AMSTERDAM – (Integrated Systems Europe booth #11F48) February 3, 2009 – Sonic Foundry, Inc. (NASDAQ: SOFO), the recognized market leader for rich media webcasting and knowledge management, today announced longtime customer Delft University of Technology has found continued technical and academic success with Collegerama, its campus-wide blended learning initiative centered around Mediasite, largely due to a ground-breaking internal marketing campaign.
Facing little governmental support, a generation of students raised with digital devices and an expansion of courses due to a new degree structure combining Bachelors and Masters degrees, TU Delft selected Mediasite by Sonic Foundry three years ago to provide smart lecture capture solutions.
“What we want is to capture educational content in an efficient way on a large scale, and Mediasite can do that. With Mediasite, we can present all sorts of educational sources to the students online anytime, anywhere,” said Leon Huijbers, staff manager of the Campus Congress Centre and multimedia department.
“We were looking for a system that automated the process; you press a button, and it’s online,” said Tom van Buren, CEO of Mediasite reseller Mediamission, who advised TU Delft on the lecture capture initiative.
The university branded its lecture capture initiative Collegerama (www.collegerama.nl), built around the Mediasite webcasting and knowledge management platform. The multimedia department then began garnering stakeholder support while simultaneously building out the technical elements of the program from its own budget. “When the university was ready to accept a campus-wide service, they just had to put it out on a bigger scale,” said van Buren. “Because it was Collegerama, it was the amalgamation of all educational technology under one initiative.”
TU Delft has now expanded from just one to 13 Mediasite recorders that integrate with technology including DVD players, robotic cameras, computers with internet access, digital whiteboards, document cameras, tablet PCs and digital paper. Eight recorders are part of customized mobile carts used for lecture capture in about 80 classrooms across campus that allow the multimedia department to work independently of technical details in classrooms. Three recorders are permanently installed in classrooms, and the university plans to equip more classrooms with permanent RL recorders which will be monitored at a distance via network control.
The university captures an average of 300 hours of content each month, and its current 3,500 hours of presentations are viewed more than 10,000 times per week during exam periods. Between 100-150 presentations are streamed simultaneously, with up to 400 different viewers accessing presentations at once. As TU Delft’s Mediasite program grows, Huijbers says he is not going to expand his staff, preferring instead to “invest money in smart devices.”
TU Delft has also found academic success as a result of Mediasite. “Our research shows that students watching Mediasite presentations through the Collegerama portal are achieving higher grades and better retention of course content,” said Huijbers.
“We are proud to count TU Delft as a longstanding partner, and are thrilled with their continued success in leveraging Mediasite as a powerful communication and lecture capture platform,” said Rimas Buinevicius, chairman and CEO of Sonic Foundry.
Visitors to Sonic Foundry ISE booth #11F48 will have the opportunity to interact with TU Delft staff, who will be onsite with their Mediasite system.
About TU Delft
Founded in 1842, Delft University of Technology (www.tudelft.nl) is the oldest, largest and most comprehensive technical university in The Netherlands. With over 16,000 students and 2,100 scientists, it is an establishment of both national importance and significant international standing. Renowned for its high standard of education and research, TU Delft collaborates with other educational establishments and research institutes, both within and outside of the Netherlands. It also enjoys partnerships with governments, trade organizations, numerous consultancies, industry and small and medium-sized enterprises.
About Mediamission
The first European reseller for Mediasite by Sonic Foundry, Mediamission (www.mediamission.nl) is a master distributor of Mediasite for The Netherlands based in de Bilt. Mediamission has enabled Mediasite use at eight universities. Modernizing information delivery is central to Mediamission’s work. Together with clients, partners and preferred suppliers, the company innovates existing infrastructure and assets for the production, distribution and use of rich media presentations. Mediamission develops, advises and manages projects in education, government and enterprise. Because of its wide knowledge of education, information transmittal, IT and comparative media studies, Mediamission is in a unique position to make implementations of large scale rich media presentations possible, reducing the distance between customer and client and increasing the impact of client expertise.
About Sonic Foundry®, Inc.
Founded in 1991 and headquartered in Madison, Wis., Sonic Foundry (OTC: SOFO) is dedicated to transforming how the world works and learns through innovative and scalable technology solutions. Sonic Foundry’s brands include Vidable® and Global Learning Exchange® which help unlock a smarter, more connected world for learners, workers, and entrepreneurs everywhere. For more information visit www.sonicfoundry.com.
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