ASU School of Engineering Captures 10,000th Lecture Using Mediasite

Orlando, Fla – (EDUCAUSE booth #1233) – October 29, 2008 – Students at the Arizona State University Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering now have access to more online lectures than any other university in the country. The School recently recorded its 10,000th lecture with Mediasite by Sonic Foundry, Inc. (NASDAQ: SOFO), the recognized market leader for rich media webcasting and knowledge management. Douglas Montgomery, Regents Professor of industrial engineering and statistics, recorded the lecture for his Industrial Statistics course.

Since 2003, ASU has integrated Mediasite into a variety of professional and corporate development programs for skilled engineers located across the world, including graduate degrees, certificate and custom classes and professional development courses. Over 100 faculty members have used Mediasite (http://www.fulton.asu.edu/fulton) to support 13 graduate degrees, recording and streaming approximately 60 course sections each semester for an average of 180 hours per week.

“We’ve been producing a lot of content since day one, and the scalability and reliability of Mediasite has been critical for that. The fact that Mediasite requires very little effort for our team to be able to capture, produce, package and deliver a lecture gives a small organization like ours a strategic advantage,” said Octavio Heredia, associate director for extended education at the School of Engineering. “The platform is very stable and it allows us to put our strategic thinking into what’s next, such as how do we improve our student experience as we deliver our in house research, knowledge and faculty expertise to a global audience.”

Heredia continued, “Over the last five years we have seen an enormous growth in the adoption of online learning and distance learning, much of which can be attributed to the ease of use of Mediasite. But to me Mediasite is more than a technology, it is a relationship, a partnership with Sonic Foundry to optimize this platform that creates exposure for ASU with students all across the world.”

Douglas Montgomery, Regents Professor of industrial engineering and statistics, has been teaching online courses with Mediasite for five years. “Supporting the structure of the class with Mediasite really levels the playing field for the distance students, who are every bit as good-and in many cases better-than campus students,” he said. “Learning via Mediasite, they do well on exams, show tremendous insight on projects and ask provoking questions.”

“We congratulate ASU on reaching this breakthrough milestone of 10,000 recorded lectures,” said Rimas Buinevicius, CEO and chairman of Sonic Foundry. “The breadth and depth of ASU’s Mediasite program is a testament not only to the commitment of their faculty and staff, but also their partnership with Sonic Foundry to create the most reliable webcasting platform for today’s academic enterprise.”

Additional links
To view a sample course visit: http://cpd.asu.edu/online/?page=online_demo

About Arizona State University Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering
Located on the Tempe campus of Arizona State University, the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering delivers innovative education and leading research designed to produce a creative, highly educated workforce and advancements in technical knowledge that improve the global quality of life. The school’s transdisciplinary, entrepreneurial environment provides more than 6,000 students the knowledge and skills they need for success in technically oriented careers. Our internationally recognized faculty members engage in use-inspired research in collaboration with, and for the benefit of, individuals, organizations and society.
http://www.fulton.asu.edu/fulton/