers and administrators to learn new content and teaching strategies while they experience using the technology as learners themselves. This provides first-hand experience that helps them plan how to use technology to enhance students' learning. We look forward to working with BritannicaSchool to make our online workshops widely available." BritannicaSchool will also license course content from San Jose San Jose, city, United States San Jose (sănəzā`, săn hōzā`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. , Calif.-based Knowvation Inc. (www.knowvation.com), which Britannica will use to develop self-paced online courses for teachers. These will cover popular computer applications such as Microsoft Word A full-featured word processing program for Windows and the Macintosh from Microsoft. Included in the Microsoft application suite, it is a sophisticated program with rudimentary desktop publishing capabilities that has become the most widely used word processing application on the market. , Microsoft Excel (tool) Microsoft Excel - A spreadsheet program from Microsoft, part of their Microsoft Office suite of productivity tools for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh. Excel is probably the most widely used spreadsheet in the world. Latest version: Excel 97, as of 1997-01-14. , Microsoft PowerPoint and Inspiration, and general computer topics such as Internet literacy and using Internet resources. The announcements come as Britannica prepares to unveil a major upgrade of its BritannicaSchool service, which will include an array of reference, curriculum and creativity tools designed to improve teaching and learning and make the classroom experience more rewarding for teachers and students. The new BritannicaSchool will be available to schools this fall, and the company will demonstrate the service later this month at the National Educational Computing Conference in Chicago. About BritannicaSchool BritannicaSchool is an integrated suite of teaching and learning tools that works easily in the classroom to promote the full range of educational aims: teaching and learning in the conventional sense as well as creativity and the exploration of ideas. BritannicaSchool improves student learning and makes the classroom experience more rewarding, enjoyable, and exciting for teachers and students. More information about the BritannicaSchool line of teaching and learning products and services, and a demonstration of BritannicaSchool's flagship product A primary product of a company, which is typically why the company was founded and/or what made it well known. For example, MS-DOS, Windows and the Microsoft Office suite have been flagship products of Microsoft. CorelDRAW is a flagship product of Corel Corporation. , the BritannicaSchool Web site, can be found online at www.britannicaschool.com. About Britannica.com Inc. Britannica.com Inc. produces a range of high-quality information products for the Internet, CD-ROM CD-ROM: see compact disc. CD-ROM in full compact disc read-only memory Type of computer storage medium that is read optically (e.g., by a laser). , and DVD DVD: see digital versatile disc. DVD in full digital video disc or digital versatile disc Type of optical disc. The DVD represents the second generation of compact-disc (CD) technology. . Many of those products feature content from the Encyclopaedia encyclopaedia Reference work that contains information on all branches of knowledge or that treats a particular branch of knowledge comprehensively. It is self-contained and explains subjects in greater detail than a dictionary. Britannica, published by Britannica.com Inc.'s sister company, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Besides subscriptions and CD-ROM/DVD sales, the company generates revenues through advertising, sponsorships, sales at the online Britannica Store (http://store.britannica.com/) and syndication of its content. Headquartered in Chicago, Britannica.com Inc. also operates offices in California, London, Sydney and New Delhi New Delhi (dĕl`ē), city (1991 pop. 294,149), capital of India and of Delhi state, N central India, on the right bank of the Yamuna River. . |
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