97% of University of Maryland-Baltimore Dental Students Say Mediasite Makes Learning Easier

MADISON, Wis., Aug. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Sonic Foundry, Inc. (Nasdaq: SOFO), the recognized market leader for lecture capture chosen by more than 900 colleges and universities, announced new independent survey results from the University of Maryland-Baltimore Dental School demonstrating the positive impact of Mediasite on student outcomes.

A Mediasite campus since 2006, the school compiled several years of student surveys after amassing five-thousand captures with half a million views. The latest results come from feedback by 118 graduating seniors. Dr. James Craig, professor in the Department of Health Promotion and Policy and an educational consultant in the Office of Information Technology, shared his work in a recent webinar, Evaluating Lecture Capture's Impact on Student Outcomes, which can be viewed at http://sofo.com/ada52.

Student survey results reveal:

• 97% felt Mediasite made it easier to learn
• 73% used a combination of in-class lectures and Mediasite to enhance their studies
• 98% indicated they watched most or all of the lectures online
• 40% said Mediasite helped them prepare for the boards
• 50% agreed or strongly agreed that lecture capture attracted them to the Dental School
• 74% would recommend the dental school to potential students because of Mediasite
• 95% expressed satisfaction with Mediasite

When the dental school constructed a new building five years ago, the plan was to have each room equipped with modern academic technologies that would provide access to education 24/7. Dean Christian S. Stohler's priority was to have every lecture in the program streamed live, archived and made available to students.

The school explored and compared several lecture capture systems, but ultimately they looked within the University of Maryland system for guidance. The A. James Clark School of Engineering on the College Park campus had been successfully using Mediasite and had conducted its own thorough investigative study on lecture capture systems.

"We visited and talked to them about how their students felt about the technology, how their technical people felt, and came away feeling very comfortable with the decision to go with Mediasite," said Craig.

At the dental school, lecture halls are equipped with Crestron control systems, cameras in the front and back of the rooms, lavaliere mics and Mediasite for webcasting lectures. A technician in a control room remotely manages lecture capture and provides support for faculty as needed.

"Typical course offerings are very intense and highly visual," said Dr. Craig. "Each student needs to have a front row seat. Using Mediasite our students end up sitting at the equivalent of an actual dental chair, and we are able to stream clinical demonstrations right to their specific locations."

Laboratory demonstrations are also streamed with a Mediasite ML Recorder connected to a microscope. As a faculty member demonstrates cutting a tooth preparation, the procedure is captured and streamed to every student's personal workstation.

"The advantage is once the demonstration is complete the students have the benefit of having the faculty member, who has just finished doing the demonstration, walking around in their area offering personal assistance. They can stop and go back into the lecture capture to a  point that's important to them, and  have the faculty member or one of his colleagues right there to answer their questions," said Dr. Craig.

"A growing body of evidence points to the efficacy of lecture-capture technology on student outcomes. With almost 1000 colleges and universities now capturing lectures with Mediasite, there's unprecedented collaboration taking place between educators and technologist; academic leadership, faculty, educational technology leaders and Mediasite IT and AV professionals are working together to identify and share what works in lecture capture," said Gary Weis, CEO of Sonic Foundry.

To learn more about other independent research on lecture capture's impact on retention, recruitment and student satisfaction visit http://sofo.com/b9378.

About Sonic Foundry®, Inc.

Sonic Foundry (NASDAQ: SOFO, www.sonicfoundry.com) is the global leader for rich media webcasting and knowledge management, providing enterprise communication solutions for education, business and government. Powered by Mediasite, the patented webcasting platform which automates the capture, management, delivery and search of lectures, online training and briefings, Sonic Foundry empowers people to transform the way they communicate. Through the Mediasite platform and its Event Services group, the company helps customers connect a dynamic, evolving world of shared knowledge and envisions a future where learners and workers around the globe use webcasting to bridge time and distance, accelerate research and improve performance. Product and service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of Sonic Foundry, Inc. or their respective owners.

Certain statements contained in this news release regarding matters that are not historical facts may be forward-looking statements. Because such forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to, uncertainties pertaining to continued market acceptance for Sonic Foundry's products, its ability to succeed in capturing significant revenues from media services and/or systems, the effect of new competitors in its market, integration of acquired business and other risk factors identified from time to time in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE Sonic Foundry, Inc.