Education Commissioner Gene Wilhoit talks during the Aug. 17 press conference about how much teachers will appreciate and use the KET EncycloMedia service.

David Couch, KDE Associate Commissioner; Bill Wilson, KET Deputy Executive Director, Education; Starr Lewis, KDE Associate Commissioner; Kathy Quinn, KET Director of Education; Commissioner Gene Wilhoit; and Malcolm Wall.

Education Commissioner Gene Wilhoit, Education Cabinet Secretary Virginia G. Fox and KET Executive Director Malcolm Wall. (l to r)

Beginning now, Kentucky teachers and students have access to an exciting new Internet-based learning service as expansive as their imaginations. KET EncycloMedia delivers a wealth of multimedia materials on request to help teachers quickly and easily develop dynamic lessons that create an interactive, engaging and effective classroom experience. And students can use it to create rich, stimulating reports and presentations.

Brought to schools through a partnership between KET and the Kentucky Department of Education, KET EncycloMedia is based on Discovery Education's award-winning unitedstreaming™ service and delivers than 4,500 videos, chaptered into content-specific video clips; more than 20,000 digital images; encyclopedia articles; and much more. All resources are searchable by keyword, content area, grade level, and Kentucky academic standards.

"We're tremendously excited as we make a giant leap forward by providing schools this cutting-edge convergence of education and technology," said KET Executive Director Malcolm Wall. "Today's announcement comes after several years of work with the Department of Education to put in place exactly the kind of service that teachers want and need."

"All Kentucky schools will now have instant access to this incredible tool," said Kentucky Education Commissioner Gene Wilhoit. "KET has risen once again to the challenge of providing just the right resources for Kentucky teachers at just the right time."

KET EncycloMedia brings content to life while also meeting state academic standards. And with its extraordinary flexibility, the service allows teachers to meet the needs of students with diverse learning styles and interests.

In addition to the thousands of classroom resources that KET EncycloMedia makes available, the service also provides numerous teacher features, including assessment tools, calendars and lesson plans, which allow teachers to create dynamic lessons and then share them with educators from one end of the state to the other.

In September, to help districts begin implementing the new service, KET and KDE will host 14 KET EncycloMedia "Train the Trainer" sessions around the state--in Ashland, Bowling Green, Independence, Hazard, Lexington, Louisville and Owensboro.

More information about this extraordinary new service is available online at www.ket.org/encyclomedia.

KET EncycloMedia Fact Sheet

*Provides multimedia resources, such as full-length videos, video clips, still images, informational articles and more

*Resources are aligned with state standards

*Can be searched by keyword, content area, grade level and Kentucky academic standards

*Subjects in the content area include language arts, arts and music, health, math, science and social studies, all of which can be further broken down by category and sub-category

*Includes a daily calendar with notes on historical milestones for each day

*Allows teachers to develop lesson plans and share them with other teachers

*Includes a quiz library and allows teachers to easily create new quizzes

*Includes composition tools that combine photographic images with text-based writing prompts

*Flexible system can be tailored to meet the needs of students with diverse learning styles and interests

*Students can access the materials and use them to do research and create multimedia reports and presentations

*Available free to all K-12 public schools in Kentucky

What Educators Are Saying About KET EncycloMedia

"KET EncycloMedia is a great resource! Teachers will especially appreciate its ease of use and efficient search capabilities." -- Starr Lewis, Associate Commissioner, Office of Academic and Professional Development, KDE

"All Kentucky schools will now have instant access to this incredible tool. KET has risen once again to the challenge of providing just the right resources for Kentucky teachers at just the right time." -- Gene Wilhoit, Education Commissioner, KDE

"I believe [KET EncycloMedia] will provide the spark that is needed to light the fire of technology integration in classrooms across our state." -- Greg Davis, KETS Engineer, KDE

"The multimedia components of KET EncycloMedia provide in-the-moment connections to real life that will foster imagination and deepen content understanding. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the resource, though, is the way students can use the technology to better prepare for the experiences that lie ahead of them in our plugged-in global community." -- Michael Miller, Director of Curriculum Development, KDE

"The organization and diversity of KET EncycloMedia will enable teachers to quickly find relevant clips or photographs that enhance instruction and student retention of Kentucky Core Content and other important concepts. Because of the web site's logical design, educators will be able to quickly search for specific clips and access lesson plans and quizzes in all subject areas." -- John Beasley, Teacher, Highland Middle School, Jefferson County

"Wow! What an exciting day it has been for me. I actually got up this morning at 3:15, left my house to drive to Lexington in the pouring rain, and I think [the KET EncycloMedia training] might go down as one of the BEST days of my professional development experience!" -- Terri Stice, Technology Coordinator, Green River Regional Educational Cooperative (after attending a training at KET)

"What an incredible day! Just as the rains this week are providing much-needed water for Kentucky vegetation, so will this new resource and rejuvenated partnership provide educational nourishment for our youngest citizens. KET, a nationally recognized pioneer in educational television, is becoming more and more about the new world of media beyond television." -- Michael Miller (after attending a training at KET)

"KET Encyclomedia represents a tremendous new opportunity to blend teaching and technology in the Commonwealth; on behalf of the Kentucky Board of Education I applaud KET for their progressive and innovative work!" -- Keith Travis, Chair, Kentucky Board of Education

"The Kentucky Association of Technology Coordinators (KATC) strongly supports the utilization of KET EncycloMedia by all educators and students in Kentucky. We offer our resources and assistance toward a successful implementation." -- Charlotte B. Wright, President, KATC

"This [service] has been an integral part of my teaching. It gives me another way to meet my students' needs." -- A teacher from Ashland Elementary School, Fayette County

"KET EncycloMedia will dramatically improve the integration of video and photographs into well-designed lessons." -- John Beasley, Teacher, Highland Middle School, Jefferson County

"[KET EncycloMedia] is so great it is getting me excited about school starting back!" -- Earl Rice, Primary Teacher, Shopville Elementary, Pulaski County

KET EncycloMedia -- Contacts

For interviews

Malcolm (Mac) Wall, KET Executive Director, Contact: Janice Shepard, 859.258.7005

Gene Wilhoit, Commissioner, Kentucky Department of Education, Contact: Donna Eustace, 502.564.472

David Couch, Associate Commissioner, Officer of Education Technology, KDE, 502.564.2020

Bill Wilson, KET Deputy Executive Director, Education, 859.258.7200

Kathy Quinn, KET Director of Education, 859.258.7260

Jeanne Biddle, Technology Resource Teacher, Scott County Schools, 502.570.3015

For information on Discovery Education/unitedstreaming

David E. Pendery, Discovery Education Communications Manager, 301.272.2526

For information/general media inquiries

Tona Barkley, KET Director of Communications, 859.258.7251

Todd Piccirilli, KET Advertising & Promotion Manager, 859.258.7242