Faculty Tech Founders and Instructional Designers Team Up to Offer a New Suite of Virtual Teaching Tools

DALLAS, Sept. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- iDesign, the award-winning instructional design firm, today announced a new integration with Engageli, a leading digital learning technology, providing college and university partners with access to new technology and tools to enhance the teaching and learning experience. Faculty can now seamlessly connect their learning management systems (LMS) with Engageli's unique set of collaboration tools. In turn, institutions utilizing Engageli's platform will gain access to iDesign's team of veteran learning designers to provide concierge-level support as they create and optimize the online learning experience for students. 

"From the very beginning, our focus has been on delivering a faculty-first approach to the design of student-centered learning experiences that maximize agency, flexibility, and choice," said Whitney Kilgore, Ph.D., co-founder and chief academic officer at iDesign. "As we work with educators to help them achieve their instructional vision, Engageli will add a powerful new suite of technological capabilities that foster collaboration and build active learning communities."

Faculty can benefit from Engageli's digital technology designed to replicate an in-person classroom, including instructor-assigned virtual "table" seating arrangements and "study halls" for smaller class discussion and recorded seminar replay. Engageli also offers instant integration of polls, quizzes, and note-taking to boost student engagement and collaboration.

As the pandemic continues to reshape the higher education landscape and colleges and universities work to ensure continuity of learning, technology is paving the way for flexible, functional class experiences. Whether courses are held fully-online or in a hybrid format, Engageli and iDesign's partnership will allow instructors to better navigate today's complex learning environment.

"Last year instructors and faculty had to quickly learn an entirely new way of teaching and interacting with students. Many didn't have access to comprehensive digital learning tools to create accessible, flexible, collaborative and inclusive learning environments," said Dan Avida, CEO and Co-Founder of Engageli. "We are honored to work with the iDesign team to deliver engaging new teaching technologies—backed with rich instructional design expertise— to help faculty seamlessly translate their teaching expertise and improve the learning experience for students."

Founded in 2020 by Dan Avida, Stanford emeritus professor Serge Plotkin, and Coursera co-founder and Stanford adjunct professor Daphne Koller, Engageli was built to offer an engaging, collaborative, and inclusive platform that supports modern pedagogical best practices that drive student success.

Since 2013, iDesign has worked with more than 100 colleges, universities, nonprofits, and other organizations to build, grow and support online and blended programs. The company's  unbundled, fee-for-service model provides colleges and their faculty with the maximum amount of flexibility and institutional autonomy. Its team of instructional designers and technologists help faculty harness the potential of emerging technologies to design courses and degrees that make an impact, whether they are fully online, flipped, blended, adaptive, or competency-based.

"At a time when learner experience and instructional quality are paramount, faculty are in search of purpose-built tools that can help boost student engagement and foster online community in ways where enterprise tools built for the mass market so often fall short," said Paxton Riter, Co-Founder and CEO at iDesign. "This integration will introduce an exciting new set of learning technologies—built by faculty, for faculty—that will boost student engagement and empower educators to create superior teaching and learning experiences."

To learn more, register for an upcoming virtual event on Tuesday, September 21 at 10 AM ET that will focus on "Learning and Teaching in the Digital Classroom of the Future."

About iDesign: iDesign partners with colleges and universities to build, grow and support online and blended programs. We are passionate about helping faculty harness the potential of emerging technologies to design courses and degrees that make an impact, whether they are fully online, flipped, blended, adaptive, or competency-based. Our unbundled, fee-for-service model is rooted in a commitment to flexibility and institutional autonomy, while our analytics platform supports continuous improvement through rigorous measurement of student engagement and course quality. From statewide university systems to private colleges, our custom solutions pair instructional design with technologies to enable great teaching. To learn more, please visit www.idesignedu.org.

About Engageli: Engageli is advancing the higher education industry globally by improving virtual teaching and learning experiences. Its premiere cloud-based, multimodal digital learning technology creates flexible, inclusive, secure environments optimized for student connections and active learning. Founded in 2020 by Daphne Koller, Co-Founder of Coursera, Dan Avida, and Serge Plotkin, Engageli has raised over $47 million in funding. To learn more, please visit www.engageli.com.

SOURCE idesignedu.org