Functionality Allows Faculty Members to Incorporate Web 2.0 Tools into Online Learning Curriculum
Boston, MA (Vocus) May 27, 2008 -- Jenzabar®, Inc., a leading provider of software, services and strategies for higher education, today announced that social networking capabilities are available with Jenzabar’s Learning Management System (Jenzabar LMS). The functionality allows faculty members to incorporate social networking services into their online learning curriculum.
The social networking phenomena offers one of the newest ways to engage students and has had a global impact on online learning initiatives. According to a national survey published in January 2007, conducted by Pew Internet & American Life Project, ''a social networking site is an online place where a user can create a profile and build a personal network that connects him or her to other users.'' Over the past five years, sites like Facebook and MySpace have become a cultural phenomenon, engaging tens of millions of users. According to the survey more than 55 percent of all online American tweens and teenagers use online social networking sites.
The functionality available on Jenzabar LMS allows faculty members to build links to social networking applications so that faculty members and students have the ability to interact on a social networking site within the content of an online course. Faculty members can also build course content on a social networking site using the Jenzabar LMS architecture.
Social networking services that are currently available on Jenzabar LMS are online chat, online messaging, and forums. In addition, Jenzabar will be focusing on making available additional social networking capabilities in the upcoming months.
Web 2.0 collaboration tools that faculty members have used with Jenzabar LMS to promote interaction in their classroom include: Sketchcast, a way of communicating an idea online by recording a sketch, with or without the user’s voice; Microsoft Popfly™, is a means to create a “mashup” by combining different Web sites together on one site without writing code, allowing users to combine different web sites together on one site; Googledocs™, is a tool that enables users to import documents, spreadsheets and presentations, then store them online and making them available for multiple users to edit simultaneously.
“Technology will have an ever greater impact on the way students learn and the methods teachers use to teach,” said Robert A. Maginn, Jr., Jenzabar Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “As a company devoted to higher education, we pride ourselves on staying on the cutting edge of technology, providing colleges and universities with innovative ways to engage students and enhance learning initiatives that will ultimately contribute to a better education.”
Jenzabar LMS provides Web-based tools and strategies to supplement or replace traditional classroom learning, meeting the growing demand for online learning and distance education. Jenzabar LMS is tightly integrated with Jenzabar’s Internet Campus Solution, a Web portal providing a single point of access to e-learning, online self-service, communication, and community building tools. Jenzabar LMS allows faculty to update grades, assign online quizzes, track attendance, create and monitor course groups, and now incorporate social networking into online courses.
About Jenzabar, Inc.
Jenzabar, Inc. is a leading provider of enterprise software and services developed exclusively for higher education. With more than 35 years of combined experience offering technology solutions to colleges and universities, Jenzabar is the trusted partner of choice to more than 700 campuses worldwide, including private liberal arts, state, and community colleges and business, medical, law and other graduate schools. Jenzabar is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, with regional offices located across the United States. For further information, please visit www.jenzabar.net.
Contact:
DeeDee Rudenstein
Jenzabar, Inc.
617-492-9099 ext. 365
DeeDee.Rudenstein@jenzabar.net
Jenzabar, Jenzabar.com, i3 and Total Campus Management are trademarks or registered trademarks of Jenzabar, Inc. All other company/product names and service marks may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
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