Echo360 Awards Six Research Grants to Study the Impact of Technology in Higher Education

DULLES, VA--(Marketwire - Dec 19, 2012) -    Echo360, global leader in campus-wide active learning and lecture capture solutions, today announced the recipients of its annual research grant program. As the only research effort of its kind to explore the impact of active learning technology on today's academic setting, Echo360 expanded this year's program to include six, $10,000 grants. The research grants program has now committed more than $200,000 in research grants and has collected groundbreaking findings from institutions across the globe to vastly improve the global body of knowledge around the influence of active learning technologies.

Submissions were accepted from any of Echo360's 500 worldwide clients and encompassed a wide range of front-page topics. Proposals explored active learning technology's impact on timely trends including Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and the 'Flipped Classroom' model to traditional areas such as distance learning, retention and learning outcomes. 

Ultimately, six proposals were selected to receive the $10,000 grants:

• Georgetown University (United States) - Developing Instructor Best Practices
• The University of Texas at Austin (United States) - Distance Learning
• University of Nevada Reno (United States) - Active Learning
• Curtin University (Australia) - Distance Learning

In addition to the four recipients above, the expansion introduced two new categories including the inaugural Newcomer's and Community grants.

The Newcomer's Grant Award is designated for an institution who has implemented Echo360 for two or less years. University of Canterbury (New Zealand) was selected as the first recipient of the Newcomer's Award for their proposal to examine the challenges facing instructor adoption.

The recipient of the program's first Community Grant is University of Tennessee at Martin. Chosen by popular vote via Facebook, UT Martin's project will examine the role of Echo360's platform in improving student learning outcomes via the 'Flipped Classroom' method as well as larger issues of recruitment, retention and academic achievement.

While the initial five awards were chosen by a judges panel comprised of distinguished educational experts, the Community Grant recipient was based on results of a three-week voting campaign. Instructors, researchers, academic technologists and other members of the blended learning technology community were encouraged to cast online votes for four proposals addressing various research topics.

"As part of our mission to support educators, we are thrilled to be able to expand Echo360's Grants Program and look forward to sharing the insights from these innovative projects," said Fred Singer, CEO of Echo360. "These valuable insights will better enable us to advance active learning by delivering next-generation products that help improve student learning outcomes and assist universities with new teaching methods."

For more information on the grants program and to read the winning proposals, visit http://echo360.com/2012-blended-learning-grants-recipients.

About Echo360
More than one million students in 6,000 classrooms in 500 institutions, across 30 countries rely on Echo360 technology to enhance their educational experience. Echo360 plugs in the classroom, supporting interactive teaching and learning with digital clicking, polling and real-time questions, as well as capturing professor lectures, presentations, whiteboards and videos. With Echo360, students engage with their peers and professors using social collaboration, and review all course materials online, at their convenience on smartphones, tablets and laptops. Dashboards allow professors to monitor student engagement and assess learning with daily reports. The company has been recognized with a Product Line Strategy of the Year Award from Frost & Sullivan, is CSIA-certified for outstanding customer service, and was named a Visionary Vendor in Educational Technology by IT research firm Basex. Echo360 is backed by Revolution Growth led by Steve Case, Ted Leonsis and Donn Davis.