MUMBAI: After months of research and development, US media firm A&E Television Networks (AETN) has announced the formation of History Education, the channel's multimedia classroom.
This new business venture which is an extension of The History Channel, develops and sells resources for schools and community colleges. It offers a new multimedia product line based on the network's acclaimed programming that challenges, inspires and encourages the love of learning.
The first release under the History Education brand is The History Channel Multimedia Classroom, a set of new social studies teaching tools that are specifically correlated to meet national and individual state curriculum requirements.
Created for students in middle school through junior college, each lesson plan combines short clips of original programming with primary source documents, discussion questions, extended activities, maps and images, and suggested reading lists.
The lesson plan components, in CD-Rom format (both PC and Mac compatible), are paired with closed-captioned DVD versions of the full-length programmes on which they are based.
The History Channel Multimedia Classroom product line will launch on 10 February with American History. This set spans six distinct periods in the history of the US. The American History set is comprised of 21 lesson plans within six subsets including Founding of a Nation, Early Expansion, Nation in Conflict, America in Transition, Years of Crisis, and New World Order.
AETN senior VP, corporate outreach and chief historian Dr. Libby O'Connell says, "Over the years, it has been the mission of AETN and The History Channel to actively support teachers' and parents' efforts to bring history alive for students in the classroom and at home. History Education is a culmination of the company's major effort to ensure that the finest multimedia tools are developed, presenting history lessons in an easy-to-use format."
The set is designed to offer maximum flexibility. Teachers can select entire plans or only the elements they need, allowing them to individually tailor each lesson.
