PENN STATE TO PUT COURSES ONLINE USING ANGEL SOFTWARE
University Park, Pa. Penn State University has announced it will use Angel (A New Global Environment for Learning) software to put all credit courses online at its 24 campuses.
Angel, developed by faculty at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis enables schools to manage courses online and offer a customized entry point to the system, known as a portal, for students and faculty. Angel may be used as a complement to traditional courses, as well as to deliver online courses as a distance-learning program.
We selected Angel after comparing all of the course management software systems on the market, said Dr. John Harwood, senior director of the Center for Education Technology Services and associate professor of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State. Angel stood out because it is both easy and powerful. Faculty can use the features that are most important to them. Because it is so easy to use, we will reduce our costs in both training and support. In just two weeks, we put more than 100 courses online, and we'll have more than 3,000 students using Angel in our pilot this fall.
That's just what co-creator David Mills intended when he developed Angel. As a former instructor, I know how difficult it can be to find a course management product that is simple to understand and use, but sophisticated in its capabilities, said Mills, now vice president of engineering and development for CyberLearning Labs, which markets and develops the software. We hoped that Angel could change that and we now hear great success stories from users of the software. One person said she was able to put 17 of her courses online in only two days without using a manual and an administrator from another school commented that she was able to fit all the instructions needed for faculty members on only one piece of paper, instead of having to hand them a thick instruction manual.
Penn State will also take the lead in creating a consortium of faculty and administrators from colleges and universities who will share ideas on how to enhance Angel to best meet their changing needs. As part of this role, Penn State will be co-developing tools and resources for inclusion in Angel.
Penn State is Pennsylvania's land-grant university and enrolls more than 80,000 students at its 24 campuses. It offers more than 160 baccalaureate and 150 graduate programs. Through its World Campus, it serves students who cannot attend one of those campuses (http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu). Angel will be used in both residential and distance education programs.
CyberLearning Labs, Inc. is a software company created to develop and market Angel and other e-Learning technologies and solutions. The company grew out of the Advanced Research and Technology Institute at Indiana University after Angel was developed by faculty at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. CyberLearning Labs also offers a free introductory version of Angel to K-12 schools and universities in the U.S. Other schools currently using Angel include the State University of New York-Brockport; Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island; Indiana University School of Medicine; Thomas College in Waterville, Maine and Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.
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Contacts: Christopher Clapp, (317) 684-6878, cclapp@cyberlearninglabs.com
John T. Harwood, (814) 863-0421, jth@psu.edu