Home | Education & Distance Learning Articles | Article

Also At ALS:

Electronic Information Report - June 23, 1999

Advantage Learning Systems Lands On First State Adoption List In California

Advantage Learning Systems (Wisconsin Rapids, WI) landed on its first state adoption this month when all of its reading and language arts software products were approved for California's interim curriculum materials adoption.

Through California Assembly bill AB#2519, $1 billion is being spent in between several major adoptions to buy instructional materials that adhere to state standards. ALS landed its Accelerated Reader, Star Reading and Perfect Copy products on the list of approved materials.

Few electronic publishers tend to land on state adoption lists, but that number is growing as more states look beyond traditional textbooks for new products to use for instruction.

The adoption is significant for ALS because it "opens up another source of funding that is not available in any other state," ALS CEO Michael Baum told EER. California is a growth state for ALS and anything that makes it easier to buy materials benefits the company, Baum added.

However, Baum remains uncertain about participating in future adoptions. "We're going to wait and see how sales develop," Baum said.

ALS Names Gates To VP Of District Sales

In related news, ALS named Andrew Gates to the new position of vice president of district sales, due to the overall success of its programs in California and across the country. Gates was most recently Pacific and Midwest regional sales manager for Pearson Education's EMG-Networks, a producer of interactive learning systems for K-12 schools.

ALS had reached a "critical mass" in some districts and felt it was time to have someone pay attention to school and district adoptions and larger-scale purchases of the company's software and teacher-training products, Baum said.

Contact: Advantage Learning Systems can be reached at (800) 338-4204.

Scientific Learning Adds To Products; Makes Push Into Consumer Market

Scientific Learning (Berkeley, CA) entered the language and reading software market in 1996 with its remedial program Fast ForWord and has recently expanded its reach through the development of general language and cognitive skill software for the mainstream pre-K through grade two levels.

The Away We Go! series focuses on rhyming and sound discrimination, letter-name association, relational differences and eye-hand coordination, among other skills. The software marks Scientific Learning's push into the broader school market and into the consumer arena as well.

Prior to the Fast ForWord launch, schools had not been a core part of Scientific Learning's business. The company had mainly concentrated on certified speech and language professionals in clinics and hospitals and some schools.

The Away We Go! series will initially be sold through the company's Web site, which is located at www.scientificlearning.com, and in catalogs that focus strictly on learning products, said Jim Mills, vice president of marketing and public affairs.

The new series includes a professional version for schools and a general version that will be sold to parents, Mills said. The professional version contains additional software that allows for 35 simultaneous users and gives updates on student performance. Scientific Learning is not planning the launch of additional products at this time.

Scientific Learning was founded in February 1996 by four neuroscientists who developed the Fast ForWord program. Mills would not disclose the revenues of the privately-held company.

Scientific Learning also hopes to attract attention through its Bookshelf offering, which coincides with the software tutorial. Bookshelf includes five illustrated stories available in a traditional book format with either a CD-ROM or compact disc. The books can be read on their own or the computer or CD-player can read them to the child. This will allow teachers to send books home to get extra help with their parents.

"The push toward accountability in schools is a perfect trend for us," Mills said.

Contact: Scientific Learning can be reached at (888)-665-9707.

Knowledge Adventure Broadens Brand Identity In New Markets With Licensing

Havas Interactive's Knowledge Adventure (Torrance, CA) has licensed the characters in its JumpStart series of software to Scholastic Corp. (New York), which will produce a line of educational workbooks for the school market, EER has learned.

The workbooks are intended to stand apart from the software and support what students learn all year, not just in the JumpStart software, a Knowledge Adventure spokesperson told EER. The workbooks are set to launch in the fall and will cover the same pre-K through grade six levels that the software does, the spokesperson said.

Licensing partnerships are an important component to building the brand recognition of a company in new, but related markets. Knowledge Adventure's publishing program due to the recognition that can be obtained in new markets. The products also become more attractive when two strong brands are partnered together.

For example, the company has a deal with Kaplan, which is well known in the test preparation market.

Contact: Knowledge Adventure can be reached at (310) 793-0600.

Colleges Jump At Chance To List Online Courseware Through Electronic Campus

The Electronic Campus, which links students seeking distance learning classes to participating universities, has received an influx in the amount of courses students can search through due to its intense efforts to market the program.

