Center for Innovative LEARNING Technologies Joins With Palm Computing to Sponsor Educational Software Contest for Handheld Devices

Business Wire, Sept 17, 1999

MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 17, 1999--

SRI International and The Concord Consortium Team with Palm

Computing, the Exploratorium, Handspring(TM) and Puma Technology to

Foster Development of Educational Technology Tools for Grades K-12

SRI International -- a leading independent technology innovator and founding member of the Center for Innovative Learning Technologies (CILT) -- announced today that it will join with CILT member The Concord Consortium as well as with Palm Computing, the Exploratorium, Handspring, Puma Technology and others to sponsor a contest to develop educational software applications for handheld computing devices. The goal of the contest is to foster the collaboration of educators and engineers to stimulate development of educational software applications for use by the K-12 educational community.

"We are very excited to be working with exceptional organizations such as Palm Computing, The Concord Consortium, the Exploratorium and Puma Technology to sponsor this contest," said Roy Pea, director of the Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International. "By working together, we hope to stimulate awareness of the limitless potential for handheld devices as a valuable tool for students and educators."

The contest is part of a larger initiative by CILT to foster strategic alliances between the public and the private sectors that stimulate research on innovative, technology-enabled solutions to critical problems in K-12 learning.

About the Contest

Contest entries will be evaluated based on their educational and technical quality, as well as the quality and completeness of their documentation, and will be judged by an independent panel appointed by CILT. Judges include Jeff Hawkins, co-founder, chairman and chief product officer of Handspring and inventor of the Palm(TM) connected organizer; David Pogue, author of the best-selling "PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide"; Janese Swanson, designer of "Carmen Sandiego" and president of GirlTech; and a number of students, prominent educators, and others.

Additionally, while applications can be designed for use in any educational setting -- homes, schools or the field -- entries must address topics recognized by the National Science Foundation such as mathematics, science, and technology education, including quantitative social science. Of special note will be applications not practical with desktop personal computers. The implementation cost of the application should be as low as possible to promote use by the broadest range of educators and students. To facilitate rapid development, Puma Technology will be supplying 100 copies of its Satellite Forms(TM) application development tool for the Palm organizer. Satellite Forms enables developers to create complete applications for devices based on the Palm Computing(R) platform without programming.

The CILT Knowledge Network will help educators and technologists meet to form teams for the competition. People can enter their ideas, skills and contact information into the CILT Knowledge Network, allowing people with differing skills to find others with complementary skills and ideas.

Contest winners will be announced at the awards ceremony, which will be webcast live from the San Francisco Exploratorium on March 6, 2000. Winners will be featured on the Palm Computing web site at http://www.palm.com/ and may have the opportunity to become certified as a Palm Platinum developer at no charge. Additionally, the winning software may be sold at the official Palm Computing(R) platform web site. Final entries are due on January 15, 2000.

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     Prizes

Contest prizes are as follows:

--   Grand Prize: A Palm VII(TM) connected organizer, a Handspring
     Visor(TM) expandable handheld computer, a full Code Warrior(TM)
     development environment, a LandWare keyboard, two passes to the
     PalmSource(TM) 2000 conference, one round of free Platinum
     Certification, and a spotlight on the Palm Computing platform
     web site.

--   Second Prize: A Palm VII(TM) connected organizer, a full Code
     Warrior(TM) development environment, a LandWare keyboard and a
     spotlight on the Palm Computing(R) platform web site.

--   Best in Each Category: A Palm V(TM) connected organizer and a
     full CodeWarrior(TM) development environment.

Additional prizes to be announced by PalmCentral.com in the form of Palm hardware and accessories.

Entries must use a Palm III(TM) connected organizer and can consist of Palm software, hardware, networking, server software, other technology and user documentation. Parts of the application are allowed to be available from other sources, but some aspect of the application must be original. Contest rules and additional eligibility requirements are stated on the CILT web site at http://kn.cilt.org/palm99/.> To learn more about the participating organizations, use the following URLs:

CILT: http://www.cilt.org/ SRI International: http://www.sri.com/ The Concord Consortium: http://www.concord.org/ Palm Computing: http://www.palm.com/ Exploratorium: http://www.exploratorium.edu/ Handspring, Inc.: http://www.handspring.com/ PalmCentral.com http://www.palmcentral.com/ Puma Technology: http://www.pumatech.com/