EdTech Leaders Share the Benefits of Replacing Kaltura with Echo360 as Their Campus Video Platform

Two EdTech leaders recently shared reasons why their institutions selected Echo360 over Kaltura when consolidating their campus video applications. They described how, with Echo360, they can effectively manage all their video content on campus while providing their faculty and students with engaging digital learning experiences in classroom, hybrid, and online teaching modalities. By consolidating on Echo360, each of these universities have been able to eliminate redundant systems, reduce cost and complexity, and make it easier for faculty and students to create, share, and manage video.

Loyola Marymount University Eliminates Redundant Systems and Reduces Costs with Echo360

Speaking at the company’s 2021 virtual user conference, Matt Frank, director creative & technology support at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA, shared the challenges that led his institution to select Echo360 as their enterprise video platform. Economic pressures brought on by the pandemic forced the university to find ways to save money without sacrificing its mission to encourage learning through rigorous undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs.

Matt told conference attendees that while Kaltura and Echo360 have overlapping capabilities, Echo360 provides the video management capabilities the university needs while offering more reliable classroom and lecture capture, more robust student engagement features, and rich analytical tools that support the primary mission of teaching and learning. He added that:

“Kaltura was a redundancy that we didn’t need to have.”

Migrating 11,000+ Videos into Echo360 – “That was easy!”

Once the decision was made to consolidate with Echo360, Matt and his staff worked with the Echo360 customer success team to migrate more than 11,000 videos directly from user video libraries in Kaltura to their corresponding Echo360 libraries within the Brightspace LMS.

Matt said that from a user perspective the migration was completely transparent and took less than a week. Although he budgeted a considerable amount of time for his staff to assist, Echo360’s customer success team handled the entire project.

Speaking about the consolidation, Matt said:

“This is a huge win. It allowed us to meet many of our COVID-related budget cuts by phasing out an entire system [Kaltura] and consolidating with another system [Echo360]. We’re very happy with how this has gone.”

Watch the video excerpt with Matt Frank, Loyola Marymount University from our recent online user conference.

Four Reasons Why Augusta University Consolidated Video Learning with Echo360

In a recent video interview, Amy Triana, director of university IT customer experience at Augusta University in Augusta, GA, said the decision to select Echo360 over Kaltura came down to four main reasons:

1) Reduces Technical Complexity

By consolidating on Echo360, students and faculty only need to learn one video technology and interface. This means faculty can spend more time focusing on delivering the “highest quality learning experience for our students.”

2) Superior Reliability

Amy states that Echo360’s reliability is unmatched by any other platform. She says Echo360 always performs exactly as expected on any device and operating system; PC, MAC, IOS, or Android. She also noted that Echo360 offers superior support services from competitors:

“We receive exemplary support from Echo360, and our dedicated customer success team makes us feel that we’re the ones that matter.”

3) More Than Just Video Analytics

In addition to measuring video usage, Amy describes how Echo360’s learner analytics allow her team to show academic leaders how the system improves student engagement and learning outcomes. Automatically generated reports and dashboards help the leadership team make decisions that benefit students in the long term.

4) Designed for Higher Education

Amy highlights that the Echo360 video platform is specifically designed for higher education and the company does not cater to the needs of other industries. With Echo360, instructors have the tools to foster active and engaging video-based learning. She says there is a true partnership with Echo360, and the company embraces a culture of continuous improvement:

“Echo360 has built its platform specifically to help educators make the teaching and learning experience better. Echo360 is a great partner that supports our mission of student learning at Augusta University.”

Watch the video interview with Amy Triana, Augusta University:

Why You Should Consider Campus Video Consolidation with Echo360

In challenging times, you can’t afford the cost and complexity of multiple redundant video systems. Echo360 is the first and only platform designed to meet all the needs of higher education institutions. It is designed and developed solely for higher education, and it comes without the complexity of systems such as Kaltura that must support markets and applications outside of higher education.
 

From campus video management, lecture capture, online and hybrid learning, and more, contact us to discover how Echo360 can help transform the teaching and learning experience at your institution.