Archive for October, 2009

Attendees of Educause 2009 can see tangible evidence of Administrative and Academic Application and Technology Trends

WASHINGTON, DC (Tuesday, October 27th, 2009) – The Gilfus Education Group announced its annual predictions today, foreshadowing major concepts on the horizon for administrative and academic applications, content and technologies.

“As a founder of Blackboard Inc. (NASDAQ:BBBB) I had the opportunity to work with thousands of academic institutions in meeting their dynamic needs for bringing together both teaching and learning and administrative technologies. “ said Stephen Gilfus, General Partner of the Gilfus Education Group. “Every year we look to provide guidance to academic institutions and the content and technology companies that serve them, as well as industry investors, in an attempt to provide valuable insight towards meaningful engagement in new concepts and ideas.”

As an independent consulting organization the Gilfus Education Group predicts the following top five trends in education innovation:

• Emergence of robust “Enterprise” Open Source Learning Management Systems.
• Combination of academic and administrative functionality into a more cohesive experience.
• Proliferation of “Software-as-a-Service” administrative and academic applications.
• Growth of independent content object repositories to support teaching and learning.
• Introduction of successful learning applications from other countries into North America.

The Gilfus Education Group invites industry participants including, administrators, faculty, students, publishers, technologists and industry investors to discuss these trends during the Educause 2009 conference at Booth #689 in Denver Colorado, starting November 3rd.

Several of the company’s partners will be available for discussion throughout the conference. In addition, at Educause, the Gilfus Education Group will be releasing two thought-leadership white papers outlining various concepts for the industry.

“Some of the common systems used throughout college and universities today are becoming just that, common”, said Frank Ganis, also a General Partner, “So common that they are likely to soon become obsolete. Higher educators are seeking new horizons to apply intelligent technologies and methodologies to the core production of human knowledge and intelligence.”

ABOUT THE GILFUS EDUCATION GROUP
Based in Washington, DC, the Gilfus Education Group delivers education innovation by bringing refreshing clarity and a pragmatic approach to academic and corporate enterprises through educational, technology, and business consulting. The company provides a wide array of services to clients across the United States and around the world, offering insightful and diversified expertise to the education industry. Since 1997, the Gilfus Education Group team has served thousands of universities, colleges, schools, academic content providers, and education and technology companies in meeting their mission-critical planning and technology needs. The group consists of individuals of the highest caliber talent and experience in educational research, strategy, planning, and technical implementation services representing capabilities for meeting organizational objectives and compliance, evaluating education quality and outcomes, and supporting technical integration, infrastructure, and delivery.

Refreshing Clarity. Education Innovation.

Website: www.gilfuseducationgroup.com

CONTACT:
Gilfus Education Group, (888) 861.3375

Technorati Tags: blackboard founder, Frank Ganis, Gilfus Education Group, Open Source Learning Management Systems, Software as a Service, Stephen Gilfus

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This document provides guidance to help decrease the spread of flu among students, faculty, and staff of institutions of higher education (IHE) and post-secondary educational institutions during the 2009-2010 academic year. The guidance expands upon earlier guidance for these settings by providing a menu of tools that IHE and health officials can choose from based on conditions in their area. It recommends actions to take now (during this academic year), suggests strategies to consider if the flu starts causing more severe disease than during the spring/summer 2009 H1N1 outbreak, and provides a checklist for making decisions. Detailed information on the reasons for these strategies and suggestions on how to use them is included in the Technical Report. Based on the severity of 2009 H1N1 flu-related illness thus far, this guidance also recommends that students, faculty, and staff with flu-like illness remain home until 24 hours after resolution of fever without the use of fever-reducing medications.For the purpose of this guidance, IHE will refer to public and private, residential and nonresidential, degree-granting and non-degree-granting institutions providing post-secondary education in group settings regardless of the age of their students. Portions of this guidance pertaining to dormitories and residence halls may serve as a useful supplement to residential (boarding) schools providing primary and secondary education, with adaptations as needed for their younger population. This guidance represents the CDC’s current thinking on this topic. It does not create or confer any rights for or on any person or operate to bind the public.

IHEs should tailor the guidance to account for the size, diversity, and mobility of their students, faculty, and staff; their location and physical facilities; programs; and student and employee health services. Decisions about strategies should balance the goal of reducing the number of people who become seriously ill or die from flu with the goal of minimizing educational and social disruption.

Although the severity of flu outbreaks during the fall and winter of 2009-10 is unpredictable, more communities may be affected than were affected in spring/summer 2009, reflecting wider transmission and possibly greater impact. CDC is working with state and local health departments to continually monitor the spread of flu, the severity of the illness it is causing, and changes to the virus. If this information indicates that flu is causing more severe disease than during the spring/summer 2009 H1N1 outbreak, or if other developments require more aggressive mitigation measures, CDC may recommend additional strategies. Since severity may vary from community to community, IHEs should also look to their state and local health officials for information and guidance specific to their location.

The recommendations below are divided into two groups: 1) recommendations to use now, during this academic year, assuming a similar severity to the spring/summer H1N1 flu outbreak, and 2) recommendations to consider adding if the flu begins to cause more severe disease. 

Preparing for the Flu: A Communication Toolkit for Institutions of Higher Education

Technorati Tags: CDC H1N1 Flu |CDC Guidance for Responses to Influenza for Institutions of Higher Education during the 2009-2010 Academic Year

Intelligent Learning Platform concept from Gilfus Education Group core to Datatel and Moodlerooms Strategy. Read the white paper at: http://www.gilfuseducationgroup.com/white-papers/enterprise-education-platform

Agreement Creates Secure and Supported Moodle-based Option for Teaching and Learning

FAIRFAX, Va. (BUSINESS WIRE), October 19, 2009 – Datatel has extended its previously announced entry into the teaching and learning space by signing an exclusive partnership with Moodlerooms, Inc. The partnership will provide higher education with a teaching and learning solution that is totally integrated with Datatel Colleague® and based on Moodle™, an open-source e-learning software platform.

