WebStudy Learning LMS is a fully hosted learning management system (LMS) product owned by Elearning service provider WebStudy, Inc. The LMS was developed through a student-professor collaboration and had its roots in an educational consortium in the Mid-Atlantic region called the Delaware Valley Distance Learning Consortium. WebStudy Learning mimics the way teachers teach and students learn. The company is headquartered in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania and has staff in the U.S. and Czech Republic.
WebStudy provides a fully hosted VLE, or virtual learning environment product with a 24/7 Helpdesk, and the company hosts, services and protects institutional data. WebStudy Learning is fully hosted so it does not require server hardware.1[1] It also allows ease of migration from first-generation LMS.
WebStudy is a user-driven organization with an advisory User Group that is instrumental in discussing desired changes, driving product upgrades and sharing training approaches.[2]
Contents |
WebStudy Learning is the result of a collaboration between a student and a professor. The original design for WebStudy Learning software was developed over several iterations of, “But the student needs....” and “Yes, but the instructor needs......” They collaborated to develop features and functionality for the software that met the needs of both the student and instructor.
WebStudy launched the commercial use of the software with a group of charter customers in the mid-Atlantic states – originally as the Delaware Valley Distance Learning Consortium, a group that aimed to improve distance learning in the area through the local National Public Radio station (WHYY-FM). WHYY would broadcast the courses in the middle of the night, then the schools would tape the broadcast and disseminate a booklet with the tape for distance education.
Around Y2K, when the charter schools recognized that the utilization of this delivery was declining and being replaced by online courses, WebStudy met Bill Weber at WHYY and acted as the R&D arm of the consortium until 2006, when it became a fully independent company. [3]
WebStudy Learning includes synchronous and asynchronous capabilities, live streaming video and audio and a content repository. The Learning suite includes:
WebStorium – the WebStudy content repository where users can store, catalog and manage instructional material, audio clips, video segments and other content files
CourseStream – feature that manages and delivers streaming audio/video
CourseLive – for the creation of online interactive synchronous learning segments
WebFolio – a real-time electronic portfolio or eportfolio of student work[4]
MyWebStudyTutor – intelligent tutoring technology that lets students learn at their own pace or level with personalized instruction[5]
WebStudy Helpdesk- WebStudy provides 24/7 support, 365 days a year, to all users including the student level
Customers that choose WebStudy Learning are frequently schools that do not have an internal IT department and are seeking a hosted and supported solution. Secondarily, small- to medium-sized schools that want personalized service seek out WebStudy Inc. as their provider. The company culture was founded in a consortia model and that culture thrives today with an active user community.
The company is a MiCTA vendor and has established partnerships with SoftChalk, LLC, The League for Innovation in the Community College, Turnitin and the Respondus, Inc LockDown Browser©. [6]