Learning Objects and Jenzabar Partner to Extend Social Learning in Education
Learning Objects, Inc., the leader in social software for teaching and learning, is proud to announce a partnership with Jenzabar, Inc., a leading provider of software, services, and strategies for higher education. Through the affiliation, Jenzabar users will be able to collaborate online and network with peers and instructors using social learning applications within Learning Objects’ software.
Learning Objects’ application suite of social software tools, Campus Pack®, is now integrated with various Jenzabar® technology including the e-Racer® learning management system. With the broadened offerings, Jenzabar clients are able to utilize a host of applications including social assignments within courses, social networks, ePortfolios, and personal development plans.
Campus Pack General Manager Craig Johnson offered, “Learning Objects is excited to partner with a leading education technology provider like Jenzabar to deliver Campus Pack’s social media functionality to instructors, administrators, and students. Through this partnership, Jenzabar clients will have access to a palette of tightly integrated social media tools including wikis, blogs, journals, podcasts, discussion boards, and templates, for use both within courses and by individuals outside the course.”
Additionally, all users will have access to a Personal Learning Space to maintain academic and co-curricular content, as well as share information with anyone inside or outside the institution, such as peers, advisers, or prospective employers. Personal Learning Spaces also allow users to network, send messages, and create common interest groups online, such as communities of practice, study groups, athletic teams, and panhellenic organizations.
“The integration of Campus Pack into Jenzabar’s learning management system, e-Racer, will foster collaboration, increase student engagement, and improve learning outcomes,” said Robert A. Maginn, Jr., Jenzabar Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Social media components are an important part of today’s pedagogy, and this partnership will provide Jenzabar clients with the opportunity to use the latest Web 2.0 social collaboration tools in the learning process.”
Campus Pack integrates with e-Racer using Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI). LTI is a new specification from the IMS Global Learning Consortium, which allows for seamless launch and single sign-on between eLearning systems.
About Jenzabar, Inc.
Jenzabar, Inc. is a leading provider of enterprise software and services developed exclusively for higher education. With more than 40 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.com.
Learning Objects, Inc. First Ever Basic LTI Consumer and Provider
Learning Objects, Inc, the leading provider of social software for learning, is pleased to announce that Campus Pack is the first ever Basic Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) Consumer and Provider. Basic LTI is a new specification from IMS Global Learning Consortium that allows for seamless launch and single sign-on between eLearning systems.
Implementing this specification provides users of Campus Pack with the ability to integrate tools from other organization as a Tool Consumer. In addition, Campus Pack can be connected to any course management system (CMS) that accepts Tool Providers, adding a much needed social layer to many legacy systems.
As a Tool Consumer and Provider, Campus Pack may be integrated with other systems as a tool to enhance a school’s existing e-learning environment, or be used as a tool to bring in other Basic LTI tools to a school’s CMS.
"IMS is pleased to recognize Learning Objects' superior commitment to open standards as the first educational software supplier to be certified as both a provider and consumer of Basic LTI applications," said Dr. Rob Abel, Chief Executive of IMS. "This means that Campus Pack offers institutions unparalleled flexibility in integration with the widest possible set of campus systems - allowing Web 2.0 applications to be leveraged inside the educational and IT infrastructure, instead of outside."
Learning Objects, Inc. has been a member of the LTI group since its inception. Director of Product Education Hal Herzog calls the company’s involvement “an obvious win.”
“Basic LTI is a powerful enabling technology. We hope to see more applications implement this as a way of moving elearning forward, allowing developers to focus on innovating in areas other than integration,” Herzog said.
About IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS GLC)
IMS Global Learning is a nonprofit member organization that strives to enable the growth and impact of learning technology in higher education, K-12, and corporate education worldwide. IMS GLC members are leading corporations, higher education institutions, school districts and government organizations worldwide that are enabling the future of education by collaborating on interoperability standards and major adoption projects for the digital support of education and learning. IMS GLC also sponsors Learning Impact: a global awards program and conference that recognizes the impact of innovative technology on educational access, affordability, and quality. For more information, visit www.imsglobal.org. For inquiries about Common Cartridge, including advice for end-user institutions and school districts, use the web form here: http://www.imsglobal.org/contactus.cfm
Learning Objects and Baldwin-Wallace College Win Learning Impact Award for Collaboration
Learning Objects, Inc. in collaboration with Baldwin-Wallace College has won a 2011 IMS GLC Learning Impact Award. The IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS GLC) awarded Learning Objects’ Campus Pack in conjunction with Baldwin-Wallace College based on their innovative use of this social media application at the college. The results of this collaborative effort produced a 15% improvement in retention rates for College 101 students, and greater numbers of College 101 students earning a GPA of 3.0 or higher.
Baldwin-Wallace College uses Campus Pack for a freshman orientation course, where students are tasked with keeping a B-W Action Plan. Campus Pack provides every user a portfolio enabling students, instructors, and staff to share their work and co-curricular interests with classmates and colleagues, both inside and outside the campus community. Beyond that, students use these social media tools to create wikis, blogs, journals, and podcasts to develop scholarly research, publish interactive academic presentations, and showcase personal interests and achievements.
Baldwin-Wallace’s Manager of Educational Technology Services John DiGennaro explains, “As we progress with our use of Campus Pack, we envision each student having a living record of their successes throughout their college years. It’s an ideal tool to support students through college admissions, courses, co-curricular activities, experiential learning, and career development."
In the end, implementation of the B-W Action Plans correlated to improvements in learning outcomes and student success rates. Of students participating in the College 101 course, Baldwin-Wallace saw retention rates improve 15%, and over 100 additional students have been retained during the successful 5 year period. By encouraging students to collect thoughts, goals, questions, ideas, to-dos and outcomes related to academic and co-curricular achievements, the B-W Action Plans empower students to better manage their own learning.
Baldwin-Wallace alumni, having seen the value of the Action Plan, are putting that experience to good use. Over 200 alumni have volunteered to serve as career mentors to students in the College 101 courses, bringing full circle the life-long learning process. The Action Plan created the structure to their holistic educational experience and now they are sharing that discovery, personal growth and success with other Baldwin-Wallace students who will follow in their footsteps.
The Learning Impact Awards program is facilitated by the IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS GLC) for the purpose of recognizing outstanding applications of technology that address the most significant challenges facing the global education and learning industries.
Learning Objects was chosen as a finalist earlier this spring. Learning Objects and representatives from Baldwin-Wallace College attended the Learning Impact Conference in Long Beach, California, where they showcased the entry for judging. At the end of the conference, the team was named the winner of the Silver Learning Impact Award. A copy of the presentation slides can be found here.
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