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U.S. Patent Office Allows Pending Patent Application for Electronic Learning Products and Its Breakthrough Language, Literacy and Music Software
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Tampa, FL -- Electronic Learning Products, an educational software company, is announced today that its pending patent application covering its literacy, language and music products has been allowed by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A patent is expected to be officially issued before the end of the year.
The company’s flagship offering, TUNEin™ to READING, is an intervention program for struggling readers in grades 3-12. The product advances reading in the areas of fluency, vocabulary and comprehension through the use of fun, interactive software with real-time pitch tracking. The software is scientifically based and research proven to improve reading by more than a grade level in just nine weeks, making it the fastest, most effective literacy software on the market today.
"I’m thrilled to be adding ‘inventor’ to my title," said Carlo Franzblau, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Electronic Learning Products. Ken Spiegel, Chief Operating Officer, added, "We’re very pleased that our patent application has been allowed, confirming our cutting-edge position in the education marketplace."
According to Stefan V. Stein, the patent attorney with the Holland & Knight law firm who drafted the patent application, "The quick allowance of the 39 originally filed patent claims demonstrates that the invention is pioneering and that meaningful patent protection is being obtained on many features of the invention."
TUNEin™ to READING leverages the power of music to accelerate learning, providing a revolutionary alternative to textbooks and dull "skill and drill" exercises. Students don headsets with built-in microphones and as they sing, they "see" their voice on screen as a white pitch-tracking line. The software calculates the degree to which they are on pitch, providing real-time feedback through a score. Students sing again and again to beat their score, just like a video game. In the process, the repeated reading and singing improves their vocabulary, fluency and comprehension, three of the key skills recommended by the National Reading Panel.
In a classic case of unexpected consequences, the core technology behind TUNEin™ to READING was originally developed for a learn-to-sing product. Electronic Learning Products realized that the singing software improved reading comprehension. Recent independent, scientifically based research has since documented significant improved reading comprehension through the use of TUNEin™ to READING.
Literacy experts from the University of South Florida have conducted three years of rigorous "control and treatment" research with nearly 1,000 struggling readers, exploring the impact of the TUNEin™ to READING technology. The first two years of research documented students in elementary, middle and high schools improving their reading by more than a grade level in just nine weeks, an extraordinary outcome in the literacy field. The third year of research, sponsored by the Florida Department of Education, focuses on students who are English-language learners.
The USF research results convinced Electronic Learning Products to bringing the benefits of the singing software to struggling readers across the nation. With extensive input from educators, the company created TUNEin™ to READING, which launched at the beginning of this school year. New features and benefits include age-appropriate folk, pop, rock and holiday songs sorted by grade level and placed in color-coded folders. Additionally, state-of-the art speech recognition technology improves pronunciation and embedded reading tests measure student progress. The web-based software costs $249 for each 12-month, renewable license, with frequent upgrades provided free of charge.
After less than 12 months on the market, TUNEin™ to READING is now up and running in about 75 schools in Florida with early-stage implementations underway in New York and Texas. Year-end data from schools in six Florida counties show struggling readers making gains that are remarkably consistent with the USF research; on average, struggling readers gained 1.4 grade levels in just nine weeks. Earlier this year, the software won the Technology Innovation of the Year award from the Tampa Bay Technology Forum.
Electronic Learning Products also designs, creates and markets innovative language and music products powered by the pitch-tracking technology. The company recently released TUNEin™ to MANDARIN, which helps English-speaking students master the "singing language" of Mandarin Chinese and new software teaching Russian, Arabic and Spanish is also in the pipeline.
Electronic Learning Products is privately held and based in Tampa, Florida. For more information, please call Lisa Glazer at 813-463-1286 or 813-732-3767 or visit www.elpcorp.com. Photos, graphs and screenshots from the software are available on request.
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