Archive for Press
Democrasoft CEO, Richard Lang to Appear on MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan Show
Posted by: | CommentsDemocrasoft, Inc. Chairman and CEO, Richard Lang will appear as a guest on MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan Show, to speak to Dylan about the current state of education, Collaborize Classroom (http://CollaborizeClassroom.com) and the upcoming release of the Collaborize Classroom Topic Library.
“The Dylan Ratigan Show,” airs live, weekdays from 4 – 5pm EDT on MSNBC (check local listings) and is filmed at the MSNBC studios in New York City. Lang’s segment on the show is currently scheduled to run at approximately 4:30 on Friday June 24th EDT, however, viewers interested in Lang’s interview should plan on watching and/or recording the entire show, since the airtime during Friday’s show is subject to last minute changes. The clip will be available online after the show on the MSNBC site at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31510813/.
Collaborize Classroom’s award-winning online learning platform has been experiencing rapid growth and glowing reviews from teachers, students and independent organizations since its official launch in January of this year. The Dylan Ratigan interview also coincides with the recent announcement of the Collaborize Classroom Topic Library™, a global repository of individual, pre-formatted, discussion-based “topic lessons” created by and for teachers. The Topic Library will allow teachers everywhere to share individual topic-based lessons to engage students using the Collaborize Classroom platform. The new Collaborize Classroom Topic Library is scheduled to be released in time for the beginning of the fall school semester.
Collaborize Classroom, the flagship product from Democrasoft, is a free online learning platform which has emerged as a preferred choice in education technology because of its simple and engaging design, its ease of use, the “fun” factor reported by students, as well its ability to embed documents, video, and other multi-media directly into discussion topics. The collaborative online learning platform also provides student participation reports and quantified results of online student discussions, further supporting a new depth of learning, as reported by teachers already using the platform.
Richard Lang is a pioneer in the technology industry and the co-founder of Democrasoft, a leading provider of social collaboration and voting platforms for building online communities. His passion for using technology to empower people is a driving force behind Democrasoft’s current focus on bringing the collaborative element to education.
Dylan Ratigan is the host of MSNBC’s “The Dylan Ratigan Show,” an opinion and analysis-fueled daily broadcast program airing weekdays at 4pm EDT on MSNBC. Ratigan also writes regularly for the Huffington Post and produces one of America’s most insightful and provocative podcast’s “Radio Free Dylan”. Previously, Ratigan worked and thrived on the front lines of global finance and trade for nearly 10 years at Bloomberg LP, where he launched and hosted their flagship morning TV broadcast. In 2003, Ratigan joined CNBC where he created and hosted Fast Money in addition to co-anchoring CNBC’s The Call and Closing Bell. Following the 2008 financial crisis, Ratigan resigned his position at CNBC and launched The Dylan Ratigan Show on MSNBC.
Democrasoft to Unveil Collaborize Classroom Topic Library
Posted by: | CommentsDemocrasoft, Inc. today announced that it will be releasing an important evolutionary extension to its rapidly expanding Collaborize Classroom platform for online education. The Company is poised to unveil the Collaborize Classroom Topic Library™, a vast repository of individual, pre-formatted “learning units” created by and for teachers. The Topic Library will allow teachers everywhere to share individual question-based topics used to engage students online, that have already proven successful in individual Collaborize Classroom websites around the world.
With just a few clicks, teachers will be able to populate their own Collaborize Classroom websites with individual discussion topics from the global Topic Library on almost any subject, or be able to share their own discussion topics with other teachers on the Collaborize Classroom network. Additionally, the new Topic Library will provide real-time ratings and comments from other teachers who have already used these topics, creating an unparalleled peer-review system for assessing the relevance and potential value of any topic in the library.
According to Democrasoft, Chairman & CEO Richard Lang, “What is exciting about this new extension of Collaborize Classroom is that the Topic Library will it make it possible for any teacher in the world to benefit from the success of other teachers. And like our basic platform, it will remain free of charge for all teachers.”
The new Topic Library builds exponentially on Collaborize Classroom’s award-winning online learning platform, which has been been exeriencing rapid growth and glowing reviews from teachers, students and independent organizations since its official launch in January of this year. Teachers who have previously launched their own private and secure Collaborize Classroom websites have reported significant improvements in student engagement, depth of learning, and test scores. The new Topic Library will allow teachers to share the individual topics that have had the most success in their own Collaborize Classrooms around the world.
Collaborize Classroom has emerged as a preferred choice in education technology because of its simple and engaging design, its ease of use, the “fun” factor reported by students, and its ability to embed documents, video, and other multi-media directly into discussion topics. The collaborative online learning platform also provides student participation reports and quantified results of online student discussions, further supporting a new depth of learning, as reported by teachers already using the platform.
Beginning later this summer, once teachers launch discussion topics on their own private Collaborize Classroom sites, they will be given the opportunity to post their topics to the shared Topic Library. Any educator will be able to easily search through all of the pre-formated question-based topics, sorted by subject, grade, custom tags, or even by the author of the topic.
