Podclass Launches Web Services Technology to Bring Education into Social Networks

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Podclass, Inc. announces Podclass Web Services (PWS), an application programming interface to enable online courses to be accessed from within Facebook(R) and other social networking sites. PWS enables users of learning management systems to access and manage course content, and to collaborate and interact with classmates from within Facebook. Currently, PWS integrates with Moodle, the leading open-source learning software system used by more than 40,000 colleges, universities and companies, worldwide. It is expected to integrate with other learning management systems in the future.

With the PWS interface, any institution using Moodle can now offer their students and instructors complete access to their courses from inside of Facebook. Instructors and students can access all of their content, interact with classmates, post to forums, and collaborate on assignments using the new Podclass Facebook application.

Learning management software systems such as Moodle, Blackboard, WebCT and others are designed to facilitate online teaching and learning and are used for course management. In addition to colleges and universities, companies such as Google and Intel also use learning management systems for employee, vendor and partner training.

“One of the biggest limitations of a traditional learning management system is that they typically serve a single institution (college, university or company), and therefore force students to learn in a closed or isolated environment,” Gary Gil, Founder and CEO of Podclass, Inc., says.

“Learning is not confined to a single class, college or institution. Students learn most effectively by interacting and collaborating with friends, colleagues and social connections that exist in the real world, not only with classmates and students who attend the same college. Podclass provides a solution for this by enabling students to learn in an environment where these social connections already exist, inside of Facebook,” Gil adds.

Instead of students being limited to accessing online courses from a single college or institution, Gil envisions a world where education is widely distributed and accessible from wherever a student chooses to access it.

Podclass is pioneering the way into a new educational frontier in which social networking is an integral part of the education process for higher education as well as industry.

For more information, visit: http://pws.podclass.com.

[tags]Podclass Web Services, manage online course content, interact with classmates from within Facebook[/tags]