AMDG evaluates Sakai with rSmart
Phoenix, AZ. (May 14, 2007) – The rSmart Group, the leading full-service provider of open source solutions for education, today announced that A|M|D|G, provider of professional academic and training programs online, has launched a pilot of the rSmart Sakai CLE with an eye toward rolling it out as their primary eLearning platform. The rSmart Sakai CLE is a feature-rich, fully scalable collaboration and learning environment, unique in its ability to support teaching and learning, project collaboration, group interaction and ePortfolio construction.
President of the rSmart Group, Chris Coppola, said, “We are excited to be working with A|M|D|G. Our hope is that this pilot will give A|M|D|G the confidence to deploy the rSmart Sakai CLE as their primary eLearning solution.”
The rSmart Group will be working with A|M|D|G on customizing content collection and presentation as well as on customizing software. In addition, A|M|D|G will also receive dedicated support from rSmart through the rSmart Network (RSN), a 24/7 academic and technical support portal.
“We wanted to develop an open source infrastructure so that we could pass the savings along to our customers,” said Diana Muir, eLearning Specialist for A|M|D|G . “We also found that the extensive support network for Sakai tools means that tools are always being improved and new tools added that take into account our special needs as a K-12 provider. With more than 400 course sites deployed, Sakai’s Lesson Builder tool has been a lifesaver and has made curriculum development much more efficient. The wide variety of tools allows us to customize our courses and choose those tools that are most useful for our students at the high school level.”
Diana further explains why A|M|D|G’s decision to choose rSmart was the right one. “rSmart has been very responsive to our service needs and has always been patient with our ‘newbie’ questions and need for adaptation for high school students,” said Diana. “Their staff has always been very friendly and helpful, and they have shown us how to become more involved in the Sakai network in order to improve our own in-house skills. If we ask questions they’re unfamiliar with, they go out and research them and come back with options and answers. We feel that they truly exemplify the spirit of the Sakai community: collaboration and sharing in order to promote the good of the community, not just the individual entities involved.”
A|M|D|G hopes to add 10,000+ students this fall, both nationally and internationally. The Sakai CLE, which is highly scalable, makes it much more practical for them to do this. A|M|D|G also hopes to add expertise in using the portfolio tools and wiki for their students, as well as integrating more discussion tools to make courses more interactive. A|M|D|G is also working with Sakai developers to develop some of the existing tools, such as those for assessment and grading, that have unique reporting requirements at the high school level.
About The rSmart Group:
The rSmart Group is the leading open source application software company serving the higher education market. rSmart packages, certifies, deploys, and supports a suite of enterprise financial and collaborative learning applications for colleges and universities. As an active member of open source projects such as Kuali and Sakai, rSmart is able to provide its clients with software applications specifically designed to meet the unique needs of institutions of higher education. This collaborative approach allows rSmart to offer colleges and universities open source applications that break their dependence on traditional proprietary software vendors. Please visit http://www.rsmart.com for more information
About A|M|D|G:
A|M|D|G is one of the nation's most comprehensive education and training institutions providing Internet and site-based programs to learners of all ages. Serving students in over 32 states and many countries around the world, A|M|D|G 's, accredited K-12 programs, provide a full range of educational services to the global community. The online program was founded in 1999 by dedicated professionals who collectively bring 80 years of experience to the company. A|M|D|G offers innovative, student-centered, educational solutions to the global community using advanced technology to provide universal access to outstanding programs in a cost-effective manner. A|M|D|G also recruits, screens, trains, and qualifies individuals for employment with Fortune 500 companies. Through A|M|D|G’s model, companies can significantly lower their recruiting and training costs. Please visit http://www.amdg.ws/ for more information
