PBS & WGBH/Boston to Collaborate On Major Online Professional Development Offering for Educators

PBS & WGBH/Boston to Collaborate On Major Online Professional Development Offering for Educators

PBS TeacherLine to Make Available WGBH Teachers' Domain Online Science Courses

NORFOLK, Va., Jan. 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- PBS today announced a collaboration with the WGBH Education Foundation's Teachers' Domain, bringing Teachers' Domain's state-of-the-art online science courses to PBS TeacherLine's national online professional development service for educators. The announcement was made today by PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger at the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) annual meeting in Norfolk.

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With this agreement, WGBH's award-winning online science programming will be available for the first time with PBS TeacherLine's more than 100 online courses in math, reading/language arts, instructional technology and instructional strategies. The new courses will be ready for distribution through PBS TeacherLine later this spring.

"This important collaboration with Teachers' Domain highlights public broadcasting's critical role in education, combining rich content and programming with enhanced teaching and learning opportunities, and brings about significant efficiencies by leveraging the strengths of public broadcasting's unique local and national system," said Kerger. "Together, this library of courses will help all teachers, particularly in this time of high accountability and the need for all teachers to be highly qualified."

"We're excited to partner with PBS TeacherLine to bring high quality online SCIENCE courses to teachers who believe in and support the high caliber of content provided by public television," says Brigid Sullivan, WGBH's Vice President for Children's, Educational, and Interactive Programming. "With science as part of the 2007 NCLB testing requirements, these courses will give teachers the content they need to help their students."

WGBH and PBS will work together in the coming months to bring the Teachers' Domain courses into the PBS delivery platform, to provide PBS facilitators with strategies for effectively facilitating the science courses and to provide information to local PBS stations so they can align the courses with specific district and state needs. PBS TeacherLine will offer the WGBH Teachers' Domain courses as a special collection that will be available through PBS' course platform.

About PBS

PBS is a media enterprise that serves 354 public noncommercial television stations and reaches almost 90 million people each week through on-air and online content. Bringing diverse viewpoints to television and the Internet, PBS provides high-quality documentary and dramatic entertainment, and consistently dominates the most prestigious award competitions. PBS is a leading provider of educational materials for K-12 teachers, and offers a broad array of other educational services. PBS' premier kids' TV programming and Web site, PBS KIDS Online (http://www.pbskids.org/), continue to be parents' and teachers' most trusted learning environments for children. More information about PBS is available at http://www.pbs.org/, one of the leading dot-org Web sites on the Internet.

About PBS TeacherLine

PBS TeacherLine is committed to helping teachers acquire the skills they need to prepare students for a successful future. PBS TeacherLine provides high-quality, affordable professional development through facilitated, online courses, collaborative learning communities, and exemplary Internet-based resources. Currently, more than 100 courses across multiple subject areas are offered. Teachers can earn continuing education units, professional development points and graduate credits for course completion. The courses have been developed in conjunction with leading education organizations, including Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL), Education Development Center (EDC), Concord Consortium, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and International Society for Technology Education. Created in 2000, PBS TeacherLine is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education for $6,046,811. This represents approximately 85 percent of the total program funding. The remaining 15 percent is funded through in-kind support from PBS and through program income. For more information, visit http://www.pbs.org/teacherline.

About Teachers' Domain

The award-winning Teacher's Domain supports educators in their quest for materials and new media applications that go beyond static textbook presentation to engage students by providing media-rich resources infused with practical real world applications. Developed from high-quality, critically- acclaimed and trusted information sources such as the award-winning PBS science programs NOVA, ZOOM, and A Science Odyssey, the free Teachers' Domain collections currently include nearly 1,000 resources for students and teachers covering the sciences and history. Additionally, Teachers' Domain has developed online professional development courses that assist K-12 life and physical science teachers in effectively utilizing the collections, which are available by license to educational service agencies, districts, schools, and universities for delivery to the K-12 teachers they serve. For more information about Teachers' Domain, please visit http://www.teachersdomain.org/.

About WGBH

WGBH is the leading producer of PBS prime-time programs and online content, a major producer for public radio, and a pioneer in educational multimedia (including the Web, broadband, and interactive television) and in technologies and services that make media accessible for people with disabilities. WGBH is also recognized as one of the nation's leading producers of media-based resources to support teacher training and student learning. Focusing on both content and methodology at all grade levels, these products represent effective standards-based teaching in classrooms across the country, and address a wide variety of subject areas and educational challenges.

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Source: PBS

CONTACT: Kevin Dando of PBS, +1-703-739-5073, kdando@pbs.org; or Olivia
Wong of Teachers' Domain: WGBH Boston, +1-617-300-5349, olivia_wong@wgbh.org

Web site: http://www.pbs.org/
http://www.teachersdomain.org/

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