TestDEN Announces Academic Partner Program

Whether bundled with a classroom course or customized as part of an online offering, ACT360 Media’s new Academic Partners Program makes it easy for partners to sell TestDEN services through existing channels.

Richmond, B.C., Canada, April 21, 2009 – ACT360 Media Ltd., developer of TestDEN.com, is pleased to announce the introduction of a bundle package of its online training products for select academic partners.

“The TestDEN Academic Partners Program will add value and new revenue streams for colleges and language schools,” says ACT360 Media president Vincent Wong. “It’s a powerful online complement to classroom-based test preparation and ESL courses.”

Three packages are available: TOEFL IBT training; TOEFL IBT testing; and TOEIC business English. TestDEN Accent Reduction is also available as an add-on to all packages.

Learners are issued a single password that gives them access to TestDEN practice tests and trainer products. Passwords are valid for up to one year, depending on the academic partners’ requirements. Prices start at US$50 for four TOEFL IBT practice tests. Contact ACT360 Media for full price list.


ACT360 Media’s TestDEN.com is a leading provider of e-learning and training solutions that help students meet international standards. Our customers include global education institutions and Fortune 500 corporations. The TestDEN platform is being used to deliver TOEFL, TOEFL IBT, TOEIC, business English, and hotel training applications in more than 60 countries.

ACT360 Media contact:
Vincent Wong, president
604-270-3656 ext. 112
vincentw@act360.com

Rosetta Stone IPO

Language software maker Rosetta Stone IPO (RST) launched today and their stock sold at the higher end of the price range. 6.25 million shares were bought at $18, suggesting that there was strong demand for a piece of the language learning software market. In total, they raised $112m to fund their global expansion. Nice to see Rosetta raise the money in this environment.

Brady Lemos, an equity analyst at Morningstar, had this to say about RST:

"As a provider of educational software, Rosetta Stone is more resilient to economic slumps than many other software firms, in our opinion," Lemos said in a research note. "We think Rosetta Stone offers a relatively compelling value proposition (a typical three-level program costs about $500), particularly in a challenging consumer spending environment."

ACT360 is seeing the same kind of growth with our new TestDEN training bundles.

New Online Training Available For Managers and Executives Learning English

When you are new to the English language, it can be difficult to negotiate, help customers, and give clear instructions to staff. That's why ACT360 Media created TestDEN Business Trainer for Speaking and Writing.

APRIL 14, 2009, VANCOUVER, B.C., CANADA – ACT360 Media, an international provider of Web-based language training, today launched two online courses for people who want to improve their writing and speaking skills in the workplace: Business Trainer for Managers and Business Trainer for Executives.

“Speaking and writing are the hardest skills to learn within a business context because not only do you have to master the language component, but also the business side as well,” says ACT360 president Vincent Wong. “These two products fill a need in the market for speaking and writing products suited for business people.”

Management Trainer focuses on the daily tasks of a manager, including 40 speaking exercises and 20 writing exercises. Executive Trainer focuses on higher level, critical-thinking skills and includes 20 speaking exercises and 40 writing exercises. Both products are based on the standards of the Test of English for International Communications (TOEIC).

Here’s how it works: Learners listen or read background information as an audio file, email, fax, or text passage. For speaking exercises, they record their voices online and the recording is stored on the TestDEN server. For writing exercises, they upload their written responses. Submissions are evaluated in one of two ways: a self-graded version (US$50) or a teacher-graded version (US$250) that includes expert marking and suggestions for improvement.

Management Trainer and Executive Trainer are both available for purchase through ACT360 Media's global reseller network.

Since 1998, ACT360 Media’s TestDEN.com has helped students around the world to improve their English communication skills. ACT360 Media also designs custom eLearning solutions for a global network of partners who provide language training for call centres and other organizations that need to meet international standards and become more competitive.

ACT360 Media contact:
Vincent Wong, president
604-270-3656 ext. 112
vincentw@act360.com

New TestDEN Accent Reduction Course Goes Live

Richmond, B.C., Canada, March 10, 2009 – International voice coach Andy Krieger and ACT360 Media today announce the launch of Executive Accent at www.testden.com/accent.

“It’s like having me as a personal voice coach 24 hours a day,” says Krieger, who in 2008 coached Jackie Chan, Wang de Shun, Crystal Liu, and Li Bing Bing in China during the filming of the American martial arts adventure film The Forbidden Kingdom.

“The online course captures the essence of my coaching method and really brings accent reduction to another level,” Krieger says.

Additional Media Links

• Andy Krieger hi-res photo (2Mb download)
  
• Li Bing Bing (李冰冰) Youtube video
  
• Wang de Shun (王德顺) Youtube video
  
• Accent Terminator online demo
  

Executive Accent is a convenient and affordable alternative to accent reduction classes and one-on-one tutors. It is designed for executives and expatriate professionals who want to improve their spoken English, and the $99 fee includes access to the course and practice modules for 180 days.

Learners watch videos of Krieger explaining the key concepts of his five-step “K-Method” and then they use a webcam to record themselves practising words and sentences. These online video exercises are powered by ACT360’s Accent Terminator technology that shows students how their pronunciation compares to Krieger’s.

Krieger is a licensed teacher who started in the Hollywood film industry teaching actors to speak American-style. He developed The K-Method in 1998 while teaching actors in Vancouver, B.C., Canada how to speak “American” so they could get hired on American films shooting in the local area. Since then, Krieger has also introduced the K-Method to corporate clients in medicine and finance – and now the K-Method is available online.

“We wanted to use technology to enhance Andy’s coaching style and make it available to professionals worldwide,” says ACT360 president Vincent Wong. “More than 7,000 students have used the K-Method and our aim is to expand it by a factor of 10 using ACT360’s TestDEN.com platform.”

Since 1998, ACT360’s TestDEN.com service has helped hundreds of thousands of students to raise their TOEFL scores. ACT360 designs custom Internet-based applications for a global network of content and distribution partners who provide language training for organizations that need to meet international standards and become globally competitive.

Andy Krieger contact:
Tel: 604-261-1466
andykrieger@telus.net

ACT360 Media contact:
Vincent Wong, president
604-270-3656 ext. 112
vincentw@act360.com

TestDEN Accent Reduction in BETA

Coach K is in the TestDEN.COM House

Andy Krieger is the latest instructor to join the TestDEN.com team. We met Andy when one of our developers took his accent reduction course and raved about his methods. ACT360 has spent the last several months putting together his course on the ACTDEN E-learning platform.

TestDEN Accent Reduction is now in beta, and will be available for testing by qualified partners. What is cool about Andy is that he comes from the movie business, and has a thriving practice helping actors to overcome their accents to land jobs in Hollywood.

The K Method really works! During the video shoot, Andy took our camera operator Benny aside and gave him a quick lesson. After a few hours of shooting and editing videos, we went out to lunch at McDonald's. For the first time ever, Benny placed his order without having to repeat himself to the cashier. A few weeks later, a customer called me and asked me what had happened to Benny's accent. He was surprised at how clearly he was speaking.