With the goal of preparing today's students to compete globally in the 21st century, Nortel LearniT and Curriki are combining their websites into one of the world's largest, free online sources of educational materials.

The site's resources are aimed at helping educators to collaborate on technology-powered curriculum. Educators can create and share instructional materials that integrate the latest digital technologies such as imaging and video into all subjects. For example, a teacher can bring to life a traditional lesson plan on the science of weather through digital satellite imaging, showing students how systems interact globally. The teacher can then upload it to the Nortel LearniT and Curriki websites, making it available to any teacher anywhere.

"While students are often very tech-savvy, many teachers want to better leverage these new tools to enhance and energize traditional approaches to learning," said Mike Zafirovski, Nortel president and CEO. "Nortel LearniT's alliance with Curriki provides a free global online forum to help educators teach essential skills that students will need when entering the workforce in an increasing technology-based Hyperconnected world. It also shares educational resources that integrate these digital technologies into powerful multimedia learning experiences."

According to a Curriki executive director Dr. Bobbi Kurshan, the lack of qualified instructors and sufficient instructional materials has a profound negative impact on a community's graduation rates, health and crime. One educational non-profit group, The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, notes that a widening gap has formed between the knowledge and skills students are acquiring in schools and those needed to succeed in the increasingly global, technology-infused workplace.

Nortel LearniT is the key philanthropic initiative of Nortel, designed to introduce teachers and students to the positive impacts digital technologies can have on learning. Curriki, originally founded by Sun Microsystems, is an independent non-profit organization whose global mission is to make curricula and learning resources available to everyone online at no cost.

Source: Curriki press release