Sustaining Quality through Digital Media
- By Fox Team
- February 13, 2013
Since its inception, Fox Learning Systems has been evolving with the way we watch, interact, and learn from digital media.
When Fox Learning Systems (FLS) was founded in 1997, the methods of combining digital distribution and distance learning networks were still in their infancy. The unknown potential of electronically supported learning (e-learning) was just being realized as new companies began surfacing and growing, hoping to take part in this digital innovation. However, the personal home computer of this era was quite expensive and underdeveloped. Realizing that better and more powerful computer systems were set up within educational, private, and healthcare institutions, these well-equipped and heavily-financed entities were best-suited for building an effective e-learning model. Therefore, marketing to healthcare institutions became the main focus for our business’s advancement as well as defining and shaping what e-learning could become.
Compared to our present day resources, creating a digital learning environment in the late 90’s and early 2000’s required a very complex system of creation and distribution. Because audio-visual sources were rarely found beyond videotapes, the idea of using anything beyond still images and PowerPoint presentation-like lessons was technologically difficult, if not beyond the reach of the average company. Determined to provide a quality e-learning environment, FLS adapted and created a multiple CD-Rom based curriculum, collectively larger than the average consumer hard drive at that time. Fox’s first e-learning model was actually developed with the option to include an entire computer system, packaged with the video-based lessons. In total, fourteen CDs were used to create comprehensive and interactive video-based lessons within a sequential learning format. At the time, computers needed to be equipped with a specialized video card to deliver the video content.
As the decade continued, technology advanced and Fox Learning Systems pushed forward through the early medium of the Internet, implementing the e-learning model into a web-based form. In a time where hosting video was expensive and bandwidth was still bottle-necked by phone-based modems, Fox managed to find the right balance of compression without sacrificing quality. Transitioning to the internet allowed for an even greater distribution.
While many companies would strive for influence in the mainstream demand for digital learning, only a few survived in this new e-learning market: those who could mass-produce for a low cost, and alternatively, those who could produce the highest quality. At FLS, we have always put quality first. Quality has always been our driving force. Ultimately, the most reputable and successful business models rely on design, integrity, and longevity. Companies like Apple, Bose, and PBS haven’t lasted this long because of mass-production and by selling out to lower goals.
Insight Delivered Through Digital Media. This is what Fox Learning Systems has been and will always be about. The marketplace will always transform but we will always stay right with it. We have been on the forefront of technology since the beginning and we will continue to adapt. In this company we have over fifteen years of video production and digital media experience. We have the know-how to bring quality into marketing and provide resources that will engage, educate, and empower people to learn more.
Today with the help of our clients and partners, we have expanded the reach of quality digital media and online-distance-learning services. More distance learning available at fernstudium-infomaterial.de.
Check out this video from the early years: