IBM in e-learning venture with Jordanian group

The Middle East based e-learning platform EduWave will be available on Linux following a deal between IBM and Jordan's Integrated Technology Group.

"We believe that it is critical that EduWave be made available on Linux. Government education authorities in the Middle East and elsewhere are evaluating and in many cases will be adopting open source platforms as they build national e-government and e-education initiatives," said Walid Tahabsem, chief executive officer of ITG.

"IBM will bring training and development resources to ITG's team, as well as providing strong co-marketing capabilities."

IBM will support ITG's development team with resources, training and facilities to develop, support and update EduWave on Linux.

The move will allow EduWave to be offered on Linux based servers and will support a choice of network clients on the desktop, allowing educational authorities to 'mix and match' as they move away from legacy systems.

BusinessOne, a subsidiary of Jordanian software and services company STS, is to bring specialised skills to the project, particularly in the development of capabilities based around IBM's WebSphere middleware.

Ramzi Zeine, chief executive of BusinessOne and chairman of STS said: "Being both anIBM partner and a partner in the e-learning consortium with ITG enables us to contribute to the success of EduWave by bringing software services and training support to the project to speed up its adoption on a regional level."

EduWave is a learning, schools management and content management system that provides a single, integrated resource for 'e-learning'.

The system integrates financial and management information capabilities for schools management with curricular and classroom management.

EduWave allows teachers to access curricular material and monitor student performance and gives online access to curricular content, school related information and student attainments to parents.

The system has been deployed to serve over 3,000 schools in Jordan, some 1.2 million students, over 50,000 teachers and some 5,000 administrators. The system has been adopted by the Jordanian government as its core national e-learning platform.

Also, EduWave is also being deployed in a number of school districts in the US state of New Jersey and is being evaluated by ministries of education in several Middle East countries as they move towards building national e-learning initiatives.

Mix and match

One touch curricular information
• IBM will bring training and development resources to ITG's team, as well as providing strong co-marketing capabilities

• EduWave is a learning, schools management and content management system that provides a single, integrated resource for e-learning

• EduWave allows teachers to access curricular material and monitor student performance and attainment and gives online access to curricular content, school related information and student attainments to parents