Intel Education Initiatives to Help Turkey Shape its Future

The new portal, called "Welcome Me to Your Digital World," is the culmination of a year-long cooperative project linking Intel and Turkey's public education system. The web-based content was developed locally in Turkish – an effort that aligns perfectly with the digital inclusion goals of the Intel World Ahead Program.

"A social network based on education is an intriguing way to increase students' participation in learning and involve students who may have been excluded from the benefits of computer and Internet access until now," said Barrett, who also chairs the United Nations Global Alliance for Information Communications Technology (ICT) and Development. "We foresee this portal becoming a vital tool for students and teachers, as well as a key investment in Turkey's future. We hope it will inspire more 'home-grown' content for schools."

The project earned equally strong support from public education officials.

"We believe that education plays a crucial role in the development of societies," said Hüseyin Çelik, Minister of Turkish National Education. "The exact usage of technology is very important for us, and we support the collaboration of government, public institutions, NGOs and private companies that are working to help create the real and safe content for the development of education in our country."

Barrett's two-day visit to Turkey is part of a trip to the Middle East and Africa on behalf of the Intel World Ahead Program. Yesterday in Ankara, he met with government leaders including Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's Prime Minister; Binali Yildirim, Minister of Transportation; and Mehmet Mehdi Eker, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. He also spoke at the sixth annual eTR (eTurkey) Awards event sponsored by local ICT associations.

While in Ankara, Barrett visited Middle East Technical University (METU) to dedicate a new lab donated by Intel. The lab will be used by METU and neighboring universities for research and development as well as education purposes. The lab will focus on driving innovation in mobile WiMAX technology, an area that Intel considers vital to spreading broadband Internet access globally.

Education Portal Aims to Help Close Digital Divide
The "Welcome Me to Your Digital World" portal (www.benidahilet.org) is designed to foster creativity, interactive learning and collaboration among schools, teachers and students. Over time, the portal is expected to encompass a growing collection of education-related content, from lessons and homework assignments to presentations and videos.

Also collaborating in the project's content development and expansion are the United Nations Development Programme and Youth for Habitat, and Turkish Informatics Foundation.

The portal will operate initially as a pilot project in 11 schools at the primary, secondary and high school levels. Pilots are currently running at four primary schools, with seven to 10 teachers and 60 to100 students actively participating at each school. More schools will be added to the pilot throughout the next 2 years.

Ultimately, the portal's learning resources will be available to all 44,000 K-12 schools in Turkey, giving 15 million students, 600,000 teachers the opportunity to help shape the future of education in Turkey.

Barrett also joined a local celebration yesterday that marked a significant milestone in the Intel® Teach program. One hundred thousand teachers have now been trained since the launch in Turkey in 2003. The program, which is designed to enhance classroom learning by training teachers to integrate technology into the curriculum, expects to train 500,000 teachers in Turkey by the end of 2011.

About Intel and Intel World Ahead
Through its World Ahead Program, Intel strives to improve education, health care, entrepreneurship and government services in developing countries worldwide by accelerating access to computers, connectivity and localized Internet content. Additional information is available at www.intel.com/changingtheworld and www.intel.com/intel/worldahead.

Intel [NASDAQ: INTC], the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom and http://blogs.intel.com.

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