Published: June 17, 2008 05:17 pm            

St. Mary-of-the-Woods selected as technology grant recipient

St. Mary-of-the-Woods College has been 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.

The grant is designed to transform teaching and improve learning in the classroom through innovative uses of technology.

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 chairwoman 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.

St. Mary-of-the Woods College plans to use the grant award package to redesign courses strategically 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 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 Using HP Tablet PCs in Instruction at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College’, 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.”

HP is awarding 149 two- and four-year colleges and universities and K-12 public schools in the United States and Puerto Rico more than $7 million in mobile technology, cash and professional development as part of the 2008 HP Technology for Teaching grant program.

More information about the 2008 HP Technology for Teaching program and grant recipients is available at www.hp.com/go/hpteach.

For more information about the science, math and business programs at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, contact the SMWC Office of Admission by e-mail at smwcadms@smwc.edu or by phone at (812) 535-5106 or 1-800-926-SMWC. More information about the college is available at www.smwc.edu

        

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