Jackson State University News November 3, 2014 Apple awards campus ‘Distinguished School’ designation “This an exciting venture for us and an opportunity,” said JSU President Dr. Carolyn W. Meyers about the university being named an Apple Distinguished School for 2013-15. “Through incorporation of technology into the curriculum, Jackson State University is transforming its learning environment to empower innovative teaching while fostering student creativity,” Meyers said. The Apple Distinguished School designation is reserved for programs that meet criteria for innovation, leadership, and educational excellence, and demonstrate Apple’s vision of exemplary learning environments. The designation was awarded to Meyers at a special presentation luncheon Monday at the Student Center. Apple officials toured the campus earlier, viewing JSU’s use of Internet technology. At the INNOVATE center at the H.T. Sampson Library, Apple Distinguished Professor Dr. Robert Blaine, special assistant to the provost for cyberlearning, outlined JSU’s efforts to bring teaching into the 21st century. “We were really in the 19th century,” Blaine said, with traditional books in the library. The first step was to ask “What is the role of the institution where information is ubiquitous?” University planners came up the idea of a Democratization of Cyberlearning, creating a private funding mechanism for providing iPad tablets to students in partnership with the Mississippi eCenter@JSU. As a result of that, in the fall of 2012, JSU started its CyberLearning Strategy with the Technology Advantage Scholarship Initiative providing all first-time, full-time freshman entering JSU with iPad tablets. The next step was to expand JSU’s wireless capability so that any student anywhere on campus could quickly and efficiently connect with — and download from — the Internet. JSU expanded wireless “to teaching spaces, living spaces and green spaces,” Blaine said. To go along with these innovations, the school “recreated the curriculum for a 21st century learning community,” Blaine said, and made the nexus of these collaborations the new and expanded library as an INNOVATE center. As innovations are unrolled, the results are lower textbook costs and better information distribution, Blaine said. Once fully implemented, textbook costs for students will be reduced by more than 90 percent through the development of new course materials, he said. Traditional published texts, with an average cost of $200, will be replaced with digital content published by JSU, which will be sold to students for $9.99 — which also will bring in revenue to the university. Some 70 percent of the revenue will return to the colleges through sales on the iBookstore. Following Blaine’s talk, the Apple officials toured a classroom where students were using iPads in their coursework. The selection of JSU as an Apple Distinguished School highlights JSU’s success as an innovative and compelling learning environment that engages students and provides tangible evidence of academic accomplishment. Last year, JSU hosted its first Democratization of CyberLearning Summit at the e-Center@JSU. This summit focused on the implications of a technology-infused curriculum, which the university is pioneering with its INNOVATE component of the H.T. Sampson Library and its emphasis us digital technology. For more about the Apple Distinguished School program, see: https://www.apple.com/education/apple-distinguished-schools/ SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-702-5854 Skype: sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree NW Suite 200 Atlanta,GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (LYRASIS) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.