Eastern New Mexico University Makes Education Attainable via Mediasite Despite Geographical Barriers

MADISON, Wis.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Eastern New Mexico University is the third largest university in the state, covering a particularly large geographical area. The university made education accessible to the region’s traditional, non-traditional and high school dual enrollment students with Mediasite by Sonic Foundry, Inc. (NASDAQ: SOFO), the trusted market leader for video management and academic, enterprise and event webcasting.

“It is rewarding to support the expansion of their offerings.”

Armed with a Title V grant, ENMU created a plan to support graduate programs and other key academic initiatives with Mediasite as the central educational technology and went from pilot to full-scale, campus-wide deployment in less than 12 months. Many of ENMU’s non-traditional students have children, work full-time and live in rural communities. Of the roughly 6,000 ENMU students during the fall 2012 semester, 4,341 took at least one online course via Mediasite, and more than 200 of those took their courses entirely online with live webcasts of lectures. ENMU has five dedicated lecture capture rooms and it also uses Mediasite to record events outside of the classroom.

“With Mediasite we make education accessible. Considering we’re in New Mexico, a lot of our students live in rural communities, and Mediasite helps us reach out to them and provide that support and that warmth, the things they’re used to having in a traditional classroom setting. It bridges that gap,” said Curriculum Development Specialist Roy Marquez, who provides professional development to faculty about integrating Mediasite into their classrooms. “Mediasite is a great way to provide the best of both worlds – the convenience of the traditional classroom but with no geographical boundaries.”

Prior to using Mediasite, ENMU used a system that required distance students to drive to a site to watch video of a transmitted class.

“We were looking for a way to reach people where they were and still have the ability to interact with them,” said Linda Weems, Graduate Dean. “With Mediasite, students can see faculty in real time. There’s a way to ask questions. They can see our PowerPoints, our DVDs. Plus, we’ve been able to increase the courses and programs that we offer online.”

In addition to distance learning, ENMU uses Mediasite for other groundbreaking higher education initiatives:

Facilitating a flipped instruction pilot. Faculty are pre-recording their lectures for students to watch prior to class, leaving class time dedicated to dynamic discussions and interactions.
Creating hybrid classes. Students in the classrooms and online interact simultaneously via live webcasts of the lecture.
Branching out into asynchronous distance learning. This occurs when the teacher and students interact in different places at different times.
Helping high school students earn college credits. New Mexico’s Dual Enrollment program allows high school students to take college classes, either on campus or online, to earn high school and college credit.
Recording special events and guest speakers. The campus provides professional development online, connecting alumni and more.

“We’re just having so much fun with Mediasite. Our college is thrilled about the way Mediasite allows us to reach more and more distance students without having to give up a lot of the traditional feel of the classroom,” said Mary Fanelli Ayala, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “For many of our professors this gives them a much better option than the traditional text-based flat online class that has no video or audio component. Mediasite lets our professors do what they do best which is teaching in front of students even though they are far away.”

“Video-based online instruction is becoming a standard offering in higher education to reach students in a timely and cost-effective manner. Eastern New Mexico University is not only fully embracing this model with open arms, but they are pioneering some of the most advanced and sophisticated e-learning initiatives we’ve seen,” said Gary Weis, Sonic Foundry’s chief executive officer. “It is rewarding to support the expansion of their offerings.”

Fanelli Ayala will present the free webinar “From Flipped Classroom to Duel Enrollment: How ENMU Achieved Campus-Wide Capture in 12 Months” at 11 a.m. CT Feb. 19. To register, visit www.sonicfoundry.com/ENMUwebinar.

Trusted by more than 1,100 colleges and universities worldwide, the Mediasite webcasting and video content management system quickly and cost-effectively automates the capture, management, delivery and search of live and on-demand streaming videos and rich media presentations.

About Sonic Foundry®, Inc.

Sonic Foundry (NASDAQ: SOFO) is the trusted market leader for enterprise webcasting solutions, providing video content management and distribution for education, business and government. Powered by the patented Mediasite webcasting platform and webcast services of Mediasite Events, the company empowers people to advance how they share knowledge online, using video webcasts to bridge time and distance, enhance learning outcomes and improve performance.

Product and service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of Sonic Foundry, Inc. or their respective owners.

Certain statements contained in this news release regarding matters that are not historical facts may be forward-looking statements. Because such forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to, uncertainties pertaining to continued market acceptance for Sonic Foundry's products, its ability to succeed in capturing significant revenues from media services and/or systems, the effect of new competitors in its market, integration of acquired business and other risk factors identified from time to time in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.