BOSTON--()--Glogster EDU (http://edu.glogster.com/) – the leading education platform for creative expression of knowledge and skills in the classroom - announced today that it added new teacher controls to their free web-based software and entitled it “EDU Basic”. In addition to the free version of its software, Glogster EDU will roll out a significantly enhanced, paid version of their product called Glogster “EDU Premium” at the end of January 2010.
“When I run projects using Glogster EDU, my kids keep their eyes glued to the computer screens – they absolutely love it! It’s not just for fun; Glogster EDU is a legitimate resource that can even be utilized in a way that meets state standards.”
Glogster EDU empowers the global education community to create “Glogs” to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in a wide variety of subject matter and to help prepare students with 21st century skills. A Glog is an online multimedia poster made with text, images, videos, photos, graphics, music and more. Teachers, who use the site as an alternative to the classic poster board assignments, set up a safe, secure, virtual classroom with up to 200 students and then integrate dynamic multi-sensory learning activities into traditionally text-oriented subjects.
After extensive research and in-depth surveys of their end users, Glogster EDU responded to ongoing feedback and made wide-ranging enrichments to its current software. The enhancements to Glogster EDU’s free service include: more educator control over its students in the virtual classroom; the ability for educators to add or delete students from their master account; the power to change a student password and edit student profile information; new graphics; control over individual Glogs with educator tagging; and access to a shared public database of teacher/student projects.
“Feedback from the education community was loud and clear - we needed to give educators more control over their students and their online accounts,” said Patrik Prepsl, Co-Founder of http://edu.glogster.com/. Prepsl adds, “shortly after our last major software upgrade this past summer, our daily teacher sign-ups, student registrations, and traffic metrics, all tripled and we expect this new change to do the same; Glogster EDU is experiencing some of the fastest growth in the education market right now and we intend to keep it that way.”
Additional surveys of the education community revealed a host of other features that educators are yearning for from Glogster EDU. This recent round of feedback spawned the development of Glogster EDU Premium, which will launch in January 2010 with enormous advantages over the free version. The new premium edition of Glogster EDU adds even more controls and vital learning resources that will include: the ability to create multiple classrooms and manage them; access to full project management including creation, progress reporting, and monitoring; the ability to move students from class to class; individual homepages for each class; Glog grading functionality; a much more expansive education graphics library; standards-based Glog resource collection; a free-hand drawing/doodling feature and added features and functionality to the Glog creation tool.
“Our motto – Glogster is yours! - continues to be a driving factor in how our product evolves” said Prepsl of Glogster EDU. “We listened yet again, worked side-by-side with teachers to build the new product together, and the creation of Glogster EDU is our heartfelt way of saying ‘thank you’ to all of them. Educators already love the current product, but when they experience Glogster EDU Premium, they will be absolutely blown away by the game-changing functionality.”
Jim Dachos, Education Manager for Glogster, adds, “For a very reasonable monthly or annual fee, educators will have access to a revolutionary global resource that offers capabilities unmatched anywhere in the education arena. In relation to other online and traditional education products being offered today, Glogster EDU Premium will be regarded as a bargain.”
Glogster EDU’s hard work is paying off; as teachers continue to praise the service. Traci Blazosky, an elementary teacher from Pennsylvania says “One of the biggest challenges of being a teacher is keeping kids engaged. Glogster EDU crushes boredom and creates an incredibly fun classroom environment.” Mary, a high school teacher from Massachusetts adds “When I run projects using Glogster EDU, my kids keep their eyes glued to the computer screens – they absolutely love it! It’s not just for fun; Glogster EDU is a legitimate resource that can even be utilized in a way that meets state standards.”
About Glogster EDU: Glogster EDU is the leading education platform for creative expression in the classroom. Through the creation of Glogs – online multimedia posters – Glogster EDU offers a fun, imaginative, and powerful learning experience which fosters creative self expression, positive learner-teacher relationships, and teamwork on collaborative class projects.
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Delicious
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Digg
MySpace
Newsvine
Google Bookmark
Yahoo! Bookmark
Email
Email 
