The Collaborize platform, Collaborize Classroom & WeJITs:
Democrasoft has created a discussion and voting platform called Collaborize.
Collaborize enables a user to create an instant online community around any given topic ordiscussion. This topic (essentially a dedicated one-page website that incorporates comments, votes, results, reporting), in the form of a simple URL link, can then be shared with anyone, either via email or any number of social networks, as a way of virally expanding the number of individuals who participate. Utilizing the Collaborize platform, a self-contained discussion and voting module can be created independently, which can be embedded in almost any e-publication (e-books, e-magazines, e-newsletters, etc.). It can also be embedded in other platforms. These modules can be used as marketing and market-research components, in conjunction with the other Collaborize platform elements described above.
A related version, focused on the education market is called Collaborize Classroom, one of 4 applications built on its Collaborize platform (the other 3 addressing enterprise, non-profits and civic engagement). Collaborize Classroom is a free, easy-to-use, cloud-based tool to extend and deepen classroom discussions; students and teachers love using it. Teacher-launched Collaborize Classroom sites around the world have been growing rapidly (average monthly growth of approximately 25%). Since the official launch in January of 2011, well over 74,000 individual teachers have launched Collaborize Classroom sites around the world. During this period, our platform has already delivered more than 2 million topic-based lessons to students, and continues to grow.
Collaborize Classroom is designed to work in conjunction with a revolutionary content library, and as a direct channel connecting curriculum and content providers with their core audiences. Further, it provides a simple way for content providers to monetize their content in an “atomized” fashion (charging for access to configurable amounts of content).
While our public focus has been on public education, the elements in our platform can be licensed to provide ANY content provide with everything needed to organize, disseminate and monetize almost any content (including multimedia). This is made possible because of the unique “granular” approach to providing educational (or training) content.
The home page of this website includes video demos of three applications that operate on the Collaborize platform: Collaborize Classroom, Collaborize, and WeJIT. In addition to the basic Collaborize elements described above, the platform has also been made available as an optimized iPad and iPhone app.
A few other background items:
1. Edutopia (founded by George Lucas) provides this outstanding introduction of Collaborize Classroom in a column published in August 2012: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/augmenting-class-discussions-with-collaborize-todd-finley
2. Our CEO, Richard Lang, was interviewed on MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan Show, about the state of education in America, and in particular Collaborize Classroom.
3. Richard is also featured in a video in Good Magazine (online edition). This footage used in this video will be part of a documentary film called "Future Learning" that was released and shown at various film festivals, including Tribeca and and Sundance, we are told. We are one of eight companies (and individuals) featured in the film (another one is Salman Kahn of Kahn Academy): http://www.good.is/post/good-video-sharingthe-wisdom-of-we
4. YouTube features a series of videos about Collaborize and Collaborize Classroom. Here is a link: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=collaborize
