Elluminate News: Press Release

Elluminate Taps Classroom 2.0 Founder for New LearnCentral™ Network

Social Networking Pioneer Steve Hargadon Helps Build Unique Online Community for Educators

Fort Lauderdale, Florida — June 23, 2009

News Facts:

• Elluminate, Inc., a leading provider of web, audio, and video solutions for real-time online learning and collaboration, announced today that it has hired Classroom 2.0 founder Steve Hargadon as the company’s first Social Learning Consultant.  In his new role, Hargadon helped create and will moderate the Elluminate-sponsored LearnCentral™ social learning network for education, which will be announced formally at the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) 2009, held June 28 through July 1 in Washington, D.C. 
• A recognized pioneer and change agent in the area of social networking for educators, Hargadon is also the director of the K12 Open Technologies Initiative at the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), and a columnist for School Library Journal.  He is a frequent blogger, podcaster, and webinar host who covers a wide variety of topics, including Web 2.0, educational technology, and social networking.  The creation of this unique position and the hiring of Hargadon emphasizes Elluminate’s leading role in the transformation of teaching and learning worldwide.
• In 2007, Hargadon founded Classroom 2.0, a community for educators interested in using Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies.  As an Elluminate Community Partner, Hargadon used the company’s Elluminate Live!® virtual classroom to hold online professional development events to address the isolation faced by many educators, creating an environment that changed education practices and created a sense of community.  Recently Classroom 2.0 celebrated the milestone of reaching 25,000 members, validating the founder’s belief in the pedagogical value of social networking and Web 2.0 tools. 
• As Classroom 2.0 continues to grow as a viable community, Hargadon will now focus on his role as moderator and facilitator within LearnCentral, which represents the next logical step of combining the social networking of Classroom 2.0 and the ability to store, organize, and find educational resources with the live, online meeting and collaboration provided by Elluminate technology. 

Elluminate at NECC 2009:

• This year with the help of Hargadon, Elluminate has expanded its visibility significantly during the four-day event.
• Created by Hargadon in 2006, EduBloggerCon is an international gathering or "meetup" at of educational bloggers and those using social media and collaborative technologies in education held in association with an educational technology conference.  Based on the idea of an “unconference,” the corresponding NECC event takes place onsite the Saturday before the conference or virtually via Elluminate Live!
• Another Hargadon brainchild, NECC Unplugged provides a forum and resource for those interested in presenting informally at the conference or generating content for remote users.  NECC Unplugged is held onsite during the conference and online in Elluminate, which enables the live streaming of all local and virtual presentations.
• Hargadon is also formally leading or speaking at six sessions on topics that include “The State of Open Source Software in Education,” “Build Your Own Social Network of Community,” and “What is the Role of Web 2.0 in Schools?”
• In addition, Elluminate will be exhibiting in booth #3542, where company representatives will demonstrate the recently announced enhancements to the Elluminate Learning Suite™, including Elluminate Live! V9.5 and Elluminate Plan!™ V2, as well as LearnCentral. 

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