Electronic Campus, which was established by the Southern Regional Education Board (Atlanta), has linked more than 20,000 students to 1,500 courses in 1999, compared with just 100 courses and a couple hundred students last year, said Bracey Campbell, SREB's director of communications. SREB has sent out direct mail promotions to colleges and universities as the educational representatives in the 16 participating states personally contacted the colleges, Campbell said.

Electronic Campus, at www.srec.sreb.org, is expecting more attention with the launch of a national advertising campaign in July and August. SREB includes the 16-state region from Delaware and Florida in the east, to Texas and Oklahoma in the mid-west.

The program does not participate in the creation of courses and is not involved in the distance learning process. Electronic Campus acts as a one-stop shopping place for students looking to enroll in classes. "Instead of searching each university individually, students can come to just one site," Campbell told EER.

Electronic Campus receives about $400,000 in annual funding from the legislature in the 16 states included in SREB and through private grants, Campbell said.

He added that Electronic Campus may eventually have universities pay to have their courses listed or charge students to access the system, but those plans are "further down the road," Campbell added. The funds would be used to aid the cost of overhead.

The typical students include those who are trying to add to their current course offerings, and older adults looking for initial job skills or to refresh the training they already have, Campbell said.

Electronic Campus is also offering free access to Georgia's Galileo virtual library. Registered students will be able to access a database of more than 3,800 scholarly journals and books with about 1,500 available in full text.

Contact: Electronic Campus can be reached at (404) 875-9211.

Educational Video Conferencing To Move Beyond Corporate Training

Educational Video Conferencing, a company which acts as the conduit between educators and students, is looking to branch out beyond the corporate training market and into test preparation and basic job skills courses for the high school and college markets.

Educational Video Conferencing (Yonkers, NY) works with four universities to provide continuing education to the employees of seven corporations and wants to increase the number of participants in both of those segments, said chief financial officer Richard Goldenberg.

EVC also wants to take its programming into public school districts and provide test preparation courses for students planning to take college or graduate school entrance exams. The company recently completed an initial public offering, which generated $13.4 million that will be used to purchase and install video conferencing equipment, increase its marketing initiatives and hire new staff.

EVC generated net revenues of $352,000 in 1998 on a net loss of $2.7 million. Losses are expected to continue through 1999.

Contact: Educational Video Conferencing can be reached at (914) 395-3501.

EchoStar's Dish Network Education Unit Is A New Face In Broadcast Education

EchoStar Communications Corp. (Littleton, CO) is donating 1,000 satellite dishes and 40 hours of air time to broadcast school safety programming developed by the National Education Association and the Learning First Alliance.

1 2 Next »

If you would like to discuss any of the issues raised in this article with hundreds of other Education & Distance Learning enthusiasts from around the world, please feel free to visit the discussion forums & post a message.

Discuss this article in the discussion forums now.

Popular Education & Distance Learning Discussions From The Past

What schools offer MS in Computer Science via distance learning? (3 posts)
by Glen Pop - Last post on: 02-10-04 07:22
In my brief search so far, I've found USC (http://den.usc.edu/) and DePaul (http://www.cs.depaul.edu/programs/). Thanks. ... (Read More)

Re: INFIDEL DOGS. YOU WILL ALL DIE (13 posts)
by Love Not War - Last post on: 08-03-03 15:24
jjwinkle@concentric.net (J Winkler) wrote in message news:... > > Byker > > >>worldjihad@maktoob.com (Islamic Jihad) > > >just nuke the fuckers. > > >YOU WILL ALL DIE!!!!!!! > > > And those of us graced with the knowledge of other ways to human > harmony get the remarkable task of ... (Read More)

Mark Israel is a Snitch! (1 posts)
by bobblehead - Last post on: 04-07-04 21:31
Just wanted to check this out and say that our good friend Mark Israel is still woking as an unpaid snitch, "AND" as a suck-up for John Bear!!! I suggest everyone close their blinds and curtains, Israel has a new pair of binoculars. It's me Mark, James ... (Read More)

Help pay for school by taking part in clinical studies (1 posts)
by Brian - Last post on: 06-30-04 16:02
News Items in alt.medical.sales.jobs.offered- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -0.testmisc.education.medicalculist.clinical_trialsjpmed.clinical.miscfr.bio.paramedicalalt.medical.sales.jobs.offeredalt.medical.sales.jobs Wh... (Read More)

You must register before posting in the Education & Distance Learning discussion forums. It's free & only takes a few seconds. Please also remember that no advertising is allowed...
Enter The Forums Here