SUNY Awards Buffalo State Four Innovative Instruction Technology Grants

Albany – Four Buffalo State projects were selected for SUNY’s 2012 Innovative Instruction Technology Grants (IITG) program, which funds campus innovations and initiatives that have the potential to be replicated throughout the SUNY system and benefit students and faculty worldwide.

IITG is a competitive grants program open to SUNY faculty and support staff across all disciplines. IITG encourages the development of innovations that meet The Power of SUNY’s transformative vision. Grant recipients will openly share project outcomes, enabling SUNY colleagues to replicate and build upon the innovation.

Of the 117 proposals submitted, 48 were selectedto receive awards across three funding tiers. These awards will foster the study and development of educational gaming tools, e-textbooks, online classes, e-portfolios for lifelong learning, and more.

The Buffalo State grant recipients are

•  Beth Burns, instructional designer, Instructional Resources, for Learner eXperience Designers (LXD) Exploring the Feasibility of Badging
• John Cabra, associate professor, Center for Studies in Creativity, forDeveloping an Informed Community of People Who Are Interested in Advancing 3-D Virtual World Instruction
• Melissa Miszkiewicz, director, Academic Computing, for Development and Validation of SUNY Prep: Learner Preparedness Survey
• Alexander Nazarenko, associate professor, Chemistry, for Design and Testing of Laboratory Instruction Management System (LIMS)

“This new competitive grants program will enable partnerships across SUNY to leverage technology as a means to educate students,” said SUNY chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher. “It serves as an excellent example of the power of SUNY to realize efficiencies through the sharing of resources and instructional partnerships within our system.”

SUNY executive vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost David K. Lavallee, who administers the program, said, “The IITG program puts SUNY in a position to support specific projects on our campuses that have the potential to be implemented elsewhere in the system, to the greater benefit of our faculty, staff, and students across New York. Congratulations to all of this year’s awardees.”