Sophia Enhances Online Social Teaching and Learning Site With New Navigation, Design and Search Options

MINNEAPOLIS, April 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Sophia, a first-of-its-kind online social teaching and learning platform that offers free academic content to anyone, anywhere, introduced several new enhancements to the site (Sophia.org) to streamline the process of creating content and sharing it with others.

Since the public beta launch in March, Sophia has welcomed tens of thousands of users from hundreds of institutions across 116 countries. Sophia uses Web 2.0 tools and methods to create a credible, crowd-sourced platform where information is organized in "learning packets" – bite-sized tutorials tagged to specific academic subjects or topics. The packets can be created by anyone using text, images, presentations, video, audio and more. Packets are rated for quality and evaluated for academic soundness by users and experts within the community.

"We are thrilled with the response we have received so far from people around the world who are using the site to teach what they know and learn what they don't," said Don Smithmier, founder and CEO of Sophia. "We created Sophia on the premise that there are millions of great ideas and people who can contribute to making education better and more effective, and it has been truly amazing to witness the collaboration among teachers, students and people everywhere who have joined the Sophia community."

Visitors to Sophia.org will experience several enhancements including:

• New layout and design that enables ease of navigation throughout the site.
• Upgraded search processes to enable Sophia users to easily find learning packets about specific topics.
• Streamlined registration so new users can easily create an account to develop content or start a group to share information.
• Additional assistance for new users that provides tips for using Sophia.
• Improved features to report inappropriate use of the site.

"We will continue to make changes to the site based on how individuals use it and also the feedback we receive," Smithmier said. "Our goal is to offer a credible resource for students, parents, teachers – anyone who wants to learn or share their knowledge in a world-wide learning community."

To learn more or to create a packet of your own, visit www.sophia.org.

About Sophia

Sophia is a social teaching and learning application that makes free, credible academic content available to anyone at anytime. It is a mission-driven organization that aims to break traditional cost and access barriers to post-secondary degree attainment. For more information, go to www.sophia.org.

SOURCE Sophia