ACTV Net debuts eSchool Online NEW YORK, NY - ACTV Net, Inc., a division of ACTV, Inc., a leader in the field of individualized educational services, today opened a new era in Internet-based distance learning by introducing eSchool Online, a Java-based Internet service that creates virtual classrooms. Instructors can now create or customize their own virtual learning community by combining Web sites with video-based distance learning programming to create an optimal learning environment. The service will be accessible through ACTV's web-site and consists of three different Java applet interfaces: students, teacher and administrative. At the International Distance Learning Conference (IDLCON) in Washington, DC last week, Bruce J. Crowley, President of ACTV Net stated, "eSchool Online is a forerunner to the future of education. This innovative service has tremendous educational implications such as providing a direct connection between home and school, economizing educational staff development and broadening each student's core curriculum. Instructors can expand their roles to become "educational guides" by exposing students to relevant Web material, thereby facilitating the learning process and enhancing each student's ability to process and retain information. For the student, eSchool stimulates their innate abilities by promoting exploratory and discovery-based learning." eSchool enables instructors to schedule and automate the delivery of relevant educational web-pages directly to a student's computer. This facilitates a dynamic learning environment that connects new content to a instructor's lesson plan through the use of the Internet. Additionally, eSchool CHAT sessions can be conducted by students to share ideas with other students or with their instructors. Dr. Cindi M. Baker, Senior Vice President, ACTV Net, Inc. added "eSchool provides schools, colleges and corporations the opportunity to create new instructional content which combines the best of the Internet with their existing instructional programming. eSchool facilitates the integration of Web resources into instructional design so that new models of instruction can be created which bring current information to the learner in a ready to use format under the guidance of a content expert." Instructors, connected to ACTV's Web site through the Internet, access the "instructor applet" to assemble Web material - from the vast amount of educational resources available over the Internet or through their private Intranet - which correspond to or supplement the video based instruction currently delivered. The instructor types the Web address, a description of the address which participants can understand, and the time within the scheduled distance learning lesson that the Web page should automatically appear on a student's computer. Students connect to ACTV's Web site through the Internet, log on and access the "student applet" which receives the Web pages that the instructors have pre-selected and scheduled to be webcast to the students' computers. Also embodied in the student applet is a description of the Web page sent, a CHAT window and a video window. The video can be sent to a window in the student's computer or the video can appear on a television adjacent to the PC. eSchool content can be provided synchronously or asynchronously to accommodate real time learning or learning on demand. ACTV offers instructors training on the multi-faceted uses of the service, enabling them to identify relevant web-pages and synthesize the best educational materials for their student's needs. The Company provides content services, the Java client software and server support.