I've added a portion of the press release to show you a little of what I've been up to this Spring. The good news is that the equipment came in this week on Tuesday (6/10/08). Rama and I are like kids in a candy store. I'll be loading pictures up here soon. But here is part of the story!
------------------
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (SMWC) was selected as one of 39 two- and four-year colleges and universities in the United States and Puerto Rico to receive a 2008 HP Technology for Teaching grant, which is designed to transform teaching and improve learning in the classroom through innovative uses of technology. SMWC will receive an award package of HP products and a faculty cash award valued at more than $77,000.
Bellampalli Ramachandran, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry, served as SMWC's principal investigator for the HP Technology for Teaching grant proposal. Jennie Mitchell, Ph.D, professor of business in the Business, Art, & Media/Technology Department, and Dottie King, Ph.D, associate professor of mathematics and chair of the Sciences & Mathematics Department, served as co-investigators for the proposal.
Ramachandran said they were all thrilled when they received news that the College had been chosen as a grant recipient."It was exciting and gratifying to learn [that SMWC had been selected to receive the grant], especially since the competition was open to colleges and universities in the entire North American region," Ramachandran said. "In HP's words, 'This was a very competitive grant process with over 370 applications, so being selected is in itself a sign of success.'"
Each of the HP Technology for Teaching grant recipients will use wireless HP Tablet PCs to enhance learning in engineering, math, science, or computer science.Saint Mary-of-the Woods College plans to use the grant award package to strategically redesign courses to incorporate Tablet PC and Digital Inking technologies in instruction. These technologies, in conjunction with an appropriate Classroom Management System, will facilitate teacher-student and student-student interaction and thus create a highly collaborative and interactive learning environment for students.
Initially, a selected set of courses, including general chemistry, calculus, and business finance, will be redesigned. Several other SMWC faculty members have also expressed interest in exploring these technologies for their courses.
Eventually, more courses, and thus more students, will benefit from the grant."The project title 'Enhanced Learning Experience Via Advanced Tablet-PC Environment (ELEVATE) - Using HP Tablet PCs in Instruction at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College,' and its apt acronym, precisely describe what the project, and the grant, will mean for us," Ramachandran said. "It will 'elevate' students' learning outcomes as well as the educational excellence of the College to even higher levels."
