Wharton Extends Experience-Based Learning Methodology To Other Schools Through Software Licensing Agreement

Business Wire, Feb 13, 2003

Business Editors

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 13, 2003

Pearson Addison Wesley Will Distribute Software Developed by Wharton's Alfred P. West Jr. Learning Lab

Business students around the world will have access to the Wharton School's experiential-based learning methodology through a software licensing agreement between Wharton and Pearson Addison Wesley, the world's leading educational publisher (a Pearson company, NYSE: PSO).

The agreement launches the Wharton Addison-Wesley Business Series of interactive software simulations in business, finance and economics, and sets a foundation for management education that delivers upon the need for students to learn through experience developed in real-world, real-time scenarios.

Since founding the Alfred West Jr. Learning Lab in 2001 as a center and laboratory for exploring new approaches to learning, Wharton has led in learning innovation by deploying advanced technologies in ways that enhance how professors teach and students learn. Today's agreement delivers on a promise of the Learning Lab to contribute to academia and industry by disseminating technology-enhanced materials and world-class research.

"Knowledge is created to be distributed," said Gerard McCartney, PhD, chief information officer and associate dean of the Wharton School. "Wharton is committed to finding new ways of learning using technology and building on an experiential-based approach. By licensing software applications to other schools through the Wharton Addison-Wesley Business Series, Wharton is able to share its vision for this new educational model."

MBA students at Wharton currently have access to 15 software simulations that were created and developed at the Learning Lab. Products include Wharton Securities Exchange (WSX), a dynamic, real-time trading environment; Fare Game, an airline price simulation; the Online Trading and Investment Simulator (OTIS), which allows student "fund managers" to buy and sell equities using real-time data from today's markets; and Oil Production Equilibrium (OPEQ), a simulation that puts students in the shoes of decision-makers from oil-producing nations.

For Wharton, this software licensing agreement advances the strategy of using technology to improve research and learning not only at Wharton, but also at institutions throughout the world. Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) is the standard for academic data research, and is used by 20,000 faculty and students through licensing agreements with 79 business schools. WRDS puts 1.5 terabytes of business data online, giving researchers point-and-click access to financial information and allowing them to concentrate on analysis rather than information gathering. Wharton realizes licensing revenues from WRDS in excess of $2 million per year.

Pearson Addison Wesley is a leading publisher of textbooks and digital products for higher education, and will be the exclusive distributor of software developed by Wharton's Alfred P. West, Jr. Learning Lab. The Wharton Addison-Wesley Business Series will be available via Pearson Education's CourseCompass, the e-learning platform powered by Blackboard, and will launch in 2003 for students in nearly 1,200 graduate business programs worldwide, as well as executive and corporate training programs.

"Real-time scenarios bring business, finance and economics to life for students," said Jim Behnke, president, Pearson Addison Wesley. "We're pleased to partner with Wharton, one of the world's most renowned business schools, to provide these dynamic, interactive learning tools."

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is recognized around the world for its academic strengths across every major discipline and at every level of business education. Founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school in the nation, Wharton has approximately 4,600 undergraduate, MBA, and doctoral students, more than 8,000 participants in its executive education programs annually, and an alumni network of more than 75,000 worldwide.

Educating 100 million people worldwide, Pearson Education is the global leader in integrated educational publishing. With such renowned brands as Pearson Prentice Hall, Pearson Longman, Pearson Addison Wesley, Pearson Allyn & Bacon, and many others, Pearson Education provides quality professional development, content, assessment tools and educational services in all available media to a worldwide marketplace, spanning the learning continuum from birth through college and beyond.

Pearson Education is part of Pearson (NYSE: PSO), the international media company, whose primary operations include the Financial Times Group and the Penguin Group.