Pearson, Charleston Southern University Partner to Increase Access to Online Learning

Pearson and Charleston Southern University (CSU) announce a partnership to further increase students’ access to online learning opportunities and affordable course materials. CSU currently uses the Pearson LearningStudio platform to provide many of its general education courses online.

Boston, MA and Charleston, SC, December 10, 2010 – Pearson and Charleston Southern University (CSU) today announced a partnership to further increase students’ access to online learning opportunities and affordable course materials. CSU currently uses the Pearson LearningStudio platform to provide many of its general education courses online.

As part of the new partnership, Pearson and CSU will redesign and launch all of the university’s general education or “core” courses online, as well as the most popular courses offered within the Bachelor of Management Arts (BMA) program. The availability of the online courses is critical to increasing capacity and the redesigned courses will create a strong foundation for students to matriculate into the BMA and other degree programs.

CSU’s courses are being rebuilt with new courseware, curricula and interactive content within the Pearson LearningStudio platform. As part of the restructuring, 43 fully online courses are being added to CSU’s existing course offerings. CSU will have the complete catalog of core courses and high demand BMA degree program courses available by June 2011.

In addition, Pearson is providing students in the university’s BMA program with customized eBooks, making it easy for students to access content anywhere.

“CSU chose Pearson because we wanted to make comprehensive changes to the delivery and content of our key online learning programs and make them accessible to more students,” said James H. Jones, Ph.D., Dean of CSU’s College of Distance and Continuing Education. “With our goal of doubling online enrollment by Fall 2011, Pearson was the clear choice to quickly and efficiently revamp our program. Pearson has been a true partner and trusted advisor in helping us meet the growing demands of our evolving online program to ensure long-term success.”

CSU is exploring additional ways to expand its online education program and continues to consult with Pearson to make strategic market and economic driven program development plans. Beyond the general education core courses and BMA program, Pearson is also supporting 15 courses in CSU’s education and nursing departments with courseware and revised content.

“Our multi-tiered partnership with Charleston Southern University underscores our commitment to offering integrated online learning solutions capable of growing seamlessly alongside our partners’ individual needs,” said Don Kilburn, CEO of Pearson Learning Solutions. “CSU is ensuring the success of its learners now and well into the future with an innovative learning environment that enhances the quality of content, raises the rigor of the program and increases student achievement.”

Serving more than 9 million students around the globe, Pearson LearningStudio provides a comprehensive learning management system with an assessment and analytics suite that helps to improve student achievement and retention. The technology offers a personalized learning environment built on an advanced, scalable and dependable Software as a Service platform. For more information on Pearson LearningStudio, please visit http://www.pearsonlearningstudio.com.

About Charleston Southern University

Founded in 1964, Charleston Southern University (CSU) is one of South Carolina’s largest accredited, independent universities, enrolling approximately 3,300 students. Affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention, its vision is integration of faith in learning, leading, and serving. Named both to the John Templeton Foundation’s Honor Roll of Character Building Colleges and voted one of America’s 100 Best Colleges for 11 consecutive years, the university offers 38 undergraduate majors and 4 graduate programs–in business, criminal justice, education, and nursing. For more information, visit: http://www.csuniv.edu/.

About Pearson

Pearson has global-reach and market leading businesses in education, business and consumer publishing (NYSE: PSO).

About Pearson Learning Solutions

Pearson Learning Solutions is a business unit within Pearson, the world’s leading learning company. As an education partner and consultant to higher education institutions, Pearson Learning Solutions is committed to designing total, client-driven education solutions. We are a team of world-class education experts, instructional designers, curriculum development experts, education course writers, development editors and experienced textbook publishers. We tailor solutions to each institution’s individual needs, including off-the-shelf online, in-classroom or blended courses, or fully customized curriculum development. We also provide a range of technology tools and learning platforms to help students, faculty and institutions succeed.