Contact:
Julie Gates
Sunburst Technology
800-860-4009
jgates@edresources.com

News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SUNBURST OFFERS EDUCATORS A FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO TRY OUT ITS NEW ONLINE PRODUCT FOR K-12 LESSON PLANNING, STANDARDS-BASED PRACTICE ACTIVITIES AND ASSESSMENT

QuickMind.net's collection of standards-based curriculum, project templates, tools, lesson plans, and more grows automatically every week with new content

ORLANDO, Feb. 4, 2003 - At the Florida Educational Technology Conference today leading educational publishers Sunburst Technology and QuickMind invited educators to try QuickMind.net, their new subscription-based online product for schools. Educators may sign up for their free 30-day subscription by visiting http://www.QuickMind.net. Published jointly by Sunburst and QuickMind, QuickMind.net provides educators and students in grades K-12 with extensive lesson-planning, homework and assessment resources at school, home or anywhere that they have an Internet connection. It provides 24-hour access to a wealth of standards-based curriculum, interactive homework assignments, project templates, tools, lesson plans, reference materials and online professional development via a password-protected Web site.

Whether they are new to technology or experienced veterans, QuickMind.net inspires teachers at all skill levels by making it easy for them to be creative in their classroom lessons and keep learning fun and interesting for their students. QuickMind.net helps teachers target their school's standards and instruction goals while providing students with practice in skills from core academic subjects - language arts, math, science and social studies. Most of the site's content is original and was developed by the publishers' team of education doctorates specifically for QuickMind.net. After three years in development and extensive beta testing by 10,000 teachers and students, QuickMind.net is available to schools now on an annual-subscription basis.

Since QuickMind.net is Internet based and there are no CD-ROMs to burn or package, the publishers are able to provide subscribers with a unique product that grows every week. The product development is ongoing, and as new activities and resources are created, they are automatically added to the site once per week. Educators never have to wait for months or do anything to receive the next version because it is all done seamlessly by the publishers, directly on the Internet.

"We can do everything with QuickMind.net on the Internet that we could do with CD-ROMs, but much more efficiently and cost-effectively for schools," said Forest Barbieri, chief executive officer at QuickMind. "Using Flash technology, we provide interactive activities and tutorials up to 15 minutes long that are the same quality as ones that schools would buy on a CD-ROM. Yet with QuickMind.net, schools do not have to make a large investment up front, worry about meeting system requirements or keep track of hundreds of CD-ROMs. With our subscription, they get access to everything on QuickMind.net, including more resources every week, and all they need is an Internet connection."

New Content Weekly:

From when Sunburst began distributing QuickMind.net in December, the most dramatic addition to the product has been its resources for science. An entire "Wonders of Science" application was created to provide comprehensive interactive science labs that explore topics in depth and provide engaging tutorials for students, worksheets, and online experiment ideas. Each lab is printable and runs about 20 pages. Topics for the newest labs include: Astronomy: The Moon, Astronomy: The Inner Planets, Human Body: Circulatory System: My Blood is Red!, Human Body: Circulatory System: My Health and My Heart, Unstable Earth: Volcanoes.

Each of the interactive science labs shows teachers which standards it addresses and provides a number of related resources, including a Glossary, Fact Burgers (quick facts to learn), Too Cool to Miss (scientist biographies, famous people), Extras (activities and follow up exercises), and .PDF (ability to print entire lab and resources).

Other recent content additions to QuickMind.net include:

• More than 30 new practice modules for math in English and Spanish, aligned to national standards.
• More than 30 new practice modules for phonics in English and Spanish, aligned to national standards.
• Correlations in all subject areas to state standards for most states.
• A Web page Creator application that lets teachers and students create their own Web sites.

Pricing & Availability

QuickMind.net is available now as an annual subscription through Sunburst Technology, QuickMind or Educational Resources®. The subscription allows teachers and students to access QuickMind.net on both school and home computers as much as they want. Pricing for QuickMind.net is customized for schools as either a Classroom, Lab, School Site, or District License.

QuickMind.net includes toll-free technical support, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern Time, every business day. For sales and ordering information, customers can call Educational Resources at 800-624-2926. Information about QuickMind.net is also available on www.QuickMind.net.

Company Background

Sunburst Technology publishes award-winning instructional software and videos for the K-12 school market, as well as original multimedia products. Proprietary series in the Sunburst lineup include HyperStudio®, Tenth Planet, HMI, and Little Planet. Top selling titles include Type to Learn, Hot Dog Stand: The Works, Easy Book Deluxe, A to Zap!, Anger! You Can Handle It, and Gossiping, Taunting, Bullying-It's All Harassment. The publisher, a company of Thayer Capital Partners, is headquartered in Elgin, IL, with its development center in Pleasantville, NY.

Founded by Forest Barbieri, who also founded Educational Resources and was one of the three original Davidson & Associates owners, QuickMind, Inc., is based in Chicago, IL. Barbieri, who serves as chief executive officer, established the company after many years of working with and listening to educational leaders in the technology field. A true pioneer in the education industry, Barbieri has dedicated QuickMind to providing resources for the educational community through a comprehensive, yet easy-to-use online learning environment. QuickMind employees are education experts located in both the United States and Russia. Its programmers are leaders in the field and have developed innovative, integrated, and comprehensive products that support American educational standards and objectives. Published educational authors work together with the QuickMind staff in developing standards-based content for QuickMind.net, over 100 print products and CD-ROMs.