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Press Releases
Press releases are available in both HTML and pdf format. To download, view and print pdfs, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. Acrobat reader is available to you at no cost from Adobe, Inc.
Index of Press Releases
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Bloomington is Home Base for New High Tech Business
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. The name WisdomTools may be unfamiliar to you now. But if you are involved in business, education or government, there is a good chance you will be hearing more about it in the future.
WisdomTools Inc. is the name of a recently incorporated Bloomington-based software development firm that has evolved from research conducted at Indiana University.
With its entry into private business, WisdomTools is bringing to the international marketplace a new, unique and powerful Web-based learning tool called Scenarios that company officials believe will set the standard for technology-based training.
Scenarios was developed from research conducted at the IU Center for Excellence in Education, with grants from Turner Broadcasting, Mosby Publishing, and Eli Lilly and Co.
Ronald Henriksen, president of IU's Research and Technology Institute (ARTI), which provided assistance for WisdomTools' growth into a business, released details of the new company today (July 14, 1999) in remarks during a briefing at the Bloomington Economic Development Corp.
"An important aspect of ARTI's mission is to link technology and ideas discovered by IU inventors with private enterprise," Henriksen said. "WisdomTools is the first project to achieve commercial business status by taking advantage of services provided by ARTI."
Henriksen explained that ARTI helped WisdomTools develop its business strategy, recruit the management team, arrange equity financing, and lease space and equipment. He said WisdomTools is participating in the multi-billion-dollar, rapidly growing corporate and institutional training market, aimed at Fortune 1000 companies as the primary customer base.
IU President Myles Brand added, "The formation of WisdomTools as a private company, which will transfer Indiana University research to the world of business, is a success story for the company's founder-inventors and their associates, the university, the Center for in Education, and ARTI. This is an accomplishment that bodes well for the future."
Martin Siegel, a co-founder of WisdomTools, is the company's chairman of the board and chief technical officer. Also an IU professor of education, Siegel is an expert in learning sciences and will continue to devote part of his time to completing IU research projects that were funded by grants from the WisdomTools program. The acting chief executive officer is Jane Martin of Bloomington. She is a former partner in a San Francisco-based venture capital fund and has 20 years of experience in business development.
WisdomTools has products that can be used in any corporate/organizational training situation such as sales coaching, skill development, improved marketing strategies, ethics training, online academic degrees, customer support, soft skills development, sales performance, emergency management and various government-mandated areas such as sexual harassment and safety.
Scenarios, the flagship product, is based on proven instructional techniques in problem-based learning, case study, storytelling, role-playing, simulation, and collaborative learning. It is designed for developing skills requiring strategy and judgment, as well as more focused skills in areas such as leadership, negotiations, sales and marketing, operational performance, financial analysis, and crisis management.
Scenarios can be accessed from a desktop computer, a training lab, a computer at home, or a laptop when traveling. It provides power for collaborative problem-solving with peer groups online and enables organizations to leverage existing training materials by including them in the training process.
WisdomTools is located in the Indiana University Research Park, 501 North Morton St., Suite 224, Bloomington, Ind. Its telephone number is 812-856-4200. Additional information is available through the firm's Web site at http://www.wisdomtools.com.
ARTI is based in Indianapolis and also operates from offices in Bloomington. It is a private, not-for- profit corporation acting as an agent for IU. Through the departments of Business Development, Technology Transfer, and Licensing & Trademarks, ARTI serves the private business sector and all IU campuses.
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WisdomTools and the Community: Using Scenarios to Battle Hate-Crimes
Background.In July of 1999, the Midwest was rocked by a series of racially-motivated incidents that left three people dead and entire communities in shock. Among those killed was Won-Joon Yoon, a graduate student at the Indiana University, who was shot twice in the back as he was entering his church. His assailant was another student, known widely for his white-supremacist beliefs.
Along with the outpouring of grief which followed the murder came serious questions: "How could this happen here? How do we make sure it never happens again?"
WisdomTools developed a Scenario based on the incident designed to help community members deal with their confusion and, hopefully, learn how to recognize and defuse racism in the future.
The Scenario.Learners follow the four main characters and other community members from the initial leafleting through the murder of Won-Joon Yoon, and the process of how our community responded to this hate crime.
The Scenario provides an opportunity for members of the community and others to learn about what happened, and to gain perspective from a diversity of thoughts and opinions. Where is the line between hate speech and free speech? As an activist, what could one do to get someone involved in the community? How does one battle complacency? How does one deal with racism, sexism, homophobia, and anti-Semitism? What could be done in our community to help children cope with discrimination?
Learners are encouraged to:
- Identify what the community did to respond to an acute incident of hatred.
- Analyze how the community responded to the incident and what it might have done better.
- Expose and assess underlying discrimination and endemic bigotry.
- Create the potential for an environment that makes it easier to work together to respond to both acute and chronic forms of racism, intolerance, incivility, and hatred.
Intended Audience.This Scenario is meant for community members and organizations, such as high school civics classes, City Council members, human rights commissions, civic organizations, business organizations, and grass roots community organizations.
For more information on this Scenario, contact media@wisdomtools.com .
Back to top© 1999-2008 WisdomTools, Inc.