Marist College: Your Education Amplified, A Story of Innovation

Marist College, located in Poughkeepsie, New York, is known as one of the most technologically advanced liberal arts colleges in the country. Recipient of the Campus Technology Innovators Award and recognized by The Princeton Review and Forbes as one of the 25 "Most Connected Campuses" in America, Marist College determined that the rSmart Sakai CLE was unmatched in its ability to meet the institution's needs to support teaching and learning.

"I believe teaching, learning and research occur most effectively through collaboration, openness and sharing. Open source systems institutionalize these values within the technology of the college, increasing the ability to innovate and improve on the systems, investments and tools of leading educational institutions from around the world."

Dennis Murray, President of Marist College, is the visionary driving Marist College's growth from a local institution to one with an international reputation for excellence. Murray is a strong supporter of open systems.

Ability to Deliver Confidence

Josh Baron, Director of Academic Technology and e-Learning at Marist College, and recently appointed Sakai Foundation board member, led the learning management system decision making process at Marist College.

"We looked at five decision criteria when we evaluated Sakai: functionality requirements, available support, the health of the Sakai community, innovation factors, and reliability and stability. Across the board, we felt absolutely confident in Sakai's ability to deliver."

Mr. Baron adds, "It was a strategic imperative that we select a solution that best enables teaching and learning innovation, as that is core to Marist's mission of educational excellence. There is no other system that compares with Sakai's ability in this area. In addition, Sakai's "built by educators, for educators" development model places our faculty and students in the driver's seat in shaping the future of this powerful learning technology."

rSmart Provides the Support to Innovate

Partnering with rSmart was an easy decision for Marist College.

William Thirsk, Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Marist College, explains, "Partnering with rSmart was a game changing event for us as an institution. As both an IT leader and a small liberal arts college, we approach technology development completely differently than a large, research university. Strong partners that support our vision are critical to our success; we cannot achieve what we do alone. rSmart brings a strong, fully verified and supported Sakai instance and excellent support and maintenance services. But, most importantly, the company is an exceptional partner. rSmart focuses on our institution's needs and interests, they invest and partner with us in the development efforts most critical to our college, and they maintain an ongoing dialogue about how to optimize our relationship for the greatest mutual benefit. rSmart's relationship with Marist College is a model for strong IT partnerships."

"The product, support and services rSmart provides enable us to focus our two internal academic technology resources on working with faculty to innovate their teaching practices," said Mr. Baron. "It is this support that truly enables us to innovate."

In addition to a strong customer focus, rSmart is an integral part of the Sakai community. The company has been critical to the start-up, governance and success of Sakai. Mr. Baron explains, "The commitment and investment rSmart has made in Sakai provides us with great assurance in both Marist College's success and Sakai's success. In addition, they provide an invaluable bridge for their customers to the broader Sakai community."

"The rSmart Sakai Collaborative Learning Environment provides our faculty with a solution that is developed by educators for educators. Priorities are defined by those who best know what is required to enhance their teaching and learning and executed with thousands of other community participants at work across more than 100 institutions," said Mr. Baron. "We have the support of a vendor partner, rSmart, who is fully invested in supporting our success. This combination creates a rate of innovation for the Sakai community and for Marist College that is phenomenal."

Sakai Supports Innovative Teaching Methods

"The rSmart Sakai CLE was unmatched in its ability to meet the institution's needs to support teaching and learning."

Kevin Gaugler, Associate Professor of Spanish and Chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, believes innovations in Sakai best meet the unique needs of teaching foreign languages. "The seamless integration of the language tools is really starting to change how we think about assessment in foreign languages. With the introduction of tutoring from Guatemalan tutors for one hour each week for our intermediate Spanish students, students have the opportunity in a fully online course to have a stronger learning experience than they did two years ago in a traditional classroom. I never thought this would be possible, but the technology is really enabling a better learning environment."

Dr. Gaugler notes, "A unique need we have in modern languages is to have the entire interface in the language of the course. A challenge you face in any commercial product is that this functionality, where it exists, is limited and often inaccurate. It is also never a priority that gets the limited development dollars of a vendor. Right now, within Sakai, a university in Spain is leading the development of the Spanish Sakai interface. Having a Spanish university develop this on behalf of the larger community is very powerful to us."

To view the Marist College Story webinar, CLICK HERE.