PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--INTELECOM Intelligent Telecommunications, a non-profit producer of instructional media for online learning, today announced the release of Luminaries – a comprehensive collection of streaming video clips featuring interviews with some of the most accomplished thinkers in recent American intellectual history.

The Luminaries collection offers colleges, universities and advanced placement programs an online library of in-depth discussions across a range of academic topics from authors, researchers, scholars, and others whose work has changed the world. The collection was developed for faculty looking to enhance online courses and improve student retention rates by incorporating rich media that is compelling, engaging, and keyed to learning outcomes.

The collection includes such notables from the political arena as James Baker, David Gergen, and former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. Experts from the business sector include Stephen R. Covey, John Kotter, and Richard Branson, the charismatic entrepreneur behind the Virgin Group of Companies. Students will also hear from the late Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, an early computer pioneer, and Noam Chomsky, from M.I.T., whose work in linguistics changed the field of psychology and our understanding of language and the mind.

“These are not just talking heads,” says Glenn Kammen, President and CEO at INTELECOM. “These are visionary thinkers who have not only defined their fields, but have fundamentally changed the world in which we live.”

What further distinguishes Luminaries from other video resources and online lectures that are available today is the production quality of the interview segments; all of which are produced to broadcast specifications. The result is a clarity and richness of presentation that engages the viewer and enhances the learning experience. And with run times that average three to five minutes in length, the video clips are appealing to today’s increasingly electronic and mobile learners.

Luminaries is one of several content collections on the INTELECOM Online Resources Network® – a subscription-based repository of academic video clips and winner of the 2009 CODiE Award for best education reference or search service. The collection when complete will comprise nearly 1,000 hosted and supported video segments that are streamed on demand. For more information visit www.intelecom.org.

About INTELECOM Intelligent Telecommunications

Since its founding nearly 40 years ago, INTELECOM Intelligent Telecommunications, a non-profit corporation and fiscal agency of 31 California community colleges, has been a leader in the design, production and distribution of distance learning courses and instructional media for post-secondary, secondary and adult basic education. Today, INTELECOM is uniquely positioned as a premier provider of online learning resources and curriculum-based digital media. For further information, visit www.intelecom.org.

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