Verizon Awards West Virginia Schools $48,000 for Online Resources

• By David Nagel
• 11/27/07

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The Verizon Foundation has awarded $48,000 to the West Virginia Department of Education. The grant will be used to provide train teachers in the use of Verizon's Thinkfinity and to raise awareness of the online portal.

Thinkfinity is a Web-based program that provides access to about 55,000 educational resources, including lesson plans and interactive tools and materials for K-12 students. Resources are targeted toward K-12 education, covering eight subject areas, including math, English, and science. Content is provided by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the International Reading Association, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, National Center for Family Literacy, National Council on Economic Education, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Council of Teachers of English, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, National Geographic Society, ProLiteracy Worldwide, and the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

"During the past decade, West Virginia's educational technology efforts have led the nation," said West Virginia Superintendent of Schools Steve Paine in a statement released earlier this month. "However, as we step further into the 21st century, we face many challenges. Thinkfinity is one tool we have to help teachers move beyond a superficial fluency with technology so that they feel comfortable integrating technology tools into their lesson plans."

West Virginia will be provided with free access to Thinkfinity, as well as:

• "Comprehensive" teacher training for Thinkfinity, provided through partners like education departments; and
  
• State-aligned Thinkfinity resources, available through an educator-resource portal on the Thinkfinity site.

Verizon recently announced that it will award $1.2 million in grants to schools in Alabama, California, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Read More:

• West Virginia Department of Education
• Verizon Foundation
• Thinkfinity

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About the author: David Nagel is the executive editor for 1105 Media's online education technology publications, including THE Journal and Campus Technology. He can be reached at [email protected].

Proposals for articles and tips for news stories, as well as questions and comments about this publication, should be submitted to David Nagel, executive editor, at [email protected].