National College for School Leadership (NCSL) Delivers Online Community for Headteachers With LogicaCMG

National College for School Leadership (NCSL) Delivers Online Community for Headteachers With LogicaCMG

LONDON, January 11/PRNewswire/ -- The National College for School Leadership (NCSL) has announced today the
successful rollout of it's upgraded and improved online community learning
environment - talk2learn. The online environment, developed by LogicaCMG,
will provide school leaders and others with the opportunity for professional
dialogue and discussions which lead to school improvement.



LogicaCMG was responsible for the overall end-to-end delivery including
systems integration and hosting of the solution and ongoing management of the
project, with the software being sub-contracted to Fronter AS, based in Oslo.



The new version, designed to improve communication and collaboration
across a community of 250,000 head teachers and school leaders across the UK
and internationally, went live on 16 December 2004 and is officially launched
today at the BETT conference(1) on stands X80 and W65.



Replacing the old 2000 model, the new system brings increased capability
to the online user group and has been warmly welcomed by the teaching
community who have been involved throughout its development. Talk2learn has a
growing user-base of approximately 60,000 users and is designed to be
scalable to 250,000 users. It, has a number of improved features including
live chat facilities, shared live whiteboards, voting functions, document
sharing and collobaration, email notifications and brainstorming tools. This
allows teachers to share knowledge and best practice with their peers.



Tony Richardson, Director of Online Learning at the college commented:
"This new version of talk2learn has been the result of the partnership
between LogicaCMG, Fronter and NCSL , with each partner bringing its unique
skills and understanding to the project. The new software will enable school
leaders to explore new ways of engaging and learning together online and will
ensure that NCSL is able to maintain its innovative, leading edge practice in
the area of online communities. We are very excited about the new software
and already have plans for additional functionality and innovative
developments around knowledge management over next year."



Paul Weatherly, Business Manager for LogicaCMG's UK education practice
adds: "LogicaCMG welcomed NCSL to our growing list of education sector
clients in January 2004. Since then we have worked closely with NCSL and
Fronter to develop what we all believe will greatly assist in delivering
ongoing professional development and management of the teaching community at
large. LogicaCMG's education clients span the whole educational landscape
from early years inspections through to university administration and beyond.
NCSL's position and approach in supporting the teaching profession across
this landscape is unique and we are pleased that the system has been warmly
welcomed by its diverse user community."



Jon Damman, managing director of Fronter says: "We are very pleased with
the success of our Virtual Learning Environment and Online Community Learning
Environment within the UK, and are delighted to have been identified as
partners recently by LogicaCMG and the National College for School
Leadership. The fact that Fronter is installed in 90 percent of all
educational establishments in Scandinavia means that more and more students
can now benefit from accessing their coursework and learning materials
regardless of location. With the new UK installations we are confident that
more students than ever can take advantage of unparalleled standards of
educational flexibility, delivery and accessibility."



(1) BETT 2005 is the technology event of the year for the education
profession and runs from 12th to 15th January 2005 at Olympia, London. Please
visit the LogicaCMG, NCSL or Fronter stands if you require further
information.



NOTES TO EDITORS



About National College for School Leadership (NCSL)



The National College for School Leadership (NCSL) provides career-long
learning and development opportunities, professional and practical support
for England's existing and aspiring school leaders. NCSL's goal is to ensure
that school leaders have the skills, recognition, capacity and ambition to
transform English schools into the best in the world.



About LogicaCMG



LogicaCMG is a major international force in IT services and wireless
telecoms. It provides management and IT consultancy, systems integration and
outsourcing services to clients across diverse markets including public
sector, telecoms, financial services, energy and utilities, industry,
distribution and transport. Formed in December 2002, through the merger of
Logica and CMG, the company employs around 20,000 staff in offices across 34
countries and has nearly 40 years of experience in IT services. Headquartered
in Europe, LogicaCMG is listed on both the London and Amsterdam stock
exchanges (LSE: LOG; Euronext: LOG). More information is available from
www.logicacmg.com



About Fronter



Fronter AS was established in Norway in 1998 and has since then become
one of the leading providers of Virtual Learning Environments to the
education sector, throughout Northern Europe. NCSL is the largest
implementation by Fronter in the UK.



Source: LogicaCMG Plc

Press Contacts: Nicky Rich, PR Officer, LogicaCMG, +44-(0)207-446-4974, Nicky.rich@logicacmg.com


-------
Profile: intent