PBWiki Back to School Challenge

Collaborative technology developer PBwiki has launched two new grant programs for education offering free upgrades to the company's hosted wiki service and other awards.

The first of the programs, called the Back To School Challenge, will allow up to 100,000 teachers and librarians to earn a gold-level PBwiki account for free. (Gold upgrades normally run $250.) They can do this by "by using, blogging about, and referring others to PBwiki." Other prizes in this program include a $1,000 gift certificate for purchasing school supplies; autographed books; Lego educational products; and games. Prizes are awarded based on a point system. A complete list of prizes and point totals can be found here.

The second program, called the Partner Program for Education, allows districts and associations to offer PBwiki gold accounts to members for free.

"With schools and libraries feeling the pinch of the slowing economy, PBwiki wants to make sure educators can still afford the tools they need to make 2008-2009 the year of collaborative learning," said PBwiki CEO Jim Groff in a statement released this week. "Giving away 100,000 premium wikis lets us help out and spread wiki-based collaboration to an even wider audience."

Both programs are open now and run through Oct. 31. Further information can be found here.