Local Software Firm Ready to Educate Worldwide Markets By Pat Doyle, The Evening Telegram
A Stephenville educational software firm is poised to become a significant player in the international marketplace this year, says the company president. INNOVA Multimedia Ltd. on Missouri Drive is a developer of high quality, interactive, curriculum-specific educational computer software, said JoeWiseman, president and co-founder. Wiseman and John Maddock, chairman and executive director of product development, launched the company in December 1994. Wiseman has a master of education degree in educational foundations and has extensive experience in both the educational and business sectors. Maddock has a Master of Education degree in curriculum and instruction and has experience as an education consultant specialist in language arts, training and curriculum development. The company’s products include Poetry in a Nutshell, an interactive exploration of the elements of poetry designed for grades 7 to 9; and The Character of Poetry, which explores imagery, tone and mood , for the same market. Wiseman said the firm has just completed A Whale of a Tale: Dive into Math, and A Whale of a Tale: Leap into Language. "These programs use cartoon, animated characters to teach fundamental educational concepts to students in Grades 1 to 3." The company is currently developing A Whale of a Tale: Swim into Social Studies; and A Whale of a Tale: Surf into Science. It hopes to have developed a total of seven titles by the end of the year. Currently INNOVA has a staff of seven but it is anticipated that it will increase by three next month, said Wiseman. Wiseman's wife, Marie, is a content consultant with the firm.. The company has been mainly engaged in research and development for the last two years. "We are developing an international market niche in the curriculum-specific, educational multimedia area," Wiseman said."Study after study predicts the multimedia industry will be a million-dollar industry worldwide and that education titles will comprise 20 percent of the market." Wiseman said INNOVA specializes in the design, content development, scripting, narration, detailed storyboarding, digital authoring and digital content-gathering stages of multimedia development. "The quality control, customer support, marketing and distribution stages of multimedia development are currently partnered with the other firms," he said. The company’s programs are "interesting to the user and are structured around core curriculum topics, thus ensuing their usefulness internationally,"Wiseman said. "INNOVA is poised to break into international markets and is currently seeking the right publishing and distribution partners to help make this vision a reality." Wiseman noted that students today are exposed to computers both at home and in school, and that they are also entertaining themselves with computer games, video games, and other forms of digital entertainment. INNOVA has taken traditional core curriculum concepts and repackaged them in the digital format familiar to this generation of learners."
Copyright (c) 2004 INNOVA Multimedia Ltd. All Rights reserved
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