Alliance to Support Exceptional Technology-Enhanced Teaching and Learning

Richmond, Virginia, U.S. – June 9, 2010 – SoftChalk, LLC, a leading developer of content authoring software for eLearning, and the Sakai Project, an educational community renowned for innovation in open teaching, learning and research software, today announced an integration and collaboration partnership. SoftChalk has become a member of the Sakai Foundation and introduced integration between the SoftChalk authoring solution and the Sakai Learning Management System.

“We are so pleased to have SoftChalk formally join the Sakai community,” says Lois Brooks, Executive Director of the Sakai Foundation. “Sakai exists to support exceptional technology-enhanced teaching, learning and research. The integration that SoftChalk has invested to create provides real value to faculty members in our community.”

Sue Evans, Co-founder and CEO of SoftChalk, said, “We are delighted to partner with Sakai and offer our clients the ability to publish their content directly into the Learning Management System. This time saving option will add value to all of our clients that are part of the Sakai Community.”

Brad Wheeler, Vice President for Information Technology, CIO, and professor at Indiana University, concurs, “SoftChalk has demonstrated a commitment to work with open educational resources like Sakai, MERLOT and Connexions. These kinds of partnerships fit well with Indiana University’s strategy to work with blended, commercial, and open education communities to manage scholarship and teaching materials.”

The partnership between the Sakai Foundation and SoftChalk will allow faculty members to use SoftChalk’s easy-to-use tools to create media-rich lessons within the powerful collaboration environment created by Sakai. “SoftChalk removes many technical barriers, so faculty can concentrate on good pedagogy and rich learning experiences for their students,” explains David Goodrum, Director of Faculty and Academic Services, University Information Technology Services, Indiana University, and Sakai community member. “SoftChalk’s Sakai integration makes this process even easier, allowing instructors to efficiently modify and upload content.”

As a Sakai Commercial Affiliate, SoftChalk and educational institutions across the Sakai community will work together to identify new opportunities to enable and share exceptional technology-enhanced teaching and learning.

SoftChalk will be present at the annual Sakai Conference (June 15-17, 2010) in Denver Colorado and also plans to host a joint partner webinar with Sakai after the conference.

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About SoftChalk, LLC

SoftChalk, LLC is an award-winning provider of e-Learning software for worldwide education and business institutions. Specializing in the development of intuitive, easy-to-use tools, SoftChalk products allow instructors to create powerful and professional-looking content for e-Learning and smart classrooms in K-12, higher education and corporate training. For more information, visit www.softchalk.com.

About Sakai

Sakai is an open source software project driven by a worldwide consortium of institutions, organizations, and individuals dedicated to creating collaboration, research, and e-portfolio tools. The Sakai Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to coordinating activities around Sakai software and the Sakai community to optimize the contribution of community members and long-term effectiveness of Sakai. For more information, visit www.sakaiproject.org.