TouchSmart Publishing and 24/7 Educational Services Announce Strategic Technology Partnership
TouchSmart and 24/7 have strategically partnered to develop and deploy teacher professional development (PD) courses using TouchSmart's innovative technology that turns the PD book into a remote control for 24/7's web-based PD courses.
Cincinnati, OH (PRWEB) February 1, 2005 -- TouchSmart Publishing, LLC and
24/7 Educational Services, LLC today announced a strategic partnership to
develop and deploy teacher professional development (PD) courses. As part of the
agreement TouchSmart Publishing has agreed to develop and offer courses through
24/7 Educational Services’ website - www.my247ed.com - and paper-based catalogs that uses the
technology.
According to Jason Barkeloo, President of TouchSmart
Publishing, “Training teachers to implement our easy-to-use technology platform
is an important goal in our quest to deploy our technology.” Barkeloo added
that, “Interactive textbooks and flash cards based upon our technology promise
to connect more students to digital content.”
Tod Whitman, President and
CEO of 24/7 Educational Services, explained that, “24/7 is pleased to deploy
TouchSmart’s professional development course targeting teachers around the
world. Exposing teachers to break-through technologies that impact learning
allows them to be ahead of the deployment curve, instead of running to catch up.
A teacher will register for a course through our catalog in which a professional
development book is delivered to the teacher. The teacher can then sit down in
front of the computer or television and interact directly with the digital
content of the course by pressing pictures and words on the pages.”
24/7
Educational Services reaches teachers around the world. In order for teachers to
maintain licensure and certifications they frequently are required by their
respective State laws to participate in continuing education courses. In this
era of teacher accountability with legislative mandates like No Child Left
Behind (NCLB), States and teachers are increasingly turning to online PD
courses. Receiving courses in the comfort of their offices, classrooms, and
homes that meet these requirements reduces the onus many teachers experience by
having to get a substitute and taking courses during the school day, when
students would be better served without their absence.
Whitman continued,
“Too many times PD opportunities are viewed as a “quick fix”, versus a beginning
or continuum of learning. The analogy of a still-camera and a movie-camera works
well. Still-camera - Often, traditional PD has very defined times – whether a
day or several days. Motion-camera - With our web-based courses, there’s time
for implementation and reflection, as our courses are available to the educator
for up to a year after the course is completed. Educators are encouraged and
able to interact with the instructors even after the course is completed. By
having content in a digital form, book marked in a browser, the need for stacks
of reference manuals or notebooks dog-eared sitting on shelves with good
intentions, becomes a thing of the past. The TouchSmart product puts both at the
touch of your fingers.”
Barkeloo notes, “Teachers have to achieve
professional development standards and this is a cost-effective method for
distributing content to them. We believe this is the best way to help teachers
meet their continuing education requirements while at the same time exposing
them to our new technology.”
The terms of the agreement were not
disclosed.
This deployment will occur in two phases. The first phase will
have the course available and accessible only through the on-line environment.
Courses will be available within 90 days and listed in the course offering
catalogs being produced and distributed by 24/7 Educational Services. In the
second phase the teacher will receive the TouchSmart course “book” through the
mail. This book will enable the teacher to access additional course content in a
multi-media format by simply touching words and pictures in the book and having
it call up the content from the web or a DVD player attached to a
television.
Whitman concluded that, “Coupling our two technologies to
deliver PD courses to teachers is a ‘win-win’ strategy. As the teacher selects
courses that are often paid for by the State or school district, we believe the
teacher will try cutting edge courses and technologies such as those offered by
TouchSmart. 24/7’s goal is to deliver PD content in a convenient way to teachers
and the TUI-based technology is exactly inline with our goals.”
About
TouchSmart Publishing, LLC.
TouchSmart Publishing is a developmental-stage
company. It provides a solution to distribute educational content through its
proprietary touch-sensitive books to K-12 education market with a particular
emphasis upon math, science, and special education needs students. In
partnership with content owners, the Company connects paper and digital contents
by providing the technology to create easy-to-use interactive textbooks. By
touching pages in a book the student is able to connect to digital content
because the book becomes a remote control to multimedia content. Its remote
controlled textbook touch user interface (TUI) technology connects to Macintosh,
PC, and televisions via a DVD player. As a result, TouchSmart Publishing
provides a bridge over the digital divide for more students, regardless of
learning style, special needs or socioeconomic position.
TouchSmart is a
Main Street Ventures company.
http://www.digitalrhine.com/
For more information,
please visit the TouchSmart Publishing web site at http://www.touchsmart.net.
About 24/7 Educational
Services LLC.
24/7 Educational Services, www.my247ed.com is a privately held education company founded
in 2001. Its founders – all current or former teachers and administrators, have
a broad technical, engineering and business backgrounds and a rich history of
creating and teaching courses throughout the United States and overseas. www.my247ed.com aggregates,
develops, markets and delivers professional development and college/university
credit courses in compliance with the standards and procedures set forth by
individual States. All courses offered on the www.my247ed.com site are approved or accredited per the
requirements of each individual State and their respective State Education
Boards’. Courses are then made available online, via CD-ROM, video-cassette,
audio-cassette, streaming video, a combination of several, or through the
traditional classroom setting, and can be completed at the discretion of the
educator over a year's time. Users of www.my247ed.com's site can easily track professional
development opportunities and credit hours completed with www.my247ed.com or independently
of www.my247ed.com within a
secure area of the of www.my247ed.com's Professional Development Management System
(PDMS) on its website.
The products and services 24/7 Educational
Services delivers allows educators to take courses at their own pace, at a
schedule they set and location they desire. With over 170 courses, this is truly
a one-stop-shopping location for all continuing education needs. It eliminates
the frustrations of searching in several different places for needed
professional development and credit hours by offering the courses all in one
easy location--the Internet. It allows educators to have easy access to a
diverse selection of professional development courses, improving the probability
that the educator finds a subject of interest. It's available at any time, not
simply after school or on Saturday, and eliminates the need to find
transportation.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/2/prweb203919.htm