Laramie County Community College achieves top ten status
Leading U.S. digital community college standardizes on SMART Board interactive whiteboards
CALGARY, Alberta --- June 1, 2005 --- SMART Technologies Inc. announces that Laramie County Community College (LCCC) in Wyoming has standardized on SMART Board™ interactive whiteboards. Recently ranked as the nation’s #2 Urban Digital Community College in 2005 by the American Association for Community Colleges and the Center for Digital Education, LCCC’s CIO, Michael Walters, credits the recognition in part to the college’s effective use of SMART products during course delivery. LCCC chose the SMART Board interactive whiteboard based on significant demand from faculty for digital classrooms and from students for degrees and certificates with a high-tech competitive edge. With grants from the SMARTer Kids™ Foundation (www.smarterkids.org), LCCC worked with local reseller Information Systems Consulting to equip classrooms with dual-screen setups of SMART Board interactive whiteboards.
The campus-wide integration started with the college’s first SMART Board interactive whiteboard in a prototype classroom, where buy-in from faculty led to a campus renewal project for four buildings. Today, LCCC has integrated leading-edge technology in the majority of classrooms across its three-branch campus, including SMART Board interactive whiteboards and digital projectors connected to PCs and room-control modules controlling document cameras, VCRs, DVD players, laser printers, high-speed Internet connections, guest laptops, and lighting and sound systems. Based on this successful adoption, LCCC plans to install SMART Board interactive whiteboards in every classroom of a new building under construction. The college will also integrate SMART product into a multimedia room for the new residence hall next year, so students can collaborate on group projects outside the classroom.
“SMART Board interactive whiteboards have taken learning to another level at LCCC,” says Michael Walters, vice president of information technology and chief information officer at Laramie County Community College. “Being a top-ranked digital community college in the nation reflects our commitment to technology-based learning, and we attribute this win largely to the effective use of SMART Board interactive whiteboards by our faculty and students.”
“From design to implementation, there are many considerations for ensuring successful technology adoption in today’s higher education classroom. Making sense of the technology choices is the key to delivering a system that enhances student learning and engagement,” says Nancy Knowlton, SMART’s president and co-CEO. “LCCC is an excellent model for other colleges and universities seeking to design a highly integrated technology campus, where both faculty and students truly embrace technology in the classroom.”
About SMART Board interactive whiteboards
The SMART Board interactive whiteboard is a large, touch-sensitive display. Connected to a computer and projector, the interactive whiteboard is like a giant computer screen that students and teachers simply touch to operate. Using their finger or a pen as a mouse, teachers and students can access and control any computer application, file or multimedia platform, including the Internet, CD-ROMs and DVDs. They can also write over applications in digital ink, then save their work for future study and review. The SMART Board interactive whiteboard engages students with diverse learning styles by providing both immediate access to a wide range of digital materials and a common focus for the entire class – not something easily achieved with other technologies. It is the number one choice among primary and secondary school educators in more than 75 countries worldwide because the pioneering software interface captures the imagination of students of all backgrounds and abilities in order to help them learn together, understand better and achieve more. For more information, visit www.smarttech.com/smartboard.
About LCCC
Established in 1968, Laramie County Community College is a full-service, comprehensive community college with campuses in Cheyenne and Laramie and two outreach centers at F.E. Warren Air Force Base and in Pine Bluffs. A wide range of academic, vocational and community education programs are provided. For the second consecutive year, LCCC was named one of America’s Top 10 Digital-Savvy Community Colleges. Students share the college’s vision for a state-of-the-art campus, even assessing themselves a technology fee with tuition. Faculty members also take an active role in sharing technology best practices through lunch-and-learn sessions and one-on-one training. For more information, visit www.lccc.wy.edu.
About Information Systems Consulting
ISC was founded in 1998 in Casper, Wyoming. ISC was started to provide basic and advanced technology business solutions with a high-touch, highly-skilled model to metropolitan and rural communities and business throughout Wyoming and Colorado. ISC has sales and support facilities in Wyoming and Colorado with expansion into other areas in the U.S. already underway. For more information, visit www.isccorp.net.
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