Babson College has been selected winner of the 2006 IT Leadership Award for Pedagogy and IT Practice – Private Institution by EdTech: Focus on Higher Education, recognizing innovative use of technology on higher education campuses.
Babson’s entry outlined an initiative to make technology-based distance learning for its MBA Fast Track program students more interactive by integrating Blackboard, Elluminate and Adobe Breeze. The program provides faculty with an online forum to draw out ideas, punctuate key points and facilitate high-quality case discussions typically only found in the traditional classroom environment.
Babson College won the Pedagogy and IT Practice award in the private institution category with an entry submitted by Stephen Laster, director for the college’s Curriculum Innovation and Technology Group.
“The central, unifying themes of Babson’s Fast Track MBA curriculum are innovation and entrepreneurial leadership in a changing global environment. In 24-months the program teaches the essential skills that every manager needs to know, 60% online and 40% face-to-face,” says Laster. “The distance learning portion is approximately 18-22 hours per week, with face-to-face instruction held approximately every six weeks on Fridays and Saturdays.”
The first annual Pedagogy and IT Practice award sought entries describing how higher education institutions are leveraging technology to improve instruction and student service. A panel of judges selected one winner among contenders in each of three categories: private institutions (Babson), public institutions (Purdue University) and community colleges (Dyersburg State Community College). All three winners will receive a $2,000 technology shopping spree at CDWG.com and are featured in the August-September issue of EdTech.
“Institutions of higher education are not recognized enough for the quality of IT programs that they regularly – and successfully – implement,” said Lee Copeland, editor in chief, EdTech: Focus on Higher Education. “Purdue University, Babson College and Dyersburg State Community College have each crafted educational programs that leverage technological innovation to enhance the learning experience. We hope other institutions and organizations will learn from these best practices.”
EdTech: Focus on Higher Education is a magazine published by CDW Government, Inc. (CDW-G), a leading source of Information Technology (IT) solutions to governments and educators. The publication serves the higher education community by providing campus IT decision makers with content on technology solutions, implementation strategies, return on investment metrics, and analysis of IT expenditures and projects.
