Purdue receives national award for 'learning anywhere' technology
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University has received an inaugural IT Leadership Award from EdTech: Focus on Higher Education magazine, for its innovative use of technology in higher education.Purdue received the award for its Software Remote program, which allows students and faculty to use 30 popular software packages from their own computers at no charge.
EdTech is featuring Purdue on the cover of the August-September issue of the magazine, which is being distributed this week. The magazine's Pedagogy and IT Practice Award recognized institutions that are using technology to improve instruction and student service. A panel of judges from Duke University selected the winners.
John Campbell, associate vice president for teaching and learning technologies in Information Technology at Purdue, says the award is satisfying because of the effort that went into creating the technology.
"At Purdue we have an exceptionally talented group of individuals who are focused on creating world-leading instructional technologies," Campbell says. "Software Remote helps us accomplish our goal of 'learning anytime, anywhere' for students at Purdue."
Software Remote delivers popular software programs such as Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop, as well as more technical software titles such as AutoCAD, Chemdraw and Mathematica. Although the software appears to be running on the user's computer, it is actually running on central servers. Because of this, the software can be used with older, slower computers, or even computers that have operating systems that couldn't normally run the software.
Gerry McCartney, interim Chief Information Officer for Purdue, says that the technology ultimately benefits students.
"Through our instructional technologies, we are eliminating the number of obstacles that university students face," he says. "With technologies such as Software Remote, students can focus on the material they are learning and be less concerned with the technological tools that are delivering that information."
Lee Copeland, editor-in-chief of EdTech magazine, says that Software Remote is an example of a university leveraging a technology to enhance the learning experience.
"Institutions of higher education are not recognized enough for the quality of IT programs that they regularly — and successfully — implement," Copeland says. "We hope that other institutions and organizations will learn from these best practices."
As one of the winning entries, Purdue's Teaching and Learning Technologies area will receive a $2,000 shopping spree at CDWG.com
In addition to Purdue, Babson College was selected for an award in the private institution category of for its work with distance-education technology, and Dyersburg State Community College won in the community college category for its Web-based process for determining whether high school students should earn college credit or advance placement for previous work.
More information about the awards can be found online.
Writer: Steve Tally, (765) 494-9809; tally@purdue.edu
Sources: John Campbell, (765) 494-1289; jpcampbe@purdue.edu
Gerry McCartney, (765) 496-2266; mccart@purdue.edu
Lee Copeland: contact Jim Silvestri of EdTech at (847) 968-0734; jimsil@cdw.com, or Janice Hazen of O'Keefe & Company at (770) 938-4753; jhazen@okco.com
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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Purdue University Home Page
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