Toolwire Named a 2011 Finalist for the Red Herring Global 100

PLEASANTON, Calif., Nov. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Toolwire (www.toolwire.com), a global leader of experiential learning technologies, announced that it has been named a finalist for the Red Herring Global 100, a prestigious list honoring the world's most promising private information technology companies.

Toolwire specializes in experiential learning products and services for Higher Education and corporate training.  Toolwire Learnscapes, StudentDesktops, LiveLabs, and Scenarios provide on-demand, personalized practice and "virtual internships" to meet the needs of today's learners.

Toolwire now delivers experiential learning solutions to over 133 countries.  The company's biggest achievement in the past year has been its large-scale development and deployment of Toolwire Learnscapes, which have been used by over 500,000 students and employees across multiple institutions and subject disciplines in 71 countries. These students have benefited from over 100 million minutes of real life experience and training using Learnscapes.

"The promise of experiential learning, the most important element of the learning process, has been largely unrealized as an approach for the past 150 years. The problem has been that integrating experiential learning opportunities into courses and curricula is hard; it can be time consuming, expensive, difficult to scale, and requires effort to assess," commented Charles Jennings, of Duntroon Associates and the Internet Time Alliance, and former Chief Learning Officer of Thomson-Reuters. "Toolwire has found an elegant way to solve these problems. As a leader in this essential field of immersive learning, Toolwire is highly deserving of this recognition."

"I am not surprised by the rapid adoption of Toolwire's experiential learning technologies.  The demand for effective training programs and technologies is now greater than ever," commented Jane Hart, founder of the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies (C4LPT).  "Massive shifts in the global economy have accentuated the need in today's marketplace for highly skilled, workforce ready employees, and Toolwire is leading the way in developing innovative learning solutions to meet this demand."  

"Toolwire Learnscapes are a fantastic example of immersive experiential learning – engaging, thought provoking, real life scenarios that mirror the challenges of the 21st Century workplace. Learnscapes provide learners with a believable and, most importantly, a safe environment in which to experiment with new skills and practice how to apply those skills in context," noted Julie Wedgwood, Director, Productive Ltd.  "Toolwire, led by the efforts of its Learner Advocacy Team, delivers far more than just innovative learning solutions, the company provides learning-as-a-service to engage and retain learners in a way that fits hand-in-hand with the needs of learning institutions and businesses."

Toolwire's learning solutions have received considerable recognition in recent years. Most recently, Toolwire's partner, the University of East London, was shortlisted by the e-Learning Awards for "Best learning game, simulation, or virtual environment" for its Toolwire Learnscapes designed for undergraduate law students. Earlier this year, Toolwire was awarded two Gold Medals by the Learning and Performance Institute (LPI) for "Learning Technologies Solution" and "Instructional Designer" of the Year.  Other past awards include "Best Learning Innovation Technology" by LearnX Asia Pacific and "Top 20 IT Training Company" by Training Industry, Inc.

"Toolwire is greatly honored to be shortlisted by Red Herring for their Global 100 List.  For almost a decade, there has been considerable excitement about potential applications of immersive learning environments for learning and training," commented Toolwire President and CEO, John Valencia. "By listening to the needs of our clients, Toolwire has innovated the most effective, easy-to-use, and best-supported immersive learning environments in the market today.   Our Toolwire Learnscapes are becoming the learning industry standard for this form of experiential learning."

About Red Herring

Red Herring's Global 100 has become a mark of distinction for identifying promising new companies and entrepreneurs. Red Herring editors were among the first to recognize that companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Skype, Salesforce.com, YouTube, and eBay would change the way we live and work. 

About Toolwire

Toolwire is a learning solutions provider specializing in products and services for experiential learning. Serving global leaders in both the private sector and Higher Education, Toolwire's core competencies include developing media-rich educational content and providing Learning-as-a-Service that fully supports the needs of learning institutions. Toolwire Learnscapes, StudentDesktops, Scenarios, and LiveLabs provide the quickest, most effective way to develop skills and enhance student success. These innovative learning solutions enable organizations to provide "virtual internships" across a broad range of subjects including Business, Health Care, Legal, Information Technology, and more. For more information, please visit www.toolwire.com

Media Contact:
Peyton Williams
Toolwire, Inc.
1-866-935-8665 Ext. 169
[email protected]

SOURCE Toolwire