The Provincial Government and The Telegram are
extending their partnership in support of teaching and learning with an
expansion of the Newspaper in Education (NIE) program to include the NIE
SmartEdition for schools. This program will be the first of its kind in
North America, providing electronic access to both daily newspapers to
all schools throughout an entire province or state. The Honourable Darin
King, Minister of Education, and Charles Stacey, publisher and general
manager of The Telegram, announced the expansion at St. Paul's Junior
High today.
"The feedback we've received from teachers on
this program has been phenomenal," said Minister King. "Newspapers are
an excellent resource for all subject areas and for all grade levels.
Over 27,000 students and 2,200 teachers are using it to assist with
meeting the prescribed curriculum objectives and outcomes at all grade
levels and subject areas. In addition, this program helps enhance
literacy outcomes, by encouraging reading of material across so many
areas of interest."
The present program delivers over 625,000
copies of The Telegram to 170 schools and Adult Basic Education
programs. The complete newspaper will now be available in digital format
to all schools. Students and teachers will still have access to the
print version, but will now be able to manipulate text and data in an
electronic form. This initiative will also include access to on line NIE
curriculum resources and NIE SmartEdition of The Western Star.
"We are thrilled the Department of Education
had decided to support this initiative," said Mr. Stacey. "For many
years the print version of The Telegram has been used as a resource for
students and teachers in the classroom. Being able to offer the complete
newspapers, The Telegram and The Western Star, in digital format to all
schools in the province will certainly be of tremendous value to
students and teachers."
Given the success of The Telegram's current
program, the Provincial Government is providing an additional $5,000 to
the paper to support the digital version of The Telegram for all public
schools in the province. This brings the annual Provincial Government
investment in the program to $10,000. The increased funding assists The
Telegram in purchasing the additional licenses necessary to bring the
digital version to all schools.
Two pilot projects have been conducted over
the past two years providing select schools with The Telegram in
electronic format. Feedback from students and teachers was extremely
positive, with students particularly enjoying the ease and familiarity
of digital media.
"I commend everyone involved with the
Newspaper in Education program," said Minister King. "It is partnerships
such as this that enhance and expand learning opportunities for our
students. We hope that through this program, we will turn a generation
of students into a generation of readers."
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