eChalk and Thinkronize Bring Successes of Technology Immersion to Schools Nationwide
Media Contacts:
Dan Morris, eChalk: 646.723.3406; 917.596.0780; dmorris@echalk.com
Audrey Mann Cronin, Thinkronize: 914.861.2009; 914.260.9651; audrey@manncroninpr.com
Austin, Texas (February 6, 2008)— eChalk and Thinkronize, two developers of education technology products, announced today at the Texas Computer Education Association Conference (TCEA) that they will partner to offer schools nationwide a safe and secure online learning environment with standards-based digital content. The partnership grows out of the Technology Immersion Project (TIP) in Texas, where eChalk and Thinkronize have successfully collaborated since 2004 to offer a user-friendly package of products and services that have delivered solid academic results in K-12 schools.
With complete safety and security, all registered school and district users will be able to access eChalk's communications platform and, through a single, convenient sign-on, Thinkronize's netTrekker d.i. educational search engine. This product integration comes as industry insiders and educational experts recognize that classrooms immersed in technology can help students learn faster and in greater depth, enabling instructors to cover curriculum more quickly, build innovation and standards into their daily teaching, and advance cooperative problem-solving.
“TIP is driven by a public-private partnership in which school districts, working closely with the state, outline what they need and the private sector responds with customized solutions,” said Torrance Robinson, President and Co-Founder of eChalk, whose products and services have been implemented throughout Texas and around the country. “Together we have seen that when the right technology products and services are implemented effectively, and teachers receive the right training and support, students meet high achievement standards. It makes sense to replicate this model nationally.”
Every classroom that incorporates the eChalk-Thinkronize integrated solution will be able to facilitate targeted instruction that reaches every child’s learning level while encouraging critical thinking.
“Educators want to provide their students with a safe and effective way of searching the web that generates targeted, curriculum-driven results, and that’s what we deliver,” said Christine Willig, President of Thinkronize, whose netTrekker d.i. educational search engine has been successfully implemented throughout Texas and across the country. “Working collaboratively with eChalk, we can provide schools and districts with an integrated solution that will positively impact student achievement.”
That solution has the power to alter the landscape of learning because it enables technology to transform not only how students and teachers interact but also how the physical and virtual environments intersect.
“Once TIP took off, it was as if the entire climate changed in every classroom,” said Jeri Hodges, a TIP team liaison and expert on technology-infused classrooms. “Students were completing sophisticated multimedia presentations with astonishing speed and originality as teachers guided them through intense group conversations about the problems they were trying to solve. It’s not simply about wiring schools with computers. It’s really about giving students a whole new way to learn and teachers a whole new way to teach, drawing upon the best tools and resources available.”
About eChalk
Founded in 1999 in New York City, eChalk is committed to helping K-12 schools succeed by providing a comprehensive online environment that supports leadership, teaching, and learning. eChalk gives everyone in the district—administrators, teachers, students, and parents—the tools they need to be successful, all within a single integrated infrastructure that is easy and cost-efficient to implement. A school or district has complete control over access to email, online discussions, and all communication and Web publishing tools. This control allows students to communicate and access powerful learning tools safely and securely, while teachers and administrators can post information about class and school events without worrying that outsiders might gain access to that information. By improving communication and collaboration, eChalk helps K-12 districts achieve their learning and instructional goals. eChalk’s comprehensive online learning environment was designed specifically for K-12 schools, based on thousands of hours of research. It is a service-supported solution complete with long-term project planning, customized on-site professional development, and ongoing technical support to guarantee successful implementation in any school district. Key applications include an online classroom; moderated blogs;/online discussions; web pages for departments, teams, and clubs; an email system; file storage; grade publishing; and a lesson planner capability that saves teachers time and allows curriculum leaders and principals to run comprehensive reports on teachers' coverage of curriculum standards and identify gaps. For more information, visit www.echalk.com
About Thinkronize
Founded in 1999, Thinkronize is a leader in the digital delivery of K-12 educational content and is dedicated to enhancing the education of today’s youth with highly effective technologies that deliver the rich educational value of the Internet to every child in a safe, relevant, easy-to-use format. With the mission to help every child learn and a belief that technology can transform education, Thinkronize was first to market with a standards-based educational search engine, utilizing the services of Academic Benchmarks (www.AcademicBenchmarks.com), the premier provider of comprehensive standards-based K-12 educational databases, alignment tools and integration products. Thinkronize’s flagship product, netTrekker d.i., is the #1 educational search engine in K-12 schools and is currently used in over 20,000 schools worldwide. The company’s consumer product, netTrekker home, gives parents and students whose school or district has not yet purchased a netTrekker d.i. subscription access to its 180,000+ educator-selected resources. Peers, educators and parents have honored Thinkronize and the netTrekker product suite over 20 times for their contribution to education. Most recently, netTrekker d.i. was named the 2007 Best Education Solution in SIIA's CODiE award competition. In addition, Thinkronize was named to the 2007 Inc. 5000 and 2006 Inc. 500 lists as one of the fastest growing private companies in the United States. The company was founded by Robert Reinders and currently serves over 11 million students in all 50 states, including adoptions by key districts and states nationwide. For more information, visit www.Thinkronize.com.
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