Mesa Verde National Park, One Planet Education Network (OPEN) and its Partner Indiana University Quest Atlantis Program Launches Virtual Mesa Verde - 3D Online Learning Environment.

Soon to Be Made Available to North Carolina Schools Through a Generous Series of Grants by Food Lion, LLC 

SALISBURY, N.C. -- Program Launch Event -- Outline of Activities:

Beginning with Virtual Mesa Verde 3D Online Learning Environment, OPEN and its partner Indiana University School of Education's Quest Atlantis are developing an international online education program series, Online 3D Virtual National Parks and World Heritage Sites.

In partnership with Mesa Verde National Park, and Gulf Coast Community College as event host, the initial program, Virtual Mesa Verde, will be introduced to students in classrooms in Rocky Mount, N.C. and Cortez, Co. The students will collaborate in real time on missions within the 3D Virtual Park, during the day of the launch of the U.S. Navy's ship the U.S.S. Mesa Verde from Panama City, Fla., Dec. 15, 2007.

Students at Manaugh Elementary, near the real world Mesa Verde Park in Cortez, Co., will communicate with their peers from Williford Elementary in North Carolina and with the OPEN development team who will host the event from a Gulf Coast Community College computer lab near the ship launching site. During the event, students will explore the 3D simulation of Mesa Verde's Spruce Tree House cliff dwelling, learn about Park management and sustainable tourism, and travel into the past to visit with Ancestral Native American Pueblos.

The preparation and training of North Carolina Schools is made possible through a series of grants by Food Lion, LLC of Salisbury, N.C. The Food Lion - Quest Atlantis program was introduced to North Carolina schools in the spring of 2007 to several hundred classrooms. But due to the program's success there are now more than 1,200 additional classrooms on the Quest Atlantis waiting list. Food Lion, the Instructional Technology Division, and the Quest Atlantis 3D Team are now seeking other corporate sponsors to join their Quest Atlantis Education Consortium to quickly expand the program to include all 4-8th grade classrooms in North Carolina.

"Rick Anicetti, president and CEO of Food Lion states, "In just a short time, students across North Carolina have greatly benefited from this innovative and challenging program. Quest Atlantis is truly making a difference for all learners, but particularly those who have traditionally been under-performing. We have had many examples of students who, after working in Quest Atlantis online 3D environments, began performing at or above their classmates' capabilities. And it is not just when students are working within the QA program itself. The enthusiasm for learning is spilling over to all subject areas. We are seeing exceptional outcomes for our young North Carolina students. For example, two months after regularly using the program, one under-performing sixth grade student's reading jumped two grade levels. We hope now, due to the tremendous success of Quest Atlantis and the increasing demand for it from schools across the state, other like-minded corporations will join us in supporting these efforts."

Larry Wiese, Superintendent of Mesa Verde National Park, commented, "We will continue to help develop new Virtual Parks and Park Partnerships worldwide with OPEN and Indiana University's Quest Atlantis so students of all ages can learn in an exciting and enjoyable way much more about their natural and cultural resources. However, we are greatly appreciative of the Food Lion partnership, because without companies like Food Lion our programs may not become available to the vast majority of schools and citizens. We intend to work closely with OPEN and its corporate and Foundation sponsors and the Departments of Public Instruction and Education to help make these world class learning tools available to as many as possible."

Continuing to add stimulating and challenging real world programs to Quest Atlantis and the North Carolina Food Lion program, OPEN and its partners are continuing to create a collaborative network of World Heritage and National Park online 3D sites. Through this program series, young students, adult learners, and subject area experts can exchange and share their knowledge of their local heritage, history, and culture with other students from around the world. The next Virtual Park program will be developed with Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

George Newman, founder OPEN, and a developer of Virtual Mesa Verde explains the importance of these 3D virtual learning environments, "Virtual Mesa Verde is the first of what we hope will be many Virtual National Parks our team creates. Students worldwide will soon be able to virtually travel to visit one another's National Parks and World Heritage sites, learning about cultures and history from around the world with the guidance of local students near the Parks, teachers and other experts. In the future we will couple the online application with complementary learning applications for handheld devices, mobile phones, iPhones etc... So when students visit the Parks with their parents they can learn more together at the site, investigating with Park staff, possibly helping track invasive species or gathering other important observational data. A goal of our programs will be to teach one another more about sustainable tourism and how to best protect and maintain the Parks and World Heritage Sites for future generations."

After the launch of the Virtual Mesa Verde program the online 3D environment and curriculum will then be further customized and embedded in our online 3D virtual learning environments and related program websites of Quest Atlantis and offered to all participating North Carolina Schools and beyond. The initial curriculum will be tailored for U.S fourth through eighth grade levels and international school equivalents.

PLEASE CONTACT

The launch of the Virtual Mesa Verde Program on Dec.15, 2007 will take place in the computer lab exhibit hall on the second floor of the Student Union East on Gulf Coast Community College Campus, 5230 West Highway 98, Panama City, Fla.

For more information on Virtual Mesa Verde Event Launch and Virtual National Parks Program and the Food Lion Corporate Sponsorship Challenge -- please contact George Newman of OPEN at 617 818-7514 and [e-mail]

For more information on the Food Lion Corporate Sponsorship Program for Quest Atlantis - please contact, Mark Messier at Food Lion, LLC - [e-mail]

For more information on OPEN please visit - www.oneplaneteducation.com

For more information on the Quest Atlantis Program of Indiana University School of Education please visit - www.questatlantis.org

Spruce Tree house is the third largest and most accessible example of Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwell houses. It was built between AD1211 and 1278 in what is now southwest Colorado in the United States. For more informational on the Spruce Tree House and Mesa Verde National Park and World Heritage Site, visit: www.nps.gov/meve/cliff_dwellings/spruce_tree_house_home.htm.

For more information on Gulf Coast Community College please visit - http://www.gulfcoast.edu/

For more information about the launch of the U.S.S. Mesa Verde in Panama City, Fla., on Dec. 15, 2007 please visit - http://www.wmbb.com/gulfcoastwest/mbb/news/special_reports/dec07/ mesa_verde_commissioning.html (Due to the length of this URL, it may be necessary to copy and paste this hyperlink into your Internet browser's URL address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.)