According to Lang, “The new Topic Library is designed to provide two huge benefits: It allows newer teachers to benefit from the work of more experienced teachers around the world and it makes it possible for any teacher in the world to rise to prominence as a provider of effective, successful topics that have been validated by peers world-wide. All this in just a few, simple clicks.“
The new Collaborize Classroom Topic Library is scheduled to be released in time for the beginning of the fall school semester.
Democrasoft Enters Into Stock Purchase Agreement With Its Developer
Posted by: | CommentsDemocrasoft, Inc. announced that it has entered into an agreement with Innominds, Inc., of San Jose, CA, the central technology developer assigned to the creation of Democrasoft’s Collaborize platform for group collaboration, to issue up to $150,000 of Democrasoft common stock at $1.00 per share for a like amount of Innominds services.
Through its affiliate in India, Innominds has been providing development services to Democrasoft at a rate in the mid-six figures annually since the development project began, and the parties expect that rate to ramp up over the next year as Democrasoft expands the capabilities of its platform. The $150,000 development investment by Innominds represents only a portion of the expenditures planned with Innominds in the coming months.
Democrasoft also announced that its online “collaborative education” offering, Collaborize Classroom, recently won the Outstanding Achievement Award in Education from the Interactive Media Council, scoring in the top 14 of approximately 140 submissions.
The number of teachers launching Collaborize Classroom sites has been growing at a compounded monthly rate of more than 30% since October 2010.
“While the amount of this investment by Innominds is relatively small, it will still help us offset the additional development costs associated with our planned expansion of features and capabilities,” said Richard Lang, Chairman and CEO of Democrasoft. “When we jointly explored the options for collaboration and closely aligning our interests, Democrasoft gave this investment favorable consideration. Both parties are excited about the possibilities that are emerging.”
In addition to serving as the primary development arm of Democrasoft, Innominds is also a Collaborize reseller in India. According to Divakar Tantravahi, Managing Director of Innominds, “We are very impressed with the potential of the Collaborize platform. Our relationship with Democrasoft is an example of the added value we can bring to all our customers, beyond our product engineering services. We are looking forward to continued success working together.”
Collaborize Classroom Makes Free Lesson Plans Available to Teachers on Scholastic.com
Posted by: | CommentsOne thing that we keep hearing from teachers who are hesitant to get started using an online learning platform with their students is that they are not sure how where to start in an online space. We created Collaborize Classroom to be an easy-to-use site and have created teaching resources and lesson plans to help remove this barrier.
Recently, we added some of these lesson plans and resources to the Scholastic website.
We created a press release announcing our free lesson plans for teachers on PitchEngine.com, you can read it below.
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Democrasoft, Inc., the creator of Collaborize Classroom, a free online learning platform, today announced a collection of teaching resources and lesson plans, available to all K-12 teachers via Scholastic.com.
Democrasoft will provide free teaching resources and lesson plans on how to best incorporate educational technology designed to foster online collaboration in the classroom. The resources, produced by educators, include: best practices for facilitating online student communication and subject-specific lesson plans to complement in-class discussions. Teachers can access resources and sign up for a free Collaborize Classroom site at http://Scholastic.com/CollaborizeClassroom.
Democrasoft’s flagship product, Collaborize Classroom, is a free online learning platform that allows teachers to extend their classroom discussions to a structured and private online community. With Collaborize Classroom, students can expand on discussions, assignments and instruction and collaborate online, allowing for deeper participation and engagement, inside and outside the classroom. Thousands of teachers have already signed up for the free platform, which takes less than five minutes to set up.
By making resources available to the million of teachers who are part of the Scholastic.com community, Democrasoft introduces more teachers to the benefits of this online learning platform. By integrating Collaborize Classroom into their respective classrooms, teachers can quickly and easily make online discussions a successful part of their teaching approach, which will save up to two to three hours a week in grading time and up to $90 a month in copying and paper costs, while simultaneously increasing student engagement.
“We are excited about being able to extend Collaborize Classroom to the teaching community on Scholastic.com,” said Richard Lang, Democrasoft Chairman & CEO. “We have worked hand-in-hand with teachers to create this amazing solution and now it is very gratifying to see its use expanding across the country.”
Reading with High School Students on Read Across America Day
Posted by: | CommentsThis is a guest post by high school English teacher, Catlin Tucker.
March 2, 2011 is Read Across America Day & Dr. Seuss‘ Birthday
In her article “Planning for Read Across America Day!” Ruth Manna encourages teachers to prepare special activities to celebrate this day dedicated to the joy of reading.
I teach 9th and 10th graders, but something about Manna’s idea to invite students to bring sleeping bags, books, and snacks resonated with me. I dedicate 15 minutes to silent sustained reading each day and read children’s books out loud during story time regularly, but the idea of spending a full 90 minute period reading for pleasure intrigued me. How would my academic students react? Would they enjoy an unconventional celebration of books, literature, reading? Would they think I was crazy or would they surprise themselves and enjoy the opportunity to read? I have NO idea how this will be received, but I am excited to try it!
Here are some great resources for any teacher interested in celebrating Read Across America Day with their students:
The National Education Association has ideas for creating a reading event, resources & materials, and activity ideas. For primary teachers there are a variety of Dr. Seuss related activities available.
What are your plans for Read Across America Day?
