CT Innovators Honorable Mentions

Gleaned from this year's Campus Technology Innovators award nominations, these 8 projects are making strides in virtual reality, synchronous online learning, digital literacy and more.

• By Rhea Kelly
• 07/12/16

Call it an editor's privilege: While the Campus Technology Innovators awards do not have a formal category for honorable mentions, each year I am inspired to put forward my own list. So here, in no particular order, are eight projects worth knowing about, Innovators award or no:

• Oklahoma State University's state-of-the-art Mixed Reality Lab focuses on research and instruction in augmented reality, virtual reality and digital prototyping — allowing students to develop design projects along the reality-virtuality continuum.
• An e-portfolio initiative at Arizona State University has digitized the process for students to consent to donate their work to research, streamlining researchers' access to a large repository of student work for use in journal publications about student learning.
• UC Berkeley created a synchronous online learning platform that goes beyond "live lecture," allowing remote students to participate in classroom activities with a realistic sense of "being there."
• Oral Roberts University's GeoVision Technology initiative integrates wearable, mobile and cloud-based technologies to support the school's philosophy of holistic education.
• Taylor's University in Malaysia created a teaching evaluation tool that provides instructors with a granular view of their performance and uses data to identify areas for professional development, all geared toward improving the student learning experience.
• Wayne State University's home-grown Academica portal incorporates social networking tools that enable two-way communication and collaboration, creating a true "meeting spot" for the campus.
• Looking for ways to improve the student and faculty experience within the classroom, regardless of location, DeVry Education Group created the Connected Classroom, an immersive learning platform that connects multiple locations for onsite and remote students, providing simultaneous instruction and live collaboration to enhance learning.
• Clemson University's Adobe Digital Studio gives students, faculty and staff complete access to Adobe's Creative Cloud. Students gain exposure and competencies in tools for video production, digital content creation and more — digital literacy skills that are becoming critical to success in the 21st-century workplace.

Thank you to all who submitted award nominations this year. For more information on the Innovators program, visit campustechnology.com/innovators.