Alabama Public Television (APT) will pay about $1 million a year to support recent updates made to their online educational initiative, APTPLUS, benefiting local students, teachers and parents.

The $1 million includes more than just maintaining the Web site. It covers the cost of staff, hands-on training for teachers across the state, media from online vendors and other infrastructure, said APT Public Information Director Michael McKenzie.

The station has increased the amount of online materials available at its free multimedia Web site, www.APTPlus.org, and dramatically improved the site’s internal search engine. As of June 13, the APTPLUS Web site had 80,000 video clips and approximately 7,000 full programs ranging from pre-K to adult education.

The new Web site offers the Alabama educational community the ability to use the site’s search engine to simultaneously scour multiple databases of video clips, audio files, clip art, quizzes and print materials. “It’s now easier than ever before for teachers to find and utilize materials,” McKenzie said.

Visitors are able to access these services by setting up a username and password. Most Alabamians are already taking advantage—99 percent of Alabama school districts were using APTPLUS in 2003 when the Web site was first launched, and that figure has since grown to 100 percent, McKenzie said.