Begun in 1993 at Swarthmore College, the Math Forum, which routinely receives hundreds of thousands of page views and hit totals each month, soon expanded with the assistance of a 1996 grant from the National Science Foundation for a study on the use of technology to improve math education. WebCT purchased the Math Forum in July 2000, but following a shift in the company’s business focus to software development, decided to relinquish ownership of the site.

As Drexel assumes operation of the site, there will be no interruption in service. The site will be renamed “The Math Forum at Drexel” and change its Internet address to http://mathforum.org.

“Drexel and MathForum.com have similar educational missions,” Papadakis said. “Drexel is a leader in technology-assisted education and among the first universities in the nation to offer Web-based courses and degree programs. The acquisition of MathForum.com will further strengthen Drexel’s online educational outreach and MathForum.org will continue to be an enriching learning resource for teachers, students and parents.”

Services on the site, which is composed of more than 650,000 pages and 5,000 cataloged external resources, include the award-winning “Ask Dr. Math,” “Problems of the Week” (PoW), “Teacher2Teacher” (T2T) and Web Units and Lessons, in addition to discussion groups, and an Internet Math Library and Searcher.

“All of the Math Forum services will go forward, with Drexel professors and others developing additional content,” said Drexel Senior Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies Dr. Harvill Eaton, who led the acquisition of the Math Forum and will oversee the operation of the site. “We will continue to provide resources, materials, activities, person-to-person interactions and educational products and services that enrich and support teaching and learning in an increasingly technological world.”