Augusta University has expanded its partnership with Echo360 to offer real time access to academic content and lectures across the university's nine colleges and schools.

The expanded partnership is the result of a joint effort between the University's instructional technology and academic departments to select a video platform that will enable pedagogical flexibility, and maximize efficiency and reliability across multiple locations. Because Echo360's unique video platform incorporates tools to enable active learning, it also forms a central component of Augusta University's efforts to increase student engagement and retention.

"At Augusta University, we take pride in being on the forefront of innovation, both as a research university, as well as a teaching institution," said Amy Triana, Associate Director of IT Field Services at Augusta University. "That means being thoughtful and creative about how to optimize the investments we're making in technology from both the IT side, as well as the academic side. Echo360's ability to support pedagogical innovation, while ensuring reliability at scale, generated near universal enthusiasm from our IT and academic leadership." 

Augusta University's consolidation across locations stems, in part, from unprecedented growth in student usage following its shift to Echo360's cloud based platform earlier in the year. In the last year alone, the University has experienced an over 250 percentage increase in student usage.

"The explosion of video in teaching and learning is changing the way higher education institutions traditionally think about scaling technology across campus," said Fred Singer, CEO and founder of Echo360. "Forward-thinking, agile institutions like Augusta University understand the powerful intersection of academics and IT, and are integrating video platform solutions to meet the needs of today and tomorrow's learners."

Using Echo360's academic video platform, faculty are able to capture learning from anywhere at anytime, using hardware and software devices; gauge student understanding with live polling features; and access data to help identify problems in real-time and intervene. Students are able to take time-synced notes within the lecture materials, ask questions anonymously and in a risk-free way, and have 24/7 access to course discussions, material, and content.