News University today announced that it reached a milestone of 20,000 registered users, making it the leading online learning destination of journalists worldwide.

With more than 20,000 users in more than 150 countries, the numbers speak for themselves," said Howard Finberg, director of interactive learning at News University (NewsU) and The Poynter Institute. "NewsU has exceeded our expectations and raised the bar for journalism e-learning." 

"NewsU is a bold initiative that aims to make quality training accessible to all journalists. It helps us deliver training across the continuum," said Karen Brown Dunlap, president of The Poynter Institute, a school for journalists. "NewsU extends Poynter's reach and delivers tightly focused, interactive courses through Web-browser based courses that can be completed anytime and anywhere." 

Launched in April 2005, NewsU continually adds to a growing list of partners, courses and features. To date, more than 15 journalism organizations have contributed to the development of more than 30 e-learning modules that are available for little or no charge. Recent feature enhancements include a new activity tracker called Course Report and a new e-learning format called Seminar Snapshots. 

Accessible within each e-learning module, Course Report allows users to track their active course time and to share that data with others through a secure e-mail. Ideal for reporting training activity to a newsroom training manager or journalism professor, this feature allows users to control when and with whom they share a Course Report.

NewsU recently introduced a new program to capture key learning at training events including Poynter seminars and industry conferences. Called Seminar Snapshots, these video and presentation modules archives notable learning opportunities online.

All of NewsU's courses can be accessed only by registered users, and registration requires the completion of a brief Web form that can be found at http://www.newsu.org/profile.

About News University

News University offers newsroom training to journalists and journalism students through its interactive e-learning program and links to other journalism education and training opportunities. The program is a project of The Poynter Institute and is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.