EmpoweredU Launches New Learning Platform Built With Open-Source Canvas®
Campbell, CA (PRWEB) April 24, 2014 -- EmpoweredU, a Silicon Valley-based learning technology company, announced today the launch of its next generation learning platform. The EmpoweredU learning platform enhances the open-source Canvas LMS with a more intuitive, mobile-friendly student interface, learner analytics, content creation services and hosting.
EmpoweredU’s learning platform was created to be more engaging than legacy learning management systems and to support today’s students who expect access to their courses anytime, anywhere, from any device. The visually appealing interface was designed to delight users and provide a consistent experience as students switch between smartphone, tablet and laptop. The offline capabilities of EmpoweredU also make it possible for on-the-go students to work from anywhere, whether or not they have Wi-Fi connectivity.
After more than two years of successful deployment at UCLA, EmpoweredU recently announced pilots with 15 leading colleges and universities, and has expanded the deployment at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
“We thoroughly reviewed today’s top learning management systems,” said Paul Gleason, Chief Operating Officer of Synergis Education, one of EmpoweredU’s customers. “The EmpoweredU mobile design offered the best, most engaging mobile learning experience. We serve online students that are often balancing work, family and learning, and we require a platform like EmpoweredU that allows them to easily stay connected to their coursework anytime, anywhere.”
To maximize instructor success, EmpoweredU offers course design and setup services for instructors. The EmpoweredU Content Sherpas assist instructors in creating the best learning environment by transforming the instructor’s content into engaging, multimedia course materials that are easily accessed through the app. “Most instructors became instructors to teach, not to be technologists,” explained EmpoweredU President, Paul Roberge. “Our Instructor Success Team does most of the course setup for the instructors so they can focus on teaching.”
Instructors can easily monitor student progress and customize their teaching based on learner analytics. And the analytics are available real-time from the app, so instructors can conveniently check on student progress from any device, even as they are walking into class.
EmpoweredU is built with the open-source Canvas LMS, which is used mainly as a course-authoring tool by EmpoweredU users. “A number of institutions have recently migrated to Canvas due to its ease of use, so when we were selecting a course authoring tool, open-source Canvas was an obvious choice,” said EmpoweredU CTO Dave Wilson.
EmpoweredU is the first enterprise to offer a fully hosted version of open-source Canvas to the educational community with enhanced features for student engagement, mobile access, and analytics as well as high-touch student and instructor support. These features supplement the standard open-source Canvas, which does not include mobile integration, analytics or hosting.
EmpoweredU has also reinvented how institutions can cover all or part of the costs of their learning management technology on an ongoing basis by providing a student pay option. “Because EmpoweredU is built as an app, institutions can elect to have students cover the cost as a nominal per-student course materials fee,” explained Steve Poizner, EmpoweredU CEO. “This results in a minimal to zero licensing expense for the institution.”
The EmpoweredU learning platform is now available for all K-12 districts and higher education institutions.
About EmpoweredU – The EmpoweredU team combines passion and experience in the education sector with a strong track record of building best-in-class technology to improve the education experience. We empower institutions, schools and organizations to transform their traditional programs to improve learner engagement and outcomes.
EmpoweredU is an enterprise-class learning platform that offers a simple, elegant navigation for any course by fully exploiting the native functionality of mobile devices, empowering teaching and learning on-the-go. EmpoweredU greatly enhances student-to-student collaboration and student-to-instructor communication, and is designed for easy integration with existing Student Information Systems (SIS) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems.
The open-source version of Canvas and the Canvas® trademark are owned by Instructure, Inc. In February 2011, the Canvas source code was released to the open-source community. EmpoweredU has licensed Canvas under the Affero General Public License Version 3.
To learn more, visit http://www.EmpoweredU.com today.
Contact: Amanda Greene, Amanda(at)empoweredu(dot)com, 202.701.7805
Amanda Greene, EmpoweredU, http://www.empoweredu.com, +1 (202) 701-7805, [email protected]
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