LearnCentral Offers Educational Networking, Professional Development Opportunities, and Free Virtual Meeting and Public Conference Rooms

Pleasanton, California (November 11, 2009) –

News Facts:

* Elluminate, Inc., the leader in web, audio, video and social networking solutions that support 21st century teaching, learning, and collaboration, announced today the continued growth of LearnCentral(TM), the social learning network for education the company sponsors. Launched in June of this year, LearnCentral combines asynchronous social networking with Elluminate’s real-time online communication, collaboration, and education environment and has expanded its reach to 25,000 members worldwide.
* In addition to providing the social networking tools that enable members to find and connect with others to share content and best practices, LearnCentral also provides collaboration tools for meeting in real-time virtual rooms and holding and attending events. Upon joining LearnCentral, each member receives a free Elluminate vRoom(TM), a virtual meeting room for up to three participants or locations, and has access to a free public conference room is available for larger events.
* The community has hosted a wide variety of special interest group and industry organization meetings, user group conferences, and events featuring popular speakers like Howard Rheingold, Joyce Valenza, and Rushton Hurley on topics ranging from “Librarians and Web 2.0” to “Using Video in the Classroom. Sessions are recorded and archived as community resources.
* LearnCentral offers membership in nearly 400 discussion groups, including Web 2.0 in Education, Math 2.0, Education and Technology in the Media, Connecting Classrooms, Effective Interaction at a Distance, Moodle, Online Teachers and Learners, Copyright and Fair Use, Podcasting 101, K-12 Technology Coordinators, Professional Development Resources, and many more.
* The network is moderated by Elluminate’s Social Learning Consultant Steve Hargadon, founder ofClassroom 2.0, director of the K12 Open Technologies Initiative at the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), and a columnist for School Library Journal.
* The company has published a new white paper, “Educational Networking: The Important Role Web 2.0 Will Play in Education,” authored by Hargadon. The paper discusses social networking, the pedagogical value of Web 2.0, the emergence of educational networking, and its adoption for professional development for educators.
* In related news, Elluminate is now offering custom-branded, private versions of LearnCentral. These include LearnCentral Portal, an entry-level offering that provided a customized, branded “front door” into the global LearnCentral community, and LearnCentral Private Community, which offers the same customized look and feel plus highly configurable privacy options that enable the community manager to choose which, if any, resources are made available in the public LearnCentral network.

Source: Elluminate