University is first in India to deploy campus-wide, automated academic video program   

MADISON, Wis. — June 26, 2017 — Sonic Foundry, Inc. (NASDAQ: SOFO), the trusted global leader for video creation and management solutions, today announces The Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), a Deemed University in Mumbai, India has selected Mediasite for lecture capture and management. The selection makes it the first university in India to deploy a large-scale academic video program.

“We realize the future of education lies in technology that allows learning to be made available to students when they’re not able to attend classes and for review of lectures anytime, anywhere,” said Professor Ganapati D. Yadav, Vice Chancellor, of ICT. “Mediasite makes that a reality for us without disrupting the way our instructors teach. Mediasite is fully automated, and instructors don’t even notice the camera.”

The university began using Mediasite in all its classrooms in March with plans to capture every lecture and make it available for students to review on-demand. A studio on campus will be equipped with Mediasite for students to create homework presentations and to capture guest lecturers.

Occasionally the university recorded videos on campus with various devices in the past, but Mediasite is the first enterprise-level video technology used in every classroom on campus.

“A lot of institutions in India are using video and web conferencing technology,” Yadav said. “But Mediasite is different and makes everything much easier as it can be deployed for secured mass consumption on-campus and off-campus. Mediasite doesn’t require any additional software or hardware to view the videos – just a computer or mobile device with a browser. The content can also be delivered in such a way that the internet bandwidth requirements are minimal. This is very helpful, as bandwidth is limited in India.”

The recorded lectures are managed in the secure Mediasite Video Platform on-premises. Currently the videos are used for students to review lectures after class, and in the future, the university will experiment with distance learning and flipped instruction.

“The use of academic video in India is still an emerging trend, and The Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai is leading the way with the country’s first scalable and automated lecture capture deployment,” said Gary Weis, Sonic Foundry CEO. “It is an honor to have been selected to work with ICT, and we look forward to helping the university boost student success and create more flexible and personalized learning experiences. With 700 universities and more than 37,000 affiliated colleges enrolling more than 20 million students, there is excellent untapped opportunity in India for our state-of-the-art educational video platforms.”

Trusted by more than 1,500 colleges and universities, the patented Mediasite webcasting and video content management system quickly and cost-effectively automates the capture, management, delivery and search of live and on-demand videos for campus events, lecture capture and flipped learning.

About ICT Mumbai
The Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai was established as the Department of Chemical Technology in 1933 by the University of Mumbai. Research has been an integral part of ICT since its inception and it has created more than 500 first generation entrepreneurs. ICT was granted Deemed University Status in 2008. The State Assembly of Maharashtra accorded the elite status and centre of excellent to ICT on April 20, 2012 on par with IITs, IISc and IISERs to allow its growth and impact. The ICT has more than 350 patents. ICT is a leader in India for its connectivity with industry. One of the recent ones on 2G ethanol production from agri-biomass is being taken to commercialization by HPCL and BPCL with capacities each of 400 TPD to produce 100 KL/day with the blessings of the Govt of India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. This technology is developed under DBT-ICT Centre for Energy Biosciences headed by Prof Arvind Lali. It is a leading technology which produces ethanol within 24 hours. Many more plants are planned under a section 8 company by ICT. ICT has made exceptional progress under the leadership of G.D. Yadav, the Vice Chancellor.