Denver – May 15, 2002 – eCollege^SM[Nasdaq: ECLG], the leading provider of technology and services for online higher education programs, today announced its new Equation Builder^SM powered by WebEQ™ technology. Through a partnership with Design Science, Inc., the developer of WebEQ, eCollege will offer the only course management system whereby all users can build and edit an equation through the course-authoring environment with one-click access.

“Through our Equation Builder, faculty can build and edit an equation without ever leaving the course shell, and view the equation immediately as their students would see it,” said Oakleigh Thorne, Chairman and CEO of eCollege. “This leading-edge technology will especially benefit our customers that offer online programs in accounting, finance, science, engineering and any other courses centered around mathematics.”

The Equation Builder will be available this August as part of eCollege AU+^SM, which will provide institutions with more features, customization and modularity in their eLearning solutions. In contrast to software vendors, eCollege offers a fully hosted solution, making the new Equation Builder features available immediately upon release to all users with no additional purchase, upgrade or installation required.

WebEQ provides a comprehensive set of mathematical symbols and templates that are easy to access in pull-down palettes. The tool enables faculty to more easily demonstrate and apply any sort of mathematic notations, formulas or sample equations throughout their course, ultimately providing students with a more dynamic learning experience. Additionally, both WebEQ and eCollege AU+ allow the seamless integration of Microsoft Office products for greater overall authoring convenience by leveraging these tools available to most educational institutions.

“eCollege’s Equation Builder is one of the most comprehensive and convenient approaches to equations in eLearning content that I've seen,” said Dr. Robert Miner, Director of New Product Development at Design Science. “We’re pleased that eCollege chose WebEQ technology to provide its users with web-based math capabilities.”

Equation Builder is part of eCollege AU+, the second major product release of the year by eCollege, which continues setting the standard in eLearning technology for post secondary education. For more information, please call 888-376-9496.

About Design Science, Inc.

Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Long Beach, California, Design Science, Inc., developer of MathType, Equation Editor in Microsoft Office, WebEQ and MathPlayer, develops software used by scientists, engineers and educators to communicate on the Internet and with printed documents. For more information, visit www.dessci.com.

About eCollege

eCollege[Nasdaq: ECLG] is the leading eLearning technology and services provider to educational markets. eCollege designs, builds and supports high quality online degree, certificate/diploma and professional development programs for colleges, universities, school districts and state departments of education. eCollege’s clients include such institutions as National University; University of Massachusetts Amherst; University of Colorado; Drexel University; DeVry University, Inc.; New England College of Finance; and the Kentucky Virtual High School. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Denver. For more information, visit www.eCollege.com.

This news release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the securities laws. These statements are based on management’s current expectations and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks. Actual results may differ materially. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from estimates or projections contained in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, our network infrastructure and computer systems failing; substantial and increasing competition in the online education market; unanticipated delay in integration of third party software; future technological advances by our competitors; and such other factors as are discussed in our most recent Form 10-K Annual Report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), which you are encouraged to review in connection with this release. We believe that these forward-looking statements are reasonable, however, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which are based on current expectations and speak only as of the date of this release. We are not obligated to publicly release any revisions to forward-looking statements to reflect events after the date of this release.

eCollege, Equation Builder, and eCollege AU+ are service marks of eCollege. All other trademarks and service marks or registered trademarks or service marks are the property of their respective owners.

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Contact:

Kristi Emerson
eCollege^SM303.873.3788
kristie@ecollege.com

Bruce Virga
Vice President Sales
brucev@dessci.com
800-827-0685
562-432-2920

Design Science, Inc.
140 Pine Avenue, 4th Floor
Long Beach, CA 90802, USA