Pioneering use of technology for distance education earns kudos

By Tom Hutton

The University of Colorado Colorado Springs was recognized for its visionary application of information technology promoting positive social, economic and educational change by the publisher of Computerworld magazine at a June 20 awards ceremony in Washington, D.C.

Jerry Wilson, executive director, Information Technology, accepted an award that recognized UCCS for its use of technology to expand nursing education to southern Colorado. For the fall 2010 semester, the UCCS Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences began offering nursing education courses using CISCO Telepresence to students at Otero Junior College and Lamar Community College. The technology also was used by the College of Engineering and Applied Science to teach robotics courses.

UCCS is believed to be the first university to use CISCO Telepresence to offer for-credit college courses.

Wilson attended the Computerworld Annual Laureates Medal Ceremony and Gala Awards June 20 at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C. A complete list of winners and background on the award is available at http://marketing.computerworld.com/Honors_%202011_%20PRE-Event_%20Press_%20Release_final.pdf.

Since 1988, the Computerworld Honors Program has recognized those who use information technology to benefit society. Computerworld is the leading source of technology news and information for the information technology industry. It is published by IDG Enterprise, a subsidiary of International Data Group.

To download a video demonstration of the technology used by UCCS and its impact on rural Colorado students, visit http://www.strangemedia.com/Cisco/Smart+Connected/Colorado/ and click on the "Colorado Master" file.