Universal Learning Technology Acquires WebCT
PEABODY, MASS. (May 17) BUSINESS WIRE -May 17, 1999--
Combination Creates Clear Leader in the Marketplace, With an
Installed Base of More than Two Million
Seats at Over 700 Colleges and Universities in 36 Countries
Universal Learning Technology(TM) (ULT), a leading provider of
Internet-based interactive teaching and learning software and tools,
today announced that it has acquired WebCT Educational Technologies
Corporation, a leading developer of tools that facilitate the creation
of sophisticated Web-based educational environments. The combination of
the two companies creates a clear leader in the Web-based learning
marketplace, with the industry's largest installed base of more than
two million seats at over 700 colleges and universities in 36 countries
as well as deep financial, management and marketing resources.
"The acquisition of WebCT by ULT is great news for faculty, students,
institutions of higher education, and publishers," said Carol Vallone,
President and Chief Executive Officer of ULT. "We will continue to
provide faculty with the best tools for building online curricula and
will continue to give students an integrated Web-based learning
environment that is easy to use. We offer colleges and universities a
total solution across the learning enterprise, as well as presenting
publishers with an ideal platform on which to provide the richest
variety of content. ULT is committed to supporting WebCT's current
products, enhancing WebCT development, and maintaining WebCT's
aggressive pricing policies."
"We are thrilled to have found a partner that shares our philosophy and
heritage in teaching and learning," said Murray Goldberg, senior
instructor of Computer Science, University of British Columbia and
President of WebCT Educational Technologies Corporation. "We are also
pleased that ULT's multimedia repository for education content is built
on open standards, making it the perfect complement to WebCT's
Web-based course management system. I am especially excited about ULT
in that our combined plans for the future focus on deepening our
relationship with our customers, enabling us to be even more
responsive, begin new initiatives we previously did not have the
resources for, and to rapidly accelerate our current developments."
"The acquisition of WebCT puts ULT at the forefront of the Web-based
learning marketplace," said David Wetherell, CEO of CMGI, the lead
investor in ULT. "It will accelerate ULT's plan to become the
e-learning hub, offering students, faculty and institutions a Web-based
learning environment that includes high-value content and community."
"We are proud of the fact that WebCT software was developed by Murray
Goldberg while he was at UBC," said Angus Livingstone, associate
director, University-Industry Liason Office, the University of British
Columbia. "As a UBC spin-off company, WebCT has grown into the market
leader in Web-based learning. We are particularly pleased that WebCT,
which will now become ULT Canada, is hiring additional staff for its
Vancouver operations and expanding their premises at the Research
Station on the UBC campus." About WebCT
WebCT is a tool that facilitates the creation of sophisticated World
Wide Web-based educational environments by non-technical users. It can
be used to create entire online courses, or to simply publish materials
that supplement existing courses. WebCT not only produces courses for
the Web, but also uses Web browsers as the interface for the course
building environment. Aside from facilitating the organization of
course material on the Web, WebCT also provides a wide variety of tools
and features that can be added to a course. Examples of these tools
include a conferencing system, online chat, student progress tracking,
group project or organization, student self-evaluation, grade
maintenance and distribution, access control, navigation tools, auto
marked quizzes, electronic mail, automatic index generation, course
calendar, student homepages, course content searches and much more. For
more information about WebCT, view the Web site at
webct.com. About Universal Learning Technology (ULT)
Universal Learning Technology (ULT)(TM) is a leading provider of next
generation, interactive teaching and learning Web-based applications.
ULT's Bravo! product is an education productivity and delivery system
that uses advanced technologies, including the World Wide Web, to
enhance learning performance. Bravo! enables content providers to offer
text and valuable accompanying material such as instructor notes,
related Web sites, audio and video in digital form over the Internet.
Bravo! repositions these existing text assets into dynamic and
compelling interactive environments by allowing students and
instructors to manipulate, customize, communicate about, and add value
to the content. For more information about Bravo!, view the Web site at
ult.net. ULT's educational research partner is the
nationally recognized, not-for-profit Center for Applied Special
Technology (CAST), a group of experts led by a number of Harvard
University School of Education graduates. For more information about
ULT, contact Greg Jarboe, vice president of marketing, at 978-538-0036,
ext. 242, or greg.jarboe@ult.net.
-0- kf/bos*
CONTACT: Universal Learning Technology
Greg Jarboe, 617/306-0207
greg.jarboe@ult.net
or
Schwartz Communications, Inc.
Manya Rossignoli, 781/684-0770
manyar@schwartz-pr.com
or
Abernathy, MacGregor, Frank
Ann Hance, 212/371-5999
amh@abmac.com
KEYWORD: MASSACHUSETTS
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMED COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS
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