Since the introduction of the Internet, the technology dynamic in the education industry has been rapidly evolving, so much so that the number of different software programs and services out there can be overwhelming. From educational aids to online courses, the scope of new educational technology is amazing.

 

While big universities have the money to invest in large, sweeping software platforms, a niche that has been generally ignored is effective marketing for individual courses (usually those offered by community colleges) and private instructors. That’s why we developed Courseopedia, a free Web-based platform that gives colleges and individual instructors the tools they need to expose more local potential students to their classes through cost-effective marketing/advertising, ideally bolstering enrollment.

 

The concept is based on supplementing the limitations of Google (News - Alert), Craigslist and other search engines when it comes to finding individual courses that are local and fit into a post-grad’s daily schedule. The Web already has a number of niche search engines for jobs, real estate, cars and a wealth of other areas – so why shouldn’t there be a simple platform for discovering classes in your area?

 

As the Webmaster at a community college, I work with faculty very often. Many requests come from faculty who teach classes with low enrollment: “Can we promote my course on the school home page?” But most schools don’t allot portions of marketing budgets towards promoting individual classes. In fact, the bulk of the budget is usually allocated towards marketing the college brand itself, severely limiting channels that faculty could use to promote individual courses. So, faculty members end up posting signs in classrooms, hallways and nearby campus establishments – a technique that is truly a shot in the dark for reaching the course’s target audience.

 

After developing the idea for Courseopedia, we realized that this new niche platform would not only benefit students who wanted to find courses in their area; it would also greatly benefit schools and instructors who want to increase enrollment. Over the last year, we have spent time coding and collecting information from more than 50,000 courses spanning more than 50 colleges in California to build the first phase of the Courseopedia database.

 

Upon visiting www.courseopedia.com, potential students are presented with a simple search interface similar to Google’s. Type in a keyword and zip code, hit “submit,” and immediately start browsing detailed course information including course titles, start and end dates and times, meeting days, school information and more. Results are sorted by proximity to the searcher’s location. And, of course, there’s an advanced search feature if students want to narrow down the search.

 

My partners – Jawad Ahmad and Haseeb Qawam – and I designed Courseopedia for both educational institutions that may need to bulk upload thousands of courses at once and private instructors who may only need to post a class or two at a time. Courseopedia also includes information on over 7000 colleges and universities in the US and a comprehensive career exploration section detailing required training, earnings expectations and job outlooks for more than 300 occupations.

 

Courseopedia was launched in early-summer 2009 with the help of three partner institutions (College of the Sequoias, Evergreen Valley College and The Academy) and currently only has courses offered in California. However, we’re focusing our efforts on expanding the engine’s offering nationwide over the next year.