Christopher Segot, Business Development Manager for K–12 at Emantras, discusses identifying and delivering consistent education materials to students.
ESD: Emantras is a global digital education company. What does that mean?
CS: Emantras staffs more than 350 employees around the world. Our corporate headquarters is located in the Silicon Valley and we have business and project development offices all over the globe. We work with corporations, publishers and schools all over the world, helping our partners create distance learning plans, strategies and content. Emantras has over 20,000 hours of worldwide eLearning content experience giving us the edge in working with *your* needs.
ESD: Sounds like your experiences and partners have been very dynamic. What are some of your most interesting projects to date?
CS: We've excelled in custom learning content and delivery technologies for academic education and enterprise learning/performance. In today's technology and learning landscape, better usability means better accessibility, so if your child is most likely to carry a Nintendo DS, Sony PSP or iPod everywhere they go, why should their learning opportunities be tethered to a computer? Our most interesting projects have been in creating ubiquitous learning strategies that complement the everyday habits of learners. Usability also means creating content that actually captures the imagination and interest of today’s visually enhanced learners.
ESD: Do most schools and corporations have a distance education plan or learning management system in place when they partner with Emantras?
CS: Some partners come to us with a plan and some don't. Two great examples from both sides of the coin are Danfoss and West Coast University. Danfoss is currently using our proprietary learning management system to push content and activities to employees worldwide, so they didn't have an existing plan when we partnered. West Coast University is using the eCollege LMS and is working with Emantras to develop consistent and engaging courses, online admissions and FA applications, demos and orientation materials to identify and train online faculty. WCU had a plan that we built upon. The real strength of Emantras is being able to collaborate on the right solutions.
ESD: Publishers provide some very good online content. Why not use their materials exclusively?
CS: Many of our partners are big publishing houses. We've found, through personal experience and partner feedback, that although materials from individual publishers are impressive, the student has a different experience with every piece of publisher content. To draw a parallel to face-to-face education, it's like going to math class and sitting in chairs and then going to English and standing on your head. With so many factors affecting student success, the last obstacle a student needs is inconsistent resources and courses. We frequently bridge the gap between the publishers and the educators to deliver the 'last mile' solutions required to deliver effective and easy to comprehend learning material. Having custom content mapping to your own learning objectives also allows you to use publisher content more effectively by providing greater control of the quality and consistency.
ESD: What would you like the attendees of NECC 2008 take away from this interview?
CS: With so many media outlets competing for your audience's attention, both online and offline, your educational materials must be able to keep your students' attention, engage to educate and ultimately empower. As an educator, you shouldn’t have to adjust your processes to fit a product or expect a single product to do everything; instead, educators must be looking for a solution.
For more information, visit www.emantras.com or stop by booth 859.
Comments