ODG-COT and Link-Systems International propose a program for online sharing of student services be implemented in California.

ODG-COT is delighted to announce that @One has chosen a proposal made by ODG-COT and Link-Systems International for a Round Table at the Online Teaching Conference (OTC) at Long Beach City College June 19-21, 2013 (http://www.onlineteachingconference.org/).

The STAR-NY Consortium is a program for online sharing of student services that has been highly successful in New York. ODG-COT and Link-Systems International, a founding collaborator of STAR-NY, propose that this program be implemented in California.

The Round Table at OTC is facilitated by three prominent personalities in the field of open education: Jennifer Drake, Lead Trainer for the STAR-NY consortium and Online Tutor Coordinator at SUNY, Cortland, who will be leading the roundtable; Jim Hood, Program Manager, Ported Textbooks at Open Doors Group; and Dr. David Kephart, Director of Academic Research at Link-Systems International.

Jim Hood said, “The STAR-NY Consortium of community colleges, state colleges, and universities in New York has provided shared resources and expertise that have really helped improve online tutoring for students. This program is a win-win for students and the participating institutions, so we hope to help provide similar programs in California as part of our overall goal of opening the doors to education by lowering barriers.”

Dr. Kephart points to recent research that shows the definitive impact of online technology on student success. “Link-Systems is proud to have helped from the beginning with STAR-NY,” he says. “This shows how an alliance with the right software developer, a partnership in which educators call the shots, can facilitate real learning. The schools benefit, but it is the students who benefit the most.”

The STAR-NY Consortium has been highly successful in New York and has a huge potential for making a significant impact in helping California students persist in school and achieve more with their education, while assisting schools that adopt this program to provide improved support for their students. This program, if implemented in California, will mean greatly enhanced tutoring services and support for students. Schools participating in the program will be able to reduce costs because of the shared licensing costs for online collaboration tools. This, in turn, will help pave the way for more cost-effective options that lead to still greater student success.

About Open Doors Group

Open Doors Group (ODG) is a collaborative of individuals and educational, non-profit, for-profit, and government institutions. Its purpose is to prepare students for the future by promoting, producing and distributing Open Educational Resources (OER); supporting students and educators in adopting and using OER; expanding access to education for all learners; and researching and evaluating the impact of OER. ODG sponsors a number of projects aimed at achieving these goals. ODG can be found at http://www.opendoorsgroup.org.

About Link-Systems International

Link-Systems International, Inc. (LSI) is a market-leading software company that helps academic institutions create effective digital solutions for teaching and learning. Many of the best-known brands in education use our web-based platforms:

· NetTutor® – our online tutoring solution
· MyAcademicWorkshop™ – our adaptive placement, assessment, and homework system for mathematics
· WorldWideWhiteboard® – our mobile-ready collaboration suite
· Information Visibility Solutions™ – our enterprise analytics dashboards for education

Customers include K-12 publishers, higher education publishers, virtual high schools, higher education institutions, technology companies, and joint programs dedicated to providing online educational content to members of organized labor and their families. Customers and partners have come to value and trust LSI because it is the only company that offers a complete suite of interoperable solutions that address the entire life cycle of the student, with an overt focus on the bottom line: student persistence and student retention.

For more information, visit http://www.link-systems.com.