eCollege Launches eCollege AU+ – its 2nd Major CMS Release of 2002
Superior Product Development Time and Quality Assurance Process Support Faculty’s Evolving Needs
DENVER; August 14, 2002 – eCollege(SM) [Nasdaq: ECLG], the leading provider of technology and services for online higher education programs, today announced the launch of eCollege AU+(SM), the latest generation of its leading course management system (CMS). Among other advancements, eCollege AU+ increases efficiency of assignment management; introduces new capabilities for math and science content authoring; and integrates all course calendars into a single downloadable calendar.
“Because of our close personal contact with faculty and students over the past several years, eCollege AU+ represents our continued dedication to providing user-directed features,” said Oakleigh Thorne, chairman and CEO of eCollege. “Our ASP model and robust QA process make it easy for us to automatically release new technology to all of our customers without putting them through the inconveniences of moving from one software version to another.”
eCollege developed and incorporated the following features into eCollege AU+ based on daily interaction with faculty and students, and specific direction from its ongoing Faculty Forum:
· Assignment Dropbox(SM) – As the only CMS assignment tool that integrates with grade book functionality and course content, this feature provides unique sorting capabilities via multiple virtual baskets, allowing instructors to view and grade directly by assignment.
· Equation Builder(SM) – Powered by Design Science’s WebEQ(™) technology, this tool enables users to build and edit mathematic equations through the course-authoring environment with one-click access. eCollege is the only courseware provider to offer this technology automatically to all faculty without plug-ins or integration requirements.
· Integrated Calendar – Providing more customization, this feature integrates calendars across all of a student’s courses, and can be downloaded to Microsoft Outlook and a personal digital assistant (PDA).
· Additional Enhancements
§ Customizable categories in Document Sharing enhance student-student interaction.
§ Read/Unread notification in Announcements confirms student awareness of instructor messages.
§ Exact time exam submitted added to Gradebook helps track student activity.
As with the initial release of eCollege AU(SM) earlier this year, all eCollege AU+ applications and support services have achieved unprecedented levels of Section 508 federal accessibility guidelines for blind, deaf and mobility-impaired faculty and students.
Because eCollege offers a fully hosted solution built on the latest Microsoft technologies, eCollege AU+ is immediately available to all eCollege users with no additional purchase, migration or installation required. For more information, please call 1-888-376-9496.
About eCollege
eCollege [Nasdaq: ECLG] is the leading eLearning technology and services provider to educational markets. eCollege designs, builds and supports high quality online degree, certificate/diploma and professional development programs for colleges, universities, school districts and state departments of education. eCollege’s clients include such institutions as National University; University of Massachusetts Amherst; University of Colorado; Drexel University; DeVry University, Inc.; The New England College of Finance; and the Kentucky Virtual High School. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Denver. For more information, visit www.eCollege.com.
This news release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the securities laws. These statements are based on management’s current expectations and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks. Actual results may differ materially. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from estimates or projections contained in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, our network infrastructure and computer systems failing; substantial and increasing competition in the online education market; future technological advances by our competitors; the vulnerability of our network to security risks; and such other factors as are discussed in our most recent Form 10-K Annual Report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), which you are encouraged to review in connection with this release. We believe that these forward-looking statements are reasonable, however, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which are based on current expectations and speak only as of the date of this release. We are not obligated to publicly release any revisions to forward-looking statements to reflect events after the date of this release.
eCollege, eCollege AU+, eCollege AU, Exam Builder, and Assignment Dropbox are service marks of eCollege. All other trademarks and service marks or registered trademarks or service marks are the property of their respective owners.
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