Iowa Central Community College Reduces Costs, Reaches More Students With Elluminate
Pampano Beach, Florida., (December 20, 2004) — Elluminate, Inc., a leading provider of live eLearning and Web conferencing solutions for education, announced today that Iowa Central Community College has implemented Elluminate Live! Academic Edition™ to augment its courses currently delivered over the Iowa Communications Network (ICN), a fiber optic system. In addition, Iowa Central uses the live eLearning solution to add synchronous content to asynchronous distance learning programs, provide weekly virtual office hours for instructors, and hold online faculty meetings.
In 2003, Iowa Central received federal funding to explore ways to make the expensive ICN more cost-effective and serve a larger student population in the rural areas surrounding the school. According to Distance Learning Director T.J. Martin, Iowa Central now offers blended courses that meet over the ICN as well as via Elluminate Live!â„¢. “For example, one course will meet on Mondays and Fridays on ICN and Wednesdays on Elluminate Live!â„¢, while a second course meets at the same time on Mondays and Fridays on Elluminate Live!â„¢ and Wednesdays on ICN,” he explained. “This way, we more fully utilize both mediums, reduce costs, offer more courses, and meet the needs of students who want to take classes from home.”
“We were looking into different types of interactive tools with voice capability,” said Mary Linney, Associate Vice President of Grant Development and International Affairs for Iowa Central. “We found that Elluminate Live!â„¢ served our purpose very well, mirroring what we can do with the ICN. Elluminate Live! is developed by educators for educators, so it has a teaching component that some of the other products lack. And while the ICN is good for providing a hands-on demo, Elluminate Live!â„¢ enables us to conduct breakout sessions and use an interactive whiteboard, things we couldn’t do as effectively over the ICN.”
“We are extremely pleased to help Iowa Central Community College reach more students and offer more classes, while reducing costs,” said Maurice Heiblum, Elluminate’s VP of Sales & Marketing. “At Elluminate, we are committed to assuming a leadership role in promoting the use of live eLearning for distance education for academic institutions around the world.”
About Iowa Central Community College
Organized in 1966 with a broad mandate to offer a vast array of educational opportunities to the residents of its nine-county area, Iowa Central Community College was built on the firm foundation of three area junior colleges that had been operating since the 1920s. Iowa Central is committed to excellence in teaching and learning by providing for the varied educational needs of the diverse individuals whom it serves through accessible, flexible, community-centered programs and activities both within and beyond the classroom.
About Elluminate, Inc.
Elluminate, Inc. provides live eLearning and Web conferencing solutions for the real-time organization. Its No User Left Behindâ„¢ technology design ensures the best user experience for all through superior-quality Voice over the Internet, communications that are in-sync regardless of connection speed, broad cross-platform support, and advanced yet easy-to-use ESP Moderator Tools. Elluminate products create a rich, collaborative environment for live remote training and online meetings, all while delivering lower upfront costs and strong ROI. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and Pompano Beach, Fla., Elluminate serves corporate and academic organizations such as T-Mobile, Interstate Hotels and Resorts, Penn State University, Johns Hopkins University and many more. For more information, visit http://www.elluminate.com/.
