Los Angeles, CA (USA), October 2007 - When the faculty and students of FIDM/The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising asked its eLearning Supervisor to deliver the Sakai Collaboration and Learning Environment for Education (CLE), it selected the CEAI Hosted Solution for Sakai to deliver it. CEAI, a global not-for-profit information technology services and consulting provider, was chosen for its ability to deliver a custom, cost-effective collaboration and learning environment (CLE) rapidly.
"We chose Sakai because it gives us a lot more freedom tailored to the faculty, plus a new breed of students who wanted to collaborate on research projects online. We needed help with implementing it, and another vendor recommended CEAI. Our CEAI project manager took the time to ask questions in order to understand our demands, and then he made sure we got the right solution for our needs", said David Melone, FIDM eLearning Supervisor.
FIDM has a large population of students earning a variety of Associate of Arts (AA) degrees, including the Professional Designation in Merchandise Marketing AA, and Melone explained that these students expect access to a CLE that fulfils their custom needs. In addition, FIDM recently added a four-year Bachelor of Science in Business Management (BSBM) degree program, and its students and faculty will benefit from the powerful Sakai tools.
According to Melone, FIDM had reviewed requests for proposals from a variety of vendors experienced with implementing Sakai on campus but did not accept any of the submissions. Only CEAI, recommended by one of the RFP bidders, offered to tailor Sakai to suit FIDM, the needs of its varied student body, and the changing instructor needs.
"We are thrilled to hear that FIDM, with help from CEAI, will be using Sakai", said Michael Korcuska, Executive Director of the Sakai Foundation. "The community developing and using Sakai becomes even stronger with the addition of new institutions, and the work of providers like CEAI is a crucial part of a healthy open source ecosystem."
By selecting the CEAI Hosted Solution for Sakai, institutions have the advantage of opting into any of the following services: project management, installation and configuration, course migration, technical training, end-user training, 24/7 Tier-1 technical support and end-user support, and advanced consulting.
"We're pleased to have been chosen to deliver the CEAI Hosted Solution for Sakai to FIDM students and faculty", said Anjli Jain, CEAI Executive Director. "This renowned institution required a hosted Sakai solution without an intense investment in staff, licensed software, hardware, and other infrastructure. CEAI specializes in helping educational institutions concentrate on what they do best - delivering quality education."
