NexPort Solutions Continues to Provide a Secure, Reliable Learning Management System Through TierPoint, LLC’s Hosting Services

OKLAHOMA CITY – July 19, 2013 – NexPort Solutions Group is proud to announce its partnership with TierPoint, LLC, a managed services provider. TierPoint is a leading, nationwide provider of cloud, collocation and managed services. Relying upon TierPoint’s extensive network of multi-layered, state-of-the-art data centers in the United States, and backed by the expertise of TierPoint’s industry veterans, NexPort Solutions continues to provide NexPort Campus, NexMeeting and NexPort Reporting Services users with secure, reliable educational services.

TierPoint was formed through the strategic combination of several leading regional providers: Colo4 in Texas; Perimeter Technology Center in Oklahoma, Baltimore Technology Park in Maryland, Adhost in Washington and TierPoint in Washington. All locations are now operating as TierPoint. NexPort Solutions previously teamed with Perimeter Technology Center.

"I have enjoyed working hand-in-hand with Perimeter Technology Center for the past six years," said Billy Caldwell, NexPort Solutions' KAG Administrator. "They have been more than just a vendor, they have been a partner focused on our mutual growth and success. As PTC joins forces with Tierpoint, LLC, I expect that relationship will continue to flourish. It will open doors that will continue to refine and enhance our infrastructure."

Through TierPoint, NexPort Solutions provides its users with:

• Performance: Uptime, speed, and power that meet all NexPort users’ needs
• Scalability: Users receive what they need, when they need it, with a suite of solutions from cloud computing to colocation space 
• Security: Multi-layered systems to protect the NexPort users’ physical and virtual assets around the clock. 
• Support: A seasoned team of industry experts dedicated to ensuring every user maintains its unique online presence, 24x7x365, regardless of communications disruptions, weather events or natural disasters.
• Peace of Mind: TierPoint has owned and operated data centers in key locations across the U.S.

TierPoint supplies its customers with fast and secure service, as well as disaster recovery services that ensure NexPort Solutions’ users will not lose their Internet presence during severe weather or other emergencies that could occur near the data center.

"As a software engineer/architect for more than 12 years, I have seen first-hand the value that a professional, high availability and dedicated team of hardware and network engineers can bring to a software development organization," said Dan Pupek, NexPort Solutions' Chief Systems Architect. "Perimeter Technology Center has been a strong and responsive partner for many years and now, as they merge with Tierpoint, LLC, I envision our partnership strengthening. I look forward to hosting both our production and development environments in their secure cloud infrastructure."

NexPort Campus is a secure, hosted learning and knowledge management system. NexPort Campus also supports interactive engagement within learning communities through the use of videos, organization-wide calendar, shared documents, organization-wide webpages and threaded discussions. Additional system features include data interoperability with external systems, secure digital libraries with subscriber-only access and an integrated Student Information System (SIS).


“NexPort Solutions is a Software as a Service (SaaS) vendor. Its customers include organizations that support online schools, law enforcement organizations, courseware development businesses, and social services organizations.  These customers must have a reliable, secure, and robust Internet presence. If students cannot access their lessons, or if managers cannot access their reports, NexPort Solutions’ customers are in violation of their contracts,” stated Dr Rob Miller, NexPort Solutions’ Chief Knowledge Officer. 

NexPort Campus also allows clients to provide their learners with customized, on-demand training and education environment. Clients operate within their own branded portals to deliver their unique content and services independently of each other. Customers may subdivide their portals to establish and manage subordinate secure portals for their customers, subsidiaries or divisions. Each portal provides privacy protection and security. Your custom portal can be setup with Secure Sockets Layer technology (128-bit encryption) and a custom domain.

Dr. Miller further stated, “Increasingly, NexPort Solutions supports customers that operate online high schools for state correctional facilities.  By contract, those customers must report any service disruption to that state’s department of corrections—the customer wants to know if NexPort solutions is truly delivering the services they pay for.  Therefore, it is imperative that NexPort Solutions have an extremely reliable data center provider.”  

NexPort Solutions Group enables educators and learners to use NexPort Campus to create, organize and hold webmeetings using NexPort Solutions Group’s own NexMeeting. NexMeeting promotes virtual classroom experiences, providing users with the ability to share desktops, hold conversations using headset and telephonic audio, survey meeting participants and share videos, PowerPoint slides, photos and documents using the whiteboard.

About NexPort Solutions Group
NexPort Solutions Group is a division of Darwin Global, LLC, a systems and software engineering company that provides innovative, cost-effective training solutions and support for federal, state and local government, as well as the private sector.

Media Contact:

Darcy Delaney
Documentation Specialist
Darwin Global Enterprises
405-217-4060
http://www.nexportsolutions.com/

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Support for Decision-Making with Empirical Data

Introduction

The previous post mentioned a vision for a family of interoperable products.  Further clarification of that vision seems appropriate.  First, do not assume that this is a pitch for “blended learning” technologies.  It is my opinion (based on more than 30 years of instructional experience) that the “B-word” has become a hackneyed aphorism for throwing instructional products on the wall and hoping they stick.  To quote the late General Norman Schwarzkopf, “Hope is not a plan.”  Neither is it likely to be an effective instructional approach.

Discussion

The NexPort Solutions’ vision for learning support seeks to provide trainers, educators, and learners with capabilities for employing a variety of effective instructional strategies to address learning-related problems and then guide those learning experiences to successful outcomes—success being defined as consistently performing a task to a valid standard (both individually and collectively).

That certainly sounds lofty enough.  But, when it comes to instructional delivery systems, what (or who) governs “effective learning strategies?"  What does that expression really mean?  Unfortunately, it usually means conforming to some system’s hard-wired approach to mediating instructional processes.  These systems attempt to prescribe learning solutions based upon the opinion of a consultant, advisor, a “guru,” or system architect.  In essence, such systems tell customers, “You must conform to my instructional approach because my developers believe that it is best (regardless of YOUR perceptions of what’s necessary).”  Shouldn’t the customer have a say in this process?

This is where NexPort Solutions’ agile philosophy becomes increasingly visible in its product vision.  The NexPort Solutions’ vision supports an empirically-based approach to integrating instructional products.  The vision is for a family of interoperable systems that provides multiple instructional capabilities, seamlessly interfaced, that allow the customer to choose from among them, and then provide systems for feedback that allows the customer to assess learning effectiveness based upon empirical evidence.  The availability of evidence upon which the customer can evaluate the effectiveness of their instructional approach, based upon the customers’ relevant criteria.

Anticipation of change is as relevant to instruction as it is to software development.  Instructional development is an iterative process—that is, the instruction is produced, empirical evidence is collected concerning the instruction’s effectiveness, and the instruction is changed to address deficiencies.  Additionally, instruction often changes over time due to changes in audiences, organizational policies, content, and budgets.

Conclusion 

Meaningful change requires well-informed decisions which requires empirical evidence.  NexPort Solutions envisions a system that allows customers to implement instruction according to their requirements, identify necessary changes, implement them with minimal difficulty, and then assess their effectiveness.

About NexPort Solutions Group 
NexPort Solutions Group is a division of Darwin Global, LLC, a systems and software engineering company that provides innovative, cost-effective training solutions and support for federal, state and local government, as well as the private sector.

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