MEDIA RELEASE PR35344
2009 Teaching with Sakai Innovation Award Winners Announced at 10th Annual International Sakai
Conference
ANN ARBOR, Mich., July 9 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --
Winners of the second annual Teaching with Sakai Innovation Award (TWSIA)
were announced this morning during an award ceremony at the 10th
International Sakai Conference taking place in Boston, MA.
The first-place award winner is Dr. Andrea Crampton from Charles Sturt
University (Australia) for her course "Introduction to Forensic Science."
Second place went to Dr. Edith Sheffer from Stanford University (USA), for
her course "Germany and the World Wars, 1870-1990." Honorable mentions were
given to Dr. Mark Van Dyke, Marist College (USA), and Ms. Cherry Stewart,
University of New England (Australia). The judges reached a unanimous
decision on the award recipients.
The Sakai Project is a landmark venture to create open-source course
management, collaboration, and online research support tools for the higher
education community. Begun through a collaboration involving the University
of Michigan, Indiana University, MIT, and Stanford University, it is now in
use in more than 160 colleges, universities and schools around the world,
which includes more than one-third of the top 100 universities in the world.
"All of the applications this year were extremely impressive," said Josh
Baron, director of academic technology and eLearning at Marist College in
Poughkeepsie, NY, and member of the Sakai Foundation board of directors. "The
winners of this award have demonstrated how Sakai can truly transform the
teaching and learning process and innovate the educational experience."
"At the heart of Sakai, whose community-source mantra is 'built by
educators, for educators,' is a deep passion for teaching, learning, and
innovation," said Baron. As testimony to this passion, the Sakai Foundation
annually presents the Teaching with Sakai Innovation Award, sponsored by IBM
and with support from rSmart and John Wiley & Sons, all of which are Sakai
Commercial Affiliates.
"IBM is pleased to be involved in this award again this year," said
Michael King, vice president, IBM Education Industry. "Like last year, there
was participation from all over the globe, and we appreciate all the
institutions that submitted entries and congratulate the winners. Our thanks
go to the TWSIA organizing committee, the judges, and the Sakai community who
make this award possible."
"For nations around the world, education is critical to future economic
sustainability. Tools like Sakai are new ways of communicating,
collaborating, and exchanging information and help build a smarter classroom
for the future across K-12 schools, higher education, and workforce training
environments. IBM looks forward to our continued involvement with Sakai and
other communities to foster the future of learning," said King.
The panel of judges consisted of Dr. Karen Swan and Dr. Ken Bain,
internationally known educators who were also involved in the 2008
competition. They reviewed the finalists' applications and participated in a
course demonstration and interview via live Web conferences with each
finalist.
The judges were very enthusiastic about the winning courses. Of
particular note was Dr. Crampton's use of Sakai Project Sites which
facilitated a constructivist approach to the teaching and learning process by
allowing each group of students to collaborate on a series of "crime scene
scenarios" in which each student played a particular role (e.g., "first on
scene officer," "scene of crime officer," etc.). Similarly, judges were
impressed with Dr. Sheffer's creative use of the Sakai Wiki tool as a means
for students to develop their own historical characters in the context of
real historical events. In both cases Sakai was a catalyst for a shift away
from passive teacher-centered learning towards a more active student-centered
pedagogical approach to the courses.
"Sakai is a magical tool box for the modern educator," Dr. Crampton said.
"Whether you use one tool or ten, the only barrier to effectively teaching
today's students is your imagination. Further, the Sakai community and TWSIA
break down institutional and geographical boundaries, which enables those
interested in applying sound pedagogy to their courses to collaborate and
share experiences. Where else would you find an educator from a rural
Australian university with kangaroos for traffic hazards sharing the stage
and ideas with academics from universities in the US, UK, South Africa and
elsewhere in the global village? The receipt of this award has been a very
humbling experience and represents not just my efforts but those of the team
that introduced Sakai to Charles Sturt University."
Second place winner Dr. Sheffer shared that "Sakai's exciting technology
platform is truly changing the way we teach. In my class, the Wiki tool
enabled students to individualize, experience, and share history in a way
that would have been unimaginable without it. I am grateful for this
innovative resource and look forward to developing other Sakai projects at
Stanford."
To view the winning applications, and applications from all participants
who indicated that they were willing to share their work, go to the award Web
About Sakai
Sakai is an open-source software project driven by the Sakai Foundation,
a worldwide consortium of institutions, organizations, and individuals
dedicated to providing collaboration, research, and e-portfolio tools. The
Sakai Foundation is a nonprofit organization is dedicated to coordinating
activities around Sakai and the Sakai community to insure Sakai's long-term
CONTACT:
Michael Korcuska
Executive Director, Sakai Foundation
mkorcuska@sakaifoundation.org
mobile: +1 510-599-2586
phone: +1 510-931-6559
skype: mkorcuska
Public Affairs
Marist College
3399 North Road
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
845-575-3174
SOURCE: The Sakai Foundation
CONTACT: Michael Korcuska, Executive Director
Sakai Foundation
mobile: +1-510-599-2586
phone: +1-510-931-6559
skype: mkorcuska
mkorcuska@sakaifoundation.org
or Marist College Public Affairs
+1-845-575-3174
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