By Allan Maurer
RICHMOND, VA—Digital tools and the Internet can help provide stimulating multi-media lessons in the classroom and Richmond-based SoftChalk sells an integrated solution that helps teachers create web enhanced lessons without needing the skills of an IT professional.
The 25-employee company has won two prestigious CODiE awards from the Software and Information Industry Association earlier this year (for best postsecondary instructional solution and for best education technology solution for productivity/creativity).
Susan Evans and Robert Godwin-Jones, both formerly with Virginia Commonwealth University, founded the company in 2002 after selling a previous company, madDuck Technologies to Blackboard Inc. in 2000. The company provided support for their Web Course in a Box software, which provided educators with easy-to-use templates for creating Webs sites in connection with their courses.
They started SoftChalk to develop software that would help instructors build not only a Web site, but also create dynamic, interactive course content.
They bootstrapped the company, funding it themselves, and are not looking for money, Evans tells TechJournal South. They brought in a computer science grad, Peter Huneke, to do the final design and made him a partner in 2003.
The software integrates with all the learning management systems in the market, such as those from Blackboard.
SoftChalk’s product, LessonBuilder, features includes the ability to create quiz questions, crossword puzzles, pop-up text annotations and quick-time videos.
The latest version, just released, allows users to do keyword searches of digital media and data sources, including both open ones such as YouTube and Flicker and fee-based services (Intelecom), or library repositories of the using organization.
It will embed Web 2.0 widgets to insert blogs, polls, surveys, wikis, and videos into dynamic lessons.
Its eCourseBuilder tool combines multiple lessons into larger eCourse modules with automatic calculation and tracking of score information between and within lessons.
The company has had considerable success, signing up 500 institutions worldwide, with clients in China, Singapore, Belgium, Puerto Rico, and Ireland as well as the United States.
Customers include: Virtual College of Texas (includes all 51 community colleges in Texas);
Virginia Community College System (includes all 24 community colleges in Virginia); Duke University; Albuquerque Public Schools; Baltimore City Public Schools; New Mexico State University; Baltimore City Community College; and the Florida Community College System Jacksonville, among others.
Evans says that for the time being, the company is staying focused on its niche market. “We’ve had phenomenal success,” she says.
Online: www.softchalk.com
© 2009, TechJournal South. All rights reserved.
