Classroom Connect Launches First Internet EducationHub; A Home Base for Teachers and Students on...

FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 8, 1999--

Classroom Connect (www.classroom.com), the leader in Internet-based curriculum and training for K-12 classrooms, today announced the launch of the first comprehensive education hub on the Internet.

This hub is designed to be

Classroom Connect's mission is to support educators in transforming the classroom learning experience into one that is dynamic, enriching and engaging for students. Classroom Connect's education hub will serve as a backdrop for K-12 classroom activities, including extensive, free resources available to teachers and students to fully integrate the Internet into classroom curriculum.

The initial launch of the hub, featuring the educators' community component, will occur on June 22, 1999, at the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in Atlantic City, N.J. Free resources on the site will include thousands of valuable Web links that are pre-researched by Classroom Connect's cybrarians for their educational value, browsable by curriculum topic and grade level.

Other resources include lesson plans for math, science, social studies and language arts; surveys and posting of educator feedback on key classroom and industry issues; Classroom Connect Newsletter extracts; a calendar of daily educational activities; a teacher contact database; teacher message boards and discussion groups with best practices topics; teaching tips; an Internet glossary of terms; and fun activities including contests.

Classroom Connect's education hub will provide a central meeting place where educators can network, collaborate, obtain assistance in meeting evolving technology standards and find professional development resources and creative solutions to address the increasing demands being placed upon them in the new Digital Age.

Future plans for the education hub include free e-mail accounts for teachers, chat rooms, links to state standards sites/databases and a classroom-based area for students with a different curriculum topic delivered each week.

"The launch of our education hub is a landmark event for our company and the education marketplace," said Classroom Connect CEO Judith Hamilton. "Classroom Connect has always supported the educator and now will be able to do so even more comprehensively. With the curriculum, resources, training materials and mechanism for educator feedback that are available in our hub, we can quite literally `give a voice to the educator online,' and thereby help teachers change the face of K-12 education in the U.S."

Classroom Connect will offer a wide range of incentives encouraging educators to visit the hub over the "100 Days of Summer." These include, for every educator who registers on the site, a gift certificate for the purchase of Classroom Connect products and automatic entry into 500 prize drawings to take place between June 22 and Sept. 30.

Prizes will include free subscriptions to the upcoming AsiaQuest adventure learning expedition, free Internet literacy and curriculum products and free admissions to Classroom Connect's Internet/technology training conferences and Connected University, the company's revolutionary new online staff development solution for K-12 educators.

Classroom Connect is an Internet company focused on K-12 education. Classroom Connect provides an integrated array of products and services to the education space, including professional development services, Internet-based curriculum materials, adventure learning expeditions, educational resources and the easiest way to find the best educational materials on the Web.