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Open source solution drives down technology costs for colleges and universities around the world

Boca Raton, FL. July 13, 2021

Tower Education Technologies, a south Florida start-up and public benefit corporation, today announced its delivery of the InspirED™ platform for higher education. The cloud-based open source solution equips faculty, administrators and students with a state-of-the-art solution for program development, academic delivery and engagement.

InspirED contains the CollaboratED™ faculty development and BlendED™ learning management solutions, which are designed to foster innovative teaching and learning on a global scale. InspirED overcomes campus technology barriers and collaborator differences in time zones and languages, and makes it easy for faculty to create courses, curriculum, certificate programs, and more  by identifying their own professional interests and specialties, and supporting global faculty matching of project partners with similar goals and interests. The platform is available to individuals, academic departments and institutions that are members of American Higher Education Alliance (AHEA), a strategic partner of Tower.

“Education technology costs have skyrocketed in the last decade, and the budgetary impact means institutions have literally had to choose between maintaining software versus investing in academic programs and services for better student outcomes,” said Benjamin Shank, CEO at Tower. “We sought to break that cycle and offer colleges and universities an innovative solution that is not only cost-effective, but enables creative course development and student education on a global scale. This combination is what makes InspirED so unique.”

“The strategic partnership with Tower is solving multiple problems for our member institutions,” stated Karli Grant, President at AHEA. “With a growing demand for credentialing and global learning even as study abroad and international travel are in the early stages of reemerging, AHEA is empowering international collaboration and overcoming disparate systems and tools, to eliminate so many barriers in this space. Working together, our members can focus on creating and delivering quality content and programs that engage students for learning success.”

In preparation for the launch of InspirED, Tower and AHEA piloted the solution with faculty, academic administrators, global studies and study abroad leaders. They tested features, created courses and provided feedback which was directly incorporated into this inaugural release of the platform.

“The input we gained through the AHEA Faculty Fellows pilot program provided insight as to their needs, as well as validation of the platform we built and will continue to expand,” shared Mr. Shank. “As a public benefit corporation that is working with a non-profit organization, our strategic partnership serves as a vehicle to deliver high value for low cost to higher education.”

To date, AHEA has 25 member institutions from nine countries. In recognition of Tower’s launch of the InspirED platform, AHEA is offering a year-long free membership to individual faculty and administrators who apply between June 1 and September 1, 2021. To apply for membership to AHEA, go to https://www.ahealliance.org/join-ahea/ .

About Tower Education Technologies
Tower Education Technologies (Tower) was founded with the mission to build innovative technology to impact higher education institutions in a positive and productive way. The company’s flagship product, InspirED™, is the only higher education platform that natively integrates a student information system, ConnectED™, a learning management system, BlendED™, and a professional engagement solution, CollaboratED™. It also combines operational highlights, performance reports, CRM, and analytics.

In 2017 Tower formed a strategic partnership with American Higher Education Alliance (AHEA). Together these organizations support institutions of higher education so they can expand their footprint and make a greater impact in faculty development, and their students’ academic and career success. As a result, the InspirED platform has empowered students and institutional stakeholders at colleges and universities in Malaysia, Hong Kong, the Philippines, China, Latin America, and North America.

Connect with Tower Education Technologies at www.TowerEdTech.com or on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter.

About AHEA
American Higher Education Alliance (AHEA) is founded with the mission to drive equity in higher education by connecting the global community through international collaboration and learning experiences. Through its partnerships with colleges and universities around the world, the nonprofit organization contributes to the development of future leaders worldwide through internationalized education, lifelong learning, and universal credentialing.

Connect with AHEA at https://www.ahealliance.org or on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter.

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