In what the company calls an effort to empower educators, Microsoft has announced technology tools that will let faculty create and manage online resources and comply with instructional management system standards.

To this end, Microsoft has unveiled free Office 2000 and FrontPage 2000 add-ins targeting educators and corporate users. The company says that Office 2000 and FrontPage 2000 can be used by educators to create meta-data and design-rich instructional Web sites and incorporate simple computer-based quizzing solutions into their instruction materials.

Microsoft cites research from IDC that suggests colleges and universities are integrating more and more technology into instruction and are using the Internet as a communication and instructional tool. According to the report, "Spending Forecast for Higher Education Institutions, 1998-2003," a number of professors are posting assignments and lesson plans online or accessing updated curriculum from the Internet. And more students are submitting term papers and other assignments electronically.

With the results of this research in mind, Microsoft has also joined other e-learning companies to announce support for Learning Resource iNterchange (LRN), an XML-based schema developed by the IMS Learning Consortium and the software industry to define course content and help organizations and e-learning providers create and manage compatible online content.