Oregon Health & Science University evaluates Sakai with rSmart
Phoenix, Ariz. (March 5, 2007) - The rSmart Group, the leading full-service provider of open source solutions for education, today announced that Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) has launched a pilot of the rSmart Sakai CLE with an eye toward rolling out the solution campus wide next fall.
President of the rSmart Group, Chris Coppola said, “We are excited to be working with Oregon Health & Science University. Our hope is that this pilot will give OHSU the confidence to deploy this product across the institution later this year.”
The success of the current project hinges on ease-of-use and ease-of-integration with home-grown and commercial software. Maggie McVay Lynch, Ed.D, director of Statewide Teaching and Learning Services at the OHSU School of Nursing, stated, “To increase the number of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, and other health care providers in Oregon, OHSU delivers educational programs not only on its main campus but also to rural and underserved areas of the state. These programs are directed to a variety of audiences: K-12 to increase the pipeline of Oregonians into the health sciences; college students interested in careers in health care and research; and trained professionals to help them meet their continuing educational requirements."
OHSU is a "philosophical supporter of the open-source movement, and we have been impressed with our early evaluation of the functionality of Sakai and the background technologies such as Spring and JSF which serve as a flexible platform for future development and plug-in to other applications," Lynch added. "The rSmart CLE and hosting solution was attractive to us because it provided a ready-made and well-tested skin, a systems level support structure for the CLE and our integration needs, and a quality hosting solution that has guaranteed uptime, backups, and security.”
David Robinson, Ph.D., vice provost for Academic Technology at OHSU, said, “Over the next few months, we will be evaluating both the Sakai product and the rSmart partnership. If all goes well, our plan is to expand this relationship by rolling out Sakai campuswide next academic year.”
The rSmart Group will be working with OHSU on customizing content collection and presentation, as well as on customized software development. In addition, OHSU also will receive dedicated support from rSmart through the rSmart Network (RSN), a 24/7 academic and technical support portal.
Oregon Health & Science University will contribute newly developed software features back to the Open Source Portfolio Initiative (OSPI) following the completion of this project in support of the general open source community.
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 like 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 Oregon Health and Science University
Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) is the state's only comprehensive public academic health center. Its fundamental purpose is to improve the health and well being of people in Oregon and beyond. As part of its multifaceted public mission, OHSU strives for excellence in education, research and scholarship, clinical practice and community service. Through its dynamic interdisciplinary environment, OHSU stimulates the spirit of inquiry, initiative, and cooperation among students, faculty and staff. OHSU is made up of the College of Pharmacy, OGI School of Science and Engineering, School of Dentistry, School of Medicine and School of Nursing.
Please visit http://www.ohsu.edu/ for more information.
