American Public University System Completes Initial Transition to Sakai Learning Management Platform
Charles Town, W.Va., October 13, 2010 – American Public University System (APUS) today announced that it has successfully completed the first phase of its planned migration to the Sakai Learning Management System.
“The flexibility Sakai provides to frequently add system enhancements to match our evolving organizational needs was an important criteria in our selection process,” said Dr. Frank McCluskey, APUS executive vice president and provost. “It will help enable us to create a robust learning environment that combines technology, content, and services to meet these needs today, while supporting future growth .”
The APUS milestone follows a successful pilot of 13 courses, during which both students and faculty were consulted about the features and navigation of the new system. The initial launch comprises nine graduate programs, from business administration and humanities to intelligence studies and public administration, encompassing 230 course sections and 4,000 registered students.
Sakai’s open-source approach allows colleges and universities to deploy, host, and modify the software in whatever manner best supports institutional skills, needs and goals. Currently used by more than 200 leading educational institutions worldwide, it also enables local enhancements to be incorporated into future versions of the software to benefit the entire Sakai community.
“APUS prides itself on providing affordable, quality learning outcomes to our students all over the world,” said McCluskey. “Our goal in this transition to Sakai is to help even further enhance the student experience by facilitating more dynamic collaboration with peers and interaction with faculty.”
About American Public University System
American Public University System, winner of the Sloan Consortium’s 2009 Ralph E. Gomory Award for Quality Online Education and two-time recipient of Sloan’s Effective Practices Award, offers 79 online degree programs through its American Public University and American Military University institutions. APUS’s relevant curriculum, affordability and flexibility help more than 70,000 working adults worldwide pursue degrees in subjects ranging from homeland security to management and liberal arts. For further information on APUS, please visit www.apus.edu.
About Sakai
Sakai is an online Collaboration and Learning Environment. Many users of Sakai deploy it to support teaching and learning, ad hoc group collaboration, support for portfolios and research collaboration. Sakai is a free and open source product that is built and maintained by the Sakai community. Sakai's development model is called "Community Source" because many of the developers creating Sakai are drawn from the "community" of organizations that have adopted and are using Sakai. The non-profit Sakai Foundation provides infrastructure and coordination support for the Sakai community and is the point of contact for information about Sakai.
News Release Contact:
Brian Muys
Director, Public Relations
American Public University System
703-334-3225