SaaS Module Lets Schools 'Bolt' Social Networking onto Learning Management Systems

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 06/09/11

A company with its own learning management system (LMS) for academic and corporate use has taken the social networking aspects of its LMS and turned them into an add-on product that will work with competing LMSes. Interactyx has launched Topyx Bolt, which adds collaborative features to existing LMS systems.

Functions include forums, profile pages, video chat, blogs, polls, and other tools. These features come out of the vendor's own LMS applications, Topyx and Topyx Lite. All of the applications are delivered as software-as-a-service.

"An organization does not need to replace its legacy LMS in order to provide social learning tools learners are craving," said company CEO Alfred Novas.

While the full version of Interactyx's LMS runs $15,000 for a one-year, which includes course management features and allows for an unlimited number of users, Bolt is being offered at $7,500 per year in most cases.

Divisions within the University of Chicago and University of Cambridge both have Topyx implementations.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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