Monash partners with Pearson to develop free online learning platform
Monash University has become the only non-US university to join
Pearson, the world's leading learning company, as one of its Design
Program Partners.
Monash will work closely with Pearson and its design partners to
create and implement educational resources to advance the delivery
of Pearson's recently launched OpenClass, an open access
self-service cloud-based learning management platform.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) Professor Adam Shoemaker said
the partnership is another example of how the University is
creating closer ties with leading international institutions and
businesses.
"The partnership with such a high profile education provider and
the member institutions of the design team, such as Columbia
University and Arizona State University, is a major coup for
Monash," Professor Shoemaker said.
"It will further enhance Monash's reputation as an innovative
explorer of educational technologies, particularly in the social
classroom."
The development by Monash researchers of MeTL,an awarding
winning collaborative teaching and learning software, plus recent
work on learning analytics had encouraged the University to engage
with Pearson in this ground-breaking project.
"It is an exciting opportunity for our researchers to
contribute to the future development of such a revolutionary method
to deliver learning experiences to students around the world,"
Professor Shoemaker said.
CEO of PearsonAustralia, David Barnett said the company was
excited to be working with Monash University.
"Monash University has a reputation of being an innovative
explorer of educational technologies so it was a logical decision
when Pearson was looking for an international design partner for
its new OpenClass technology," Mr Barnett said.
"We look forward to exploring further opportunities with Monash
University in the years to come."
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For more information contact Monash Media & Communications +
61 3 9903 4840.
For more information on Pearson and OpenClass contact Ryan
O'Hare, ryan.ohare@pearson.com.au
or Fiona Morgan, fiona.morgan@pearson.com
MeTL:
MeTL is a collaborative teaching and learning software created
by the eEducation Centre atMonashUniversity. It enables ad-hoc
immediate input from both teachers and students, allowing for
increased interaction and engagement in large or distributed
classes.MeTL won the 2010 eLearning Industry Association of
Victoria Excellence Award.
OpenClass:
OpenClassis a new kind of self-service learning management
platform. It is easy to use and completely free. There are no
hardware, licensing or hosting costs, thus enabling widespread
adoption of new learning approaches that encourage interaction
within the classroom and around the world.
OpenClass integrates seamlessly with Google Apps for Education™
and is available in the Google Apps Marketplace™. With single
sign-on and a unified navigation bar, instructors and students can
launch OpenClass from within Google Apps or access their Google
applications from OpenClass.