Riverdeep, an Irish-founded Internet education company has completed its first contract in the Republic. It has agreed with Ireland On-Line to provide educational content to users of the recently launched Ireland OnLine portal site (www.iol.ie).
It also marks the first content partnership agreement signed by Ireland On-Line. Financial details were not disclosed.
The "microsite" is scheduled to be up and running by March 2000, and will link a series of online science experiments to Junior and Leaving Certificate curriculums. The online experiments will be launched at the Esat Telecom Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, and will help students re-create laboratory conditions online.
Riverdeep, a spin-off of SmartForce - formerly known as CBT Systems, provides Internet-based educational products in the US. Based on new learning methods using graphically rich and interactive content, Riverdeep offers an alternative learning tool for students.
According to Riverdeep, it currently has 500,000 Internet subscribers and 5,000 schools learning online in the US. It provides Web-based educational content in the areas of maths, science, reading and writing, which are delivered via its portal website, www.riverdeep.net. Riverdeep has been tipped for flotation on the US Nasdaq in coming months.
The Ireland On-Line education site will include Earthpulse Centre, an online research centre that allows users understand how geological and atmospheric events impact on the planet. Other features will include Science Gateways and Explorer, where students can explore a variety of topics in biology, chemistry and physics, at a number of levels of competency.
It is understood this will be the first of a series of developments planned for the Ireland On-line site. Ms Angela Keegan, managing director of The Consumer Group which incorporates Ireland On-Line, says the company's aim is to continue to form strategic alliances with all industry sectors, "to ensure users have quick and easy access to the information, products or services they want most, across all sectors of Irish life".
