Pearson, Intel Capital and Ascend Venture Group Invest in Innovative Educational Game Designer, Tabula Digita
Pearson Extends Commitment to Video Games for Learning
New York, NY (PRWEB) April 21, 2010
Pearson, the global leader in education and education technology, has extended its commitment to video games for learning by taking a minority stake in Tabula Digita, a pioneer in educational gaming technology, as part of $4.7 million Tabula Digita financing led by Intel Capital. This represents the third round or Series C funding for Tabula Digita.
For the past year, Pearson and Tabula Digita have offered 3rd - 8th grade classrooms a special line of Tabula Digita's award winning DimensionM math series, called DimensionM Powered by Pearson. The math series, developed by Tabula Digita, is aligned to Pearson's market-leading elementary and middle school programs: Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley enVisionMATH, Prentice Hall Middle Grades Mathematics, and Connected Math - CMP2.
In the new phase of the relationship, Pearson and Tabula Digita have agreed to deepen their partnership and develop new educational games across key content areas of the K-12 curriculum.
About 200,000 young people have enhanced their learning of mathematics through Tabula Digita games since they were introduced in 2007. Students compete to solve problems that are part of the video games, and Tabula Digita has staged tournaments in New York City, Austin, Texas, and other locations that pit elementary and middle school students against their classmates and students from other schools.
"Our partnership with Tabula Digita has shown that students and teachers are enthusiastically engaged with DimensionM," said Pearson's CEO for School Curriculum Peter Cohen. "With 99% of boys and 94% of girls of all racial and ethnic groups and incomes playing games, we want to engage them on their digital turf now. With the DimensionM games like Meltdown, Swarm, Obstacle Course and TowerStorm, we are right there meeting millions of kids in their digital world. Video games have captured the imaginations of our children, as confirmed by research by the Pew Charitable Trust (http://www. pewinternet. org/Press-Releases/2008/Major-new-study-shatters-stereotypes-about-teens-and-video-games. aspx)."
Tabula Digita CEO, Nt Etuk, said, "The investment of Pearson, the online leader in global education, validates the value that educational games bring to student learning. We will continue working with Pearson to align our games to targeted areas of their research-based curriculum programs and to bring our games to even more children here in the U. S., and around the world."
Eileen Lento, Government and Education Strategist at Intel, said, "Tabula Digita's educational games provide a rich landscape of adventure and challenge that appeal to today's learners. Not only do the games engage students, the learners must exercise a skill set that closely maps to the thinking, planning, learning, and technical skills increasingly demanded by employers. This type of educational offering helps to address one of the nation's most pressing needs -- strengthening our education system and preparing workers for 21st century careers."
Research conducted at the University of Central Florida and the University of North Carolina indicate that student performance improved significantly for those students who had access to the DimensionM math games.
Gaming currently features in about 25 products and services throughout Pearson's businesses, including Penguin eBooks on Nintendo DS; Family Education Network's hugely-popular Poptropica; quizzes and word games as part of the digital path of Reading Street, a reading program for young learners; and Criminal Justice Interactive, an experimental learning environment for higher education students in criminal justice.
"Gaming is a central part of Pearson's strategy to engage people of all ages throughout our businesses," said Genevieve Shore, Pearson's director of digital strategy. "We are very excited to extend our partnership with Tabula Digita, which will help us reach more young people eager to learn while having fun through games."
For more information about Pearson, go to www. pearson. com. For more information about Pearson's U. S. education business, go to www. pearsoned. com. For more information about Tabula Digita, go to www. tabuladigita. com or www. dimensionm. com.
Contacts:
Pearson in the U. S.: Kate Miller at 800-745-8489 or kate. miller (at) pearson (dot) com
Pearson in London: Charles Goldsmith at +44-20-7010-2314 or charles. goldsmith (at) pearson (dot) com
About Pearson
Pearson (NYSE:PSO), the education, services, and technology company, reaches and engages today's digital natives with effective and personalized learning, as well as dedicated professional development for their teachers. This commitment is demonstrated in the company's investment in innovative print and digital education materials for preK through college, student information systems and learning management systems, teacher professional development, career certification programs, and testing and assessment products that set the standard for the industry. The company's respected brands include Scott Foresman, Prentice Hall, Addison Wesley, Benjamin Cummings, PEMSolutions, Stanford 10, SuccessNet, MyLabs, PowerSchool, SuccessMaker and many others. Pearson's comprehensive offerings help inform targeted instruction and intervention so that success is within reach of every student at every level of education. Pearson's commitment to education for all is supported by the global philanthropic initiatives of the Pearson Foundation. Pearson's other primary businesses include the Financial Times Group and the Penguin Group. For more information, go to www. pearson. com.
About Intel Capital
Intel Capital, Intel's global investment organization, makes equity investments in innovative technology start-ups and companies worldwide. Intel Capital invests in a broad range of companies offering hardware, software, and services targeting enterprise, home, mobility, health, consumer Internet, semiconductor manufacturing and cleantech. Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested more than US$9.5 billion in over 1,050 companies in 47 countries. In that timeframe, 175 portfolio companies have gone public on various exchanges around the world and 241 were acquired or participated in a merger. In 2009, Intel Capital invested US$327 million in 107 investments with approximately 50 percent of funds invested outside the U. S. and Canada. For more information on Intel Capital and its differentiated advantages, visit http://www. intelcapital. com (http://www. intelcapital. com).
About Ascend Venture Group
Ascend Venture Group, LLC, is a private investment management firm headquartered in New York City. Ascend combines highly sophisticated financial expertise with unique access to investment opportunities to create attractive risk/reward portfolios and partnerships for its investors. The company targets investment opportunities in the applied technology and for-profit education industries. For more information, please visit www. ascendventures. com.
About Tabula Digita
Since 2007, Tabula Digita has set a new course in the development of innovative educational video games. Through its collaborative, content-rich, immersive learning environments, Tabula Digita's DimensionU Learning System offers research-based instructional tools that support math and science curriculum for elementary, middle and high school students.
The system includes the award-winning DimensionM math games designed for single and multiple players. Aligned to state standards, the games have been proven highly effective in increasing student engagement, time on task, and achievement scores. In 2009, the League of Scientists free-to-play web games were introduced for students in grades three-five. In 2010 the company will introduce its new line of literacy games.
Tabula Digita games are currently being used in school districts across the country including New York City Public Schools, Chicago Public Schools, Broward County Public Schools, and Austin and Ft. Worth Independent School Districts in Texas.
In 2008,Tabula Digita's DimensionM gaming series was named the Best Educational Game/Simulation from the Software Industry Information Association (SIIA).
For a free gaming demo and more information, visit www. DimensionU. com or call 1-877-6-TABULA or 1-877-682-2852.
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