Cognitive Arts Celebrates 5thAnniversary.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 17, 1999--

e-Learning Leader in Development of Corporate Training

and Education Solutions Opens San Francisco Office

Cognitive Arts Corp., formerly Learning Sciences Corporation, today marked its five-year anniversary as a leading developer

The office is the latest expansion of the company's Custom Development Division, which offers corporations and other large organizations an array of technology-enabled education and training solutions that improve employee performance and move employees up the learning curve faster. Cognitive Arts' Custom Development Division customers include Eaton, First Union Corporation, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, Merrill Lynch and Nortel, among many others.

Cognitive Arts offers solutions that can meet virtually any training need, from operating a computer terminal, to providing effective customer service, to selling a product, to conducting a successful negotiation, to reinforcing the corporate value system. The firm's Custom solutions are based on Roger Schank's theories of goal-based learning - a learning environment, which allows the user to learn the skills and procedures just in time as they try to solve a realistic problem. The products have been proven effective by research and customer experience with hundreds of thousands of corporate and government agency employees over the past 5 years.

Roger Schank is Professor of Computer Science, Psychology and Education and Director of the Institute for the Learning Sciences (ILS) at Northwestern University, which he founded in 1989. ILS is an internationally acclaimed educational technology R&D lab, dedicated to applying the principles of cognitive science, educational theory, computer science, and artificial intelligence to improving learning experiences and curricula. A commercial spin-off of the ILS, Cognitive Arts benefits from the $40 million in R&D funding invested in ILS over the past decade. Roger Schank serves as chairman and chief technology officer of Cognitive Arts.

An internationally recognized expert in bringing together proven learning theory and technology, Roger Schank's research spans more than 30 years. He is the author of 18 books, including Tell Me a Story: A New Look at Real and Artificial Memory; The Connoisseur's Guide to the Mind: How We Think, How We Learn, and What It Means to Be Intelligent; Engines for Education (with Chip Cleary), and Virtual Learning: A Revolutionary Approach to Building a Highly Skilled Workforce. His newest book is Dynamic Memory Revisited, a revision of his early groundbreaking work in memory and learning.

Cognitive Arts, originally founded as Learning Sciences Corporation, was created by Roger Schank in 1994 when he saw the opportunity to help transform the learning process for corporate America. According to Schank, the timing was right, since both organizations and individuals had become much more receptive to technology and since corporations were demanding more efficient and effective alternatives to traditional corporate training and development.

"Over the past five years, we have experienced great acceptance from leading companies who recognize Cognitive Arts' effective, innovative approach to helping people learn," said Schank. "That acceptance has not only fueled the growth of Cognitive Arts' corporate training business, but indicates a broader societal shift in its understanding of how people learn in all settings."

William Frank, chief operating officer and executive vice president of Cognitive Arts, said: "We at Cognitive Arts, along with many economic analysts, expect an explosion in the growth of corporate and consumer demand for technology-enabled education and training. Cognitive Arts builds systems based on Schank's theory, our unique computer architecture, and an unmatched, in-depth knowledge of how to acquire and organize our customer's content and expertise. This approach has enabled Cognitive Arts to grow into a major player in the industry, as we continue to attract a diverse group of clients, from large companies, to smaller business to universities."

The new San Francisco office is Cognitive Arts' third expansion in five years. The company also recently opened a new headquarters office in New York City and an office in Boston, which has tripled in size to become the company's second largest development office. In its first three years of operation, the Chicago office experienced a similar growth spurt, expanding from a staff of six to about 100 professionals.

"Given the strong need for corporate training required by the large number of companies located in the region, we expect a similar fast-growth track for San Francisco," said Michael Korcuska, managing director of the Cognitive Arts Custom Development Division.

With over 150 employees in New York, Boston, Chicago, and now San Francisco, Cognitive Arts applies its philosophy of learning, unique software architecture, and extraordinary approach to customized content acquisition and organization to improve overall employee performance and the effectiveness of corporate training.