Echo360 Earns VPAT for Federal Government Section 508 Accessibility Standard, Credentialing Technology for Students and Instructors With Disabilities

DULLES, VA--(Marketwire - Oct 5, 2011) - Echo360, the global leader in campus-wide blended learning and lecture capture solutions, announced today that the EchoSystem student and instructor interfaces are certified compliant with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and accessible for users with disabilities. Independent, third party consulting company Deque Systems issued the VPAT after assisting in Echo360's modification efforts.

"Echo360 has established their role as leaders in lecture capture technology by embracing universal design and providing a product that is accessible to all users," said Preety Kumar, CEO of Deque Systems. "It is clear that accessibility is now a must-have for the educational market and Echo360 has provided a product that allows teachers and students everywhere equal opportunities to enhance education via blended learning tools."

The certification covers the EchoPlayer and the EchoCenter course portal. Screen-reader compatibility with optional lecture transcription is available for blind and low vision learners while closed captions assist the deaf and hard of hearing. The software also offers keyboard-only navigation options for users unable to utilize a mouse. Echo360 has also designed its technology in accordance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG), which were developed to ensure that web content is accessible to a wider range of users with disabilities.

"Making our products readily accessible by all instructors and students is consistent with our mission to serve every student in every classroom around the world with our technology," said Echo360 CEO, Fred Singer. "The practice in our industry has been to self-certify but we wanted to do better. By working with Deque Systems, we've set a new standard of ubiquitous accessibility for lecture capture and blended learning solutions."

Echo360
As a global leader in blended learning and lecture capture products, Echo360 helps higher education institutions keep pace with modern students' learning needs through products that digitally record and upload learning content. Echo360 has been recognized with a Product Line Strategy of the Year Award from Frost & Sullivan and named a Visionary Vendor in Educational Technology by IT research firm Basex. Echo360's products facilitate better instruction for large collections of students, lower costs and enrich learning experiences by enabling students to easily access and share multimedia content. Through Echo360's platform, students can replay recorded sessions and review information from instructors online; at their convenience and across various devices. Echo360's products are used by 400 Four Year Universities and Colleges, Law Schools, Business Schools, Health Sciences Campuses and Community Colleges in 28 countries, including Purdue University, New York University, Columbia University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.