Oracle and Education
Oracle and Education | Oracle Academy | Oracle Education Foundation | ThinkQuest
Oracle
and Education
Oracle leverages its technology leadership to advance education, protect the environment, and enrich community life. We seek out intersections between the needs of society and the goals of our company, and make investments that benefit both. We are proud that the same innovative spirit behind Oracle’s technological success also drives innovative solutions and programs that benefit communities around the world.
Oracle works to advance education with state-of-the-art technology programs and to prepare students for life and work in the 21st century. Oracle has supported K-12 and higher education institutions with generous in-kind grants of technology, curriculum, and teacher training resources for more than two decades.
- Each year, the Oracle Academy delivers more than US$2 billion in software, curriculum, hosting services, and teacher professional development to thousands of education institutions globally.
- Oracle donates more than US$11 million in in-kind resources to help the Oracle Education Foundation implement its award-winning ThinkQuest program.
- Combined, the Oracle Academy and ThinkQuest reach more than 2 million students across 95 countries.
Oracle Academy
Oracle’s Academy program helps 1.5 million students in 95 countries gain industry-relevant skills prior to entering the workplace. The Oracle Academy offers a complete portfolio of software, curriculum, hosted technology, faculty training, support, and certification resources to education institutions through three offerings:
- Introduction to Computer Science: Designed for high schools, technical schools, and vocational schools, this offering includes a highly structured curriculum to help students master entry-level technical and business skills.
- Advanced Computer Science: Designed for university computer science departments, this offering provides students with hands-on access to Oracle database and middleware software.
- Enterprise Business Applications: Designed for university computer science departments and business schools, this offering gives students hands-on access to Oracle applications that are widely used in a variety of industries.
The Oracle Academy recognizes the importance of providing professional development to support educators and provides the following training opportunities:
- A rigorous professional development program within the Introduction to Computer Science offering that prepares faculty to teach database design and programming curriculum. It includes ten weeks of online training and five days of in-class training, led by experienced Oracle Academy instructors.
- Steeply discounted pricing on Oracle University training to all Oracle Academy faculty.
Oracle Education Foundation
The Oracle Education Foundation is a nonprofit organization funded by Oracle. Its mission is to inspire students globally to think, connect, create and share -- using technology to help them dissolve boundaries, fulfil their potential, and create a better society.
The Foundation offers ThinkQuest, a comprehensive online learning environment, to primary and secondary schools globally. Delivered globally, ThinkQuest includes a project environment that supports collaborative learning; technology competitions that challenge students to solve real-world problems; the award-winning ThinkQuest Library, a learning resource visited by millions and professional development for educators. ThinkQuest currently supports over 590,000 students and teachers in 58 countries.
ThinkQuest
Projects
- This online learning platform enables teachers and students to create and share web-based projects within a global community of learners.
- Available in 11 languages, including Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai, and Turkish, ThinkQuest Projects is used by schools in 39 countries.
ThinkQuest International Competition
This global competition challenges students to solve a real problem using their critical thinking, communication and technology skills. Competing in one of 3 events – ThinkQuest Projects, Digital Media, or Application Development – participants present their solution using a variety of technologies, including online applications, online games, websites, photo essays, online blogs/journals, animations, and videos.
- In the ThinkQuest Projects event, participants use ThinkQuest Projects – an online learning space – to create a website that presents their solution. Prior experience with ThinkQuest Projects is not required.
- In the Digital Media event, participants use a combination of digital media -- a blog/journal, website, animation, public service announcement, photo essay, video-- to present their solution. Prior experience with digital media development is not required.
- In the Application Development event, participants develop a web-based application or game that elegantly solves that problem for users. Although helpful, prior experience with application development is not required.
- Prizes include laptop computers, internship opportunities, cash grants for participating schools, and a trip to ThinkQuest Live, a once-in-a-lifetime educational experience.
- Winning entries may be published in the ThinkQuest Library as resources
for the general public.
- More than 33,000 students from 52 countries entered the ThinkQuest International Competition 2011.
ThinkQuest Library
- Visited by more than 58 million learners annually, this award-winning learning resource features more than 8,000 educational websites created by and for students.
ThinkQuest Professional Development
ThinkQuest provides extensive professional development opportunities for educators including:
- The Project Learning Institute, a 4-day instructor-led seminar that helps teachers integrate technology, project learning and 21st century skill development into their classroom curriculum.
- Getting Started with Projects, an instructor-led seminar that introduces teachers to ThinkQuest Projects and how they can use it for classroom instruction.
- The ThinkQuest Projects Tutorial, an online tutorial that helps teachers quickly deploy ThinkQuest Projects in their classrooms.
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