Datatel’s Intelligent Learning Platform, built on the Datatel Portal with flawless integration between Datatel Colleague and Moodle®, gives you a cohesive teaching and learning solution beyond traditional learning and course management systems.

Moodlerooms augments Moodle by adding valuable functionality, tested reliability, upgraded security, and technical support. The result of the Datatel–Moodlerooms solution is a more complete, cost-effective, and powerful choice over traditional proprietary learning systems.

“Our clients and other education leaders speak fervently about their desire for a powerful teaching and learning solution that is more affordable and fully integrates with their administrative system of record,” said Datatel President and CEO, John Speer. “Datatel has clearly heard this strong message, and the result is a Datatel–Moodlerooms intelligent learning platform solution that will advance their educational mission at a lower price point to what is now available in the market.”

“The fully-integrated connection between an open learning-management platform and an enterprise resource planning system is long overdue,” said Moodlerooms CEO, Martin Knott. “This partnership will empower academia to make data-driven decisions that impact their success. We truly believe this platform creates a sustainable learning architecture to extend campuses’ learning-management efforts to the global community.”

Datatel will furnish more details about the learning-system solution at its corporate presentation on November 4, 10:30 a.m., Korbel Ballroom 2C at EDUCAUSE 2009 in Denver. Moodlerooms will also be at EDUCAUSE in Booth # 123 to provide more information about the partnership. Datatel will be located at Booth# 304.

About Datatel, Inc.

Datatel is the industry’s most experienced provider of technology products, services, and insight to higher education. Colleges, universities, and technical schools across North America partner with Datatel to construct Strategic Academic Enterprises dedicated to achieving student success. The company has focused exclusively on higher education since 1979, and its technology is used by nearly 800 institutions serving more than five million students. For more information, visit www.datatel.com.

About Moodlerooms, Inc.

Moodlerooms is the trusted education solutions provider that delivers a reliable and growing enterprise open-source learning management platform. Their solution fuses customer care, state-of-the-industry technologies and open-source Moodle in a secure and scalable environment so the learning community can confidently focus on quality online teaching and learning. For more information, visit www.moodlerooms.com.

©2009 Datatel, Inc. All rights reserved. Datatel and Colleague are registered trademarks of Datatel, Inc. All other names, products, and services mentioned are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Contact(s):

Datatel, Inc.
Peter Abzug, 703-259-2831
pda@datatel.com

Technorati Tags: Datatel, Educause 2009, Enterprise Education Platform, intelligent learning platform, John Speer, Martin Knott, moodlerooms

Enables Teachers to Locate and Share Learning Objects Among Multiple Digital Repositories

Baltimore, MD — Moodlerooms, Inc., leading provider of a secure and scalable enterprise learning management platform (LMP) with open-source Moodle at its core, announced today its partnership with The Learning Edge North America, providers of award-winning digital repository EQUELLA.

Moodlerooms, the largest Moodle Partner in the world, is implementing EQUELLA as an integrated piece of its
LMP with no additional licensing fees. This partnership allows educators to “discover” the highest quality
learning objects available to them using rating, tagging and federated search functionalities. Educators can
also classify and search for learning objects by standards, ensuring alignment to outcomes and assessments.

“As a former teacher, I know how important it is to have easy and affordable access to good content and
resources,” explains Tom Murdock, President of Moodlerooms. “Now that we’ve made it easier to support and
access online courses using Moodle, the next step is to make it easier to find and incorporate quality content.
EQUELLA is the perfect solution for that and will be an integral part of our plans for future expansion.”

Institutions can establish a fully integrated environment that fosters collaborative creation, sharing and
discovery of learning objects between multiple trusted repositories — a benefit that expands the current
content management and collaboration functionalities of Moodle. Course creators can then use built-in Moodle
modules and single sign-on capabilities to seamlessly access EQUELLA and incorporate content into courses.

“Moodlerooms’ decision to incorporate EQUELLA as the platform behind their latest initiatives highlights the
role that effective content management has in ensuring a complete teaching and learning environment,” says
Bob Cupitt, Chief Executive Officer of The Learning Edge North America. “We look forward to working with
Moodlerooms to ensure that Moodle users experience the benefits of both solutions.”

Moodlerooms and The Learning Edge North America will be available at EDUCAUSE 2009 to speak about their
partnership. Visit Moodlerooms at booth 123 and The Learning Edge North America at booths 1027 and 1029.

About Moodlerooms (www.moodlerooms.com):
Moodlerooms is the trusted education solutions provider that delivers a reliable and growing enterprise opensource learning management platform. Our solution fuses customer care, state-of-the-industry technologies
and open-source Moodle in a secure and scalable environment so your learning community can confidently
focus on quality teaching and learning.

About The Learning Edge North America (www.equella.com):
The Learning Edge North America’s principal offering is EQUELLA, a digital repository that incorporates learning
objects, learning content management, and integrated content authoring. EQUELLA integrates with popular
course management systems and has been implemented by universities, community colleges, and state-based
school systems worldwide. The Learning Edge North America has locations in Boston, Toronto, Chicago and
Sacramento. Visit us at http://www.equella.com.
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Technorati Tags: equella, Martin Knott, moodlerooms, Peter vantienen, the learning edge, Tom Murdock