FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TECH CORPS Upgrades Award-Winning Web Tutorial for Teachers

WebTeacher Updated to Reflect Changing Technologies

TECH CORPSÒ, the nation's leading nonprofit mobilizing technology volunteers into schools, announced today the completion of an upgrade to its award-winning webTeacherÔ training web site.  WebTeacher is a comprehensive, interactive on-line tutorial designed to help K-12 teachers improve their own technological capabilities.  Sponsored by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) and Cable in the Classroom, webTeacher  (www.webteacher.org) has been online since 1996 and is available free of charge.

"We're pleased to offer these major improvements," said Karen Smith, Executive Director of TECH CORPS. "The Internet is changing rapidly, and the web's potential for positive impact on education has become profound. So it's critical to keep the tutorial up to date, and thanks to Cable in the Classroom, we're able to maintain the high standards that our thousands of educators have come to expect from webTeacher."

Over 30 sections and 125 subsections of information, covering almost every aspect of the web as it pertains to primary and secondary education, have been updated to reflect technological advances and trends. Sections on digital cameras, scanners and web cams have been added, along with new screen shots and resources. The upgrade includes a new streamlined look, but follows some of the fundamentals established in the original webTeacher tutorial, which attracted over 100,000 users every month.

"We know the users have always liked the way webTeacher was organized," says Dr. Mike Guidry, one of the authors of webTeacher and President of LightCone Interactive, which provided support for the technical and design aspects of the TECH CORPS web site, "so we tried to maintain familiar patterns we had already established while giving the tutorial a more current look and feel." LightCone is a multimedia programming and design company specializing in interactive and educational applications.

WebTeacher's subject matter has been re-organized into six main subject areas:

●        Web Basics – navigating and finding things on the Web

●        Communicating – email, newsgroups, and videoconferencing

●        Multimedia – working with image, sound and movie files

●        Homepage construction – building web pages and more advanced programs

●        Peripherals and Utilities – digital cameras, scanners and web cams

●        Web in the Classroom – additional resources, lesson plans and Internet safety.

The webTeacher curriculum automatically accommodates Windows users using Internet Explorer or Mac users using Netscape's browser. Users choose whether to go through the tutorial sequentially or skip around to the sections in the site of most interest to them.

WebTeacher is designed for teachers to use on their own, at their own convenience. TECH CORPS volunteers - technology pros donating their time and talents to schools - are also available to provide online mentoring to those who want more personal attention. Some TECH CORPS volunteers even use this curriculum to train teachers on-site in their own schools.  

TECH CORPS

TECH CORPS (www.techcorps.org) is the leading national nonprofit mobilizing technology volunteers into schools, providing tech support and teacher training. TECH CORPS offers high quality technological resources that enrich K-12 teaching and learning and prepare tomorrow's workforce. Founded in 1995 and sponsored by such companies as Cisco, Compaq and Intel, TECH CORPS engages a nationwide network of thousands of technology volunteers in over two dozen state chapters. TECH CORPS strives for a technologically literate society in which all students have equal access to technology programs, resources and skills to enrich their education and allow them to compete successfully in the global workforce.

CABLE IN THE CLASSROOM