LEHI, Utah, Aug. 05, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pronto, a leading engagement platform that instantly connects schools and businesses via messaging and video chat, announced today a new campus-wide agreement with Boston University to provide live continuous chat services to the university’s more than 3,900 faculty and 36,000 students beginning with the Fall 2020 semester.
As Boston University is preparing to deploy its new online MBA Program in August 2020, Ernie Perez, the University’s Director, Educational Technology, Digital Learning & Innovation, realized the need for a chat system that could be scaled for all students enrolled in the program as well as professors and other faculty members. Perez met Pronto a few years ago while at another University. He experienced first hand Pronto’s chat functionality and was impressed, and as things began changing due to the pandemic, he realized Pronto could play a much larger role in adjusting to online learning and began implementing Pronto campus wide.
“We're all trying to get our bearings on what this new normal is, and anyway we can allow for connections to persist - even while not being present and face-to-face - will help us in the future,” said Perez. “At BU, we started planning well ahead of the closures so when big decisions were forced upon us, we were ahead of the game. Our goal has always been to build a strong community where our students can have the best experience possible, and that entails building effective student to student and student to faculty connections. Pronto is playing a significant role in achieving this goal. We feel that once we have built these connections we will have won and provided our students and faculty with a sense of belonging.”
During the Fall 2020 semester, the majority of classes will be taught in a hybrid model, allowing for both an on-campus and online experience, which the University is calling Learn from Anywhere (LfA). All students in the Learn from Anywhere will have access to Pronto for one-on-one virtual office hours with professors, as well as chat functionality that enables students to reach out at any time, from anywhere and professors to respond at their convenience.
“Boston University is one of the leading research institutions in the country and we’re happy to be able to enable them to provide the face-to-face, real time chat and communication tools required to keep the human element alive for students,” said Zach Mangum, CEO of Pronto. “The Covid-19 pandemic is still providing unique challenges for students and professors and Pronto is proven to be an effective tool for dealing with the challenges of maintaining teaching schedules and face-to-face interactions in new, virtual classroom settings.”
Boston University is a private research university located in Massachusetts. It was founded in 1839 and offers bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees and doctorates through 18 schools and colleges on two campuses. Its alumni and faculty includes Martin Luther King, Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone as well as eight Nobel Laureates, 23 Pulitzer Prize winners, 10 Rhodes Scholars, 6 Marshall Scholars, 48 Sloan Fellows and nine Academy Award winners.
Since March when the pandemic shut down schools and Universities across the country, Pronto has become a trusted resource for professors and students at a number of universities. For more information about Pronto or to schedule a demo, visit https://pronto.io/education/ .
About Pronto
Pronto is a communication hub for the everyday user. No fancy syntax or confusing hashtags, just seamless communication so everyone can learn faster and work smarter. With auto-translation, group messaging and file-sharing capabilities, Pronto makes having your voice heard and understood easier than ever. For more information visit https://pronto.io.
Media Contact:
Shane Bills
Shane@pronto.io
917-282-5862