ePals Launches Learning Pages: A Platform for Educational Publishers with Dynamic, Collaborative Content to Engage a Global K-12 Community

HERNDON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ePals, Inc., the largest social learning network globally, today announced its new Learning Pages partner program. The Learning Pages platform enables educational content providers to engage schools, parents and students across the entire suite of ePals products with their own collaborative programming. Organizations including Kids.NationalGeographic.com, International Reading Association, Common Sense Media, SnagFilms, and Microsoft Partners in Learning now have dedicated community areas where they can reach key constituent audiences. Millions of teachers, students and parents routinely interact with ePals products to find digital content and collaborate in a safe social learning environment.

“Our ePals Learning Page directly connects our organization with 25 million parents and students worldwide, enabling us to easily share interactive, media-rich content with our key demographic”

Learning Pages lets school communities access high quality, subject-based media like educational games, podcasts, and online exhibits, as well as guided classroom activities, discussion forums, and links for teachers to collaborate on projects with other classrooms around the world. Educational content providers interested in creating an ePals page can submit an inquiry here: www.epals.com/submitapage.

“As education goes digital, content providers need meaningful ways to reach 21^st century classrooms, and classrooms are in search of great educational content,” said Ed Fish, president of ePals. “ePals Learning Pages is a win-win, bringing publishers and learners from more than 700,000 classrooms worldwide together in a targeted, interactive channel. The success of Facebook’s Pages offering proves that when it comes to community content delivery, the Page format works. ePals Learning Pages enhances that format by offering truly substantive, results-oriented educational media to the world’s largest K-12 learning network in a safe, trusted Web 2.0 environment.”

Uniquely serving the needs of both content providers and users, ePals Learning Pages allows publishers to focus a variety of educational media and activities on a monthly educational theme and then fuse user communities around that theme. For example, in support of the ePals featured topic of weather this month, SnagFilms is using its Learning Page to explore water sources and natural disasters using videos, suggested classroom exploration topics, and student discussion forums.

"Content plus context enriches the learning experience," said Rick Allen, CEO of SnagFilms. "The Learning Pages initiative brings award-winning films from our library together with the pedagogical resources and ePals community and technology tools to create a remarkable resource for teachers and students. We saw its power during the testing phase, and are delighted to join this broader roll-out."

National Geographic Kids is using the Learning Pages Program to educate classroom communities on topics like animals, and International Reading Association is featuring projects and insights on child literacy. Microsoft Partners in Learning is showcasing InterroBang, its socially networked online problem solving game, to help teachers connect service-learning and social responsibility to their classroom curriculum. InterroBang encourages students to develop 21st century skills through project- and team-based learning in game-like environments.

Common Sense Media is using the program to engage parents both at school and at home on Internet safety and online behavior to help parents make informed decisions about their children’s use of online media.

“Our ePals Learning Page directly connects our organization with 25 million parents and students worldwide, enabling us to easily share interactive, media-rich content with our key demographic,” said Jim Steyer, CEO and founder, Common Sense Media. “Featuring Common Sense Media in an ePals Learning Page means that parents not only have access to important resources to help them manage the media and technology in their kids’ lives – they can also connect with one another, share thoughts and experiences, and work as a community to make smarter choices for their families.”

ePals reviews all Learning Pages content for audience appropriateness before content is published. Learning Pages that receive high content ratings from users will be selected for featured placement and promotion throughout the ePals community sites.

More information about Learning Pages can be found at www.corp.epals.com.

About ePals, Inc.

A privately-held education technology company, ePals, Inc., has created the world’s largest K-12 learning network. ePals offers primary and secondary schools, teachers, students, and parents worldwide a safe and secure platform for building educational communities, providing quality digital content and facilitating collaboration for effective 21st century learning. ePals is used by more than 700,000 educators and reaches more than 25 million students and parents in 200 counties and territories. Corporate information is available at www.corp.epals.com.

About Kids.NationalGeographic.com

The official website of the National Geographic Kids magazine and winner of the 2010 Webby Award for Best Youth Site. The website consistently aims to inspire children to care about the planet and its inhabitants. The publication is geared toward children ages 6–14 and covers a multitude of topics, including animals, entertainment, science, technology, current events and cultures from around the world.