News story

Giunti Labs and Florida Virtual School Partner to Build Next Generation of Online Courses

Sestri Levante, Italy, & Austin, TX, USALearning NewseXact learning solutions

Florida Virtual School (FLVS), an established leader in developing and providing virtual K-12 education solutions, announced today at the 2009 Virtual School Symposium a strategic partnership with Giunti Labs, a leading global provider of learning content management and digital repository solutions, to create a state-of-the-art Learning Content Management System (LCMS).

Working together, Giunti Labs and FLVS will create a new LCMS that will enable FLVS to repackage current course content into personalized learning opportunities for each student, via a range of modalities – traditional, virtual school setting, mobile devices, or the learning management system supported by their school. Teachers will have access to a searchable index of content by which they can quickly and easily update courses and customize learning based upon individual student needs. The new system will allow FLVS to automatically map courses to state learning standards, and to efficiently maintain and update courses as standards change. By allowing content and design to work independently, the LCMS also will greatly reduce the publishing cycle for building, updating and customizing courses.

“We believe every student deserves a unique learning experience. This is possible with the new learning content management system because it will enable us to give each student a dynamic, flexible, engaging, and personalized education,” stated Joy Smith, Chief Development Officer for FLVS. ”This is what each student truly deserves and needs in order to be prepared for a world of increased global competitiveness. We are grateful for Giunti Labs’ guidance and support as we embark on creating the next generation of online courses.”

“I am particularly proud to announce this strategic alliance with FLVS. It is vital that we succeed together, because this will give students the improved access to valued online knowledge they need to skill and educate themselves to remain competitive in future global markets.” explained CEO of Giunti Labs’ Fabrizio Cardinali.

Giunti Labs’ educational research activities started in 2000. Subsequently, it has advanced learning content production and management solutions based on innovative technological concepts such as Reusable Content Objects, XML templating, IMS and SCORM Interoperability Standards.

Today, Giunti Labs’ learn eXact learning content management suite (LCMS) and HarvestRoad Hive Digital Repository platforms are adopted in more than 200 key clients worldwide. These include the Riyadh-based National Center for eLearning, federating content repositories across all the Saudi Universities in the Kingdom, the TRIO project in Italy which, with a Repository of approximately 1.500 vocational courses with more than 150 000 users, served dynamically through Moodle, represents Europe’s leading vocational education initiative and the UK NHS R-ITI Initiative, where Giunti Labs has been selected as world leader to produce and manage thousands of Continuous Medical Education Courses at a fraction of the cost.

FLVS currently offers more than 100 subject courses, including core subjects, world languages, electives, honors and Advanced Placement courses. During the 2008-2009 school year, FLVS delivered more than 154,000 half-credit courses to students in Florida and is projecting continued growth in the 2009-2010 school year. FLVS courses also are used in virtual learning programs in forty-four other states and thirty-nine countries, making FLVS not just a national, but a global leader in K-12 online education.

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