Oracle Education Foundation's Think.com Reaches the São Paulo State
Sao Paulo, BRAZIL
09-NOV-2006 08:18 AM
In order to take Think.com-an online learning
community sponsored by Oracle Education Foundation (OEF)-to local and
state public schools, Oracle Brasil and OEF will partner initially with
Prodesp (Companhia de Processamento de Dados do Estado de São
Paulo) and University of São Paulo's Escola do Futuro. Thanks to
Escola do Futuro's researchers, Think.com's pilot project has already
reached two schools in the town of Ubatuba, on São Paulo
coastline, where all schools that are properly equipped will have the
opportunity to join this online educational community.
"Think.com benefits 300,000 students in 48
countries worldwide. Now, Brazilian children and teens can join this
program that stimulates learning beyond geographical boundaries," says
Cyro Diehl, Vice President of Indirect Sales, Oracle Latin America.
According to Diehl, Oracle Brazil and OEF's goal is to extend the
program to all the country through partnerships with local and state
governments, entities and non-profit organizations. "Today Think.com
registers nearly 20,000 students and teachers in 400 schools in Chile
and 5600 active students and teachers in 800 schools across Puerto
Rico. We expect to obtain as much success here as we achieved in these
countries", says the Oracle Vice President.
Escola do Futuro
Escola do Futuro has been an Oracle Education
Foundation partner for three years in support of the OEF's ThinkQuest
International competition. Itis extending its expertise to help build
teachers' skills and develop a method to evaluate the learning process
of the students that use technology in education. For Cesar Nunes,
associate researcher at USP's Escola do Futuro, Think.com's virtual
community provides an educational environment that allows students to
use technology as an effective learning tool. "Think.com is in total
synergy with Escola do Futuro's mission by aligning education with
technology and generating an environment that encourages learning,"
says Nunes. By the end of this year, students and teachers from two
local schools in Ubatuba will have access to leading-edge online
collaboration resources.
By joining the Think.com community,
students get a personal e-mail account and can design their own Web
pages, uploading photos, text, and movies. They can also share
informational content and take part in study and debate groups online
with students and teachers from other schools and countries, in a
secure environment that is monitored by teachers.
Growth Potential
5.1 million students in almost 6,000 state
schools
and 3.5 million students in about 11,000 local schools will be able to
join Think.com thanks to Oracle Brasil and Oracle Education
Foundation's partnership with Prodesp (Companhia de Processamento de
Dados do Estado de Sao Paulo). "We expect to extend Think.com initially
to local schools in Santos, Sao Jose dos Campos, Campinas and Sorocaba,
besides São Paulo's metropolitan region," says Maurício
Gallo Fausto, Local Government Service Manager, Prodesp. "We also have
partnerships with other states for our solutions and we may become one
of the key drivers for this program," says Gallo.
Think.com is a protected online environment
that takes strict measures to protect and ensure the safety of its
member students. For example, Think.com's project' resources
allowteachers to review the students' personal page content. The online
community can only be accessed by registered students and teachers who
have passwords. There is no commercial content in this forum.
About Think.com
Think.com, a program of the Oracle Education
Foundation, provides schools with a protected, interactive online
learning community where students and teachers can share educational
content, collaborate on projects and build knowledge. Think.com is used
by more than 300,000 students in 48 countries and is available in 9
languages. For more information about Think.com, visit
http://www.think.com.
About Oracle
Oracle (NASDAQ GS: ORCL) is the world's largest enterprise software
company. For more information about Oracle, please visit our Web site
at http://www.oracle.com
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