Previous XCaliber Award Recipients
2009 XCaliber Lifetime Achievement
Robert Siegle
Developed English 4424: Digital Literacy Culture as an innovative course that extends traditional literary analysis by viewing literature in the digital age as anything (video mashups, hypertext, virtual performance art, etc.) that can be created and distributed digitally.
2009 XCaliber Award
Sara Kajder
By developing technological skills within students, such as those needed to create podcasts, vodcasts, and blogs, students emerge as authors of content and practitioners extending outside of the traditional classroom.
2009 XCaliber Team Award
David Clark, II, Nathan King, Matthew Lutz, Taranjit Kaur, Jatinder, Singh
Assisted students within the School of Architecture and Design to collaboratively devise and fabricate the Portable Laboratory on Uncommon Grounds (P.L.U.G.) prototype through the use of computer-aided manufacturing based upon real-life specifications provided by faculty and students in the College of Veterinary Medicine.
2008 XCaliber Individual Award
Tom Walker, College of Engineering,
Uses Dyknow software on convertible PCs, creating an effective learning environment with pedagogy appropriate for first-year engineering education courses
2008 Lifetime Achievement Award
James Sochinski, Music Department,
integrates advanced theory, analysis and literature into a non-chronological, analysis and styles-based program, technology is used extensively to enhance both the traditional lectures as well as laboratory components where self-paced and interactive learning occur
2007 XCaliber Team Award
Jan Helge Bøhn, Reiner Anderl, Lewis Thigpen, Pedro Orta Castañón, and Lin Zhongqin
Use high speed, high resolution video conferencing systems, modern CAD workstations, and state-of-the-art software in a course where student teams of multinational groups meet in real time to work on their projects. This requires adjustment to real-world factors such as multiple time zones, different languages and cultures, and not only advances the understanding of critical concepts in mechanical engineering but also facilitates multicultural understanding and appreciation.
2007 XCaliber Team Award
Thomas Ewing, Mark Barrow, Jr., Hayward Farrar, Kathleen Jones, Marian Mollin, Amy Nelson, Robert Stephens, Daniel Thorp, David Hicks, C.Edward Watson, and Jane Lehr
Created the Digital History Reader (DHR), which provides modules for teaching United States and European history using an inquiry-based learning model. Each module is based around a question that can be answered with the body of primary sources provided.
2006 XCaliber Individual Award
Stephen Edwards, Computer Science,
Developed the web-based Center for Automated Testing, or Web-CAT, which was designed to evaluate student programming by encouraging students to reflect on their work and demonstrate program correctness by writing and running test cases. Web-CAT then grades students on how well they test their programs.
2006 XCaliber Team Award
Scott Hendricks, Glenn Kraige, and Don Morris, Engineering Science and Mechanics,
Developed unified lecture software to supplement service courses taught by ESM to help nearly 3000 students per year visualize and understand key concepts. The software included 1500 pages of material featuring animation and interactive exercises.
2005 XCaliber Individual Award
Joseph Tront, Electrical and Computer Engineering,
Utilized tablet-PCs in an innovative approach to classroom instruction, featuring a highly interactive learning environment using the tablets' ability to draw diagrams, write notes, wirelessly submit class exercises, and project results on a classroom screen for immediate feedback from professor and peers.
2004 XCaliber Individual Award
Ketan Trivedi and Herve Marand, Chemistry,
Developed the Chemistry DVD, which provided a fully guided, self-paced learning environment, with three-dimensional animations and videos of chemical experiments, allowing students to experience a hands-on learning environment through technology.
2004 XCaliber Team Award
Sheryl Ball, Catherine Eckel, Economics, and Scott Midkiff, Electrical and Computer Engineering,
Developed the Wireless Interactive Teaching System (WITS), utilizing hand-held devices in a large classroom to implement the "double-action market" experiment. Students set up a market in the classroom, with hands-on exercises as either buyers or sellers, to encourage a better understanding of true market experiences.
2003 XCaliber Individual Award
Lawrence Grossman, Geography,
Developed tutorials for an on-line social-science research course which taught students how to use software for research, develop their analytical abilities, increase their research and communication skills, and better understand the complexities of the research process. He also developed an on-line workshop for agricultural scientists in Uganda to enhance their agricultural research through independent learning of GIS technologies.
2003 XCaliber Team Award
Gary Downey, Mark Harden, Jeff Dalton, Bryan Hey, Lance Huff, Doug Whorley, Brent Jesiek, Thomas Bigley, Chris Hays, Jonson Miller, Jane Lehr, Donna Whitmarsh, Heather Harris, Theresa Jurotich, Amy Nichols-Belo and Wyatt Galusky
"The Multimedia Technology Team", used multimedia CD's, streamed audio and video, and web-based course management to examine how engineering knowledge has varied over time and place in order to help engineering students learn to work with people who use different approaches to problem solving.
2003 XCaliber Team Award
Robert Schubert, Michael Ellis, Robert Dunay, James Jones, Michael O'Brien, Matt Lutz, Mehdi Setareh and Clive Vorster
Led the Solar Decathlon Team of 120 students in an interdisciplinary project requiring use of the latest technology to solve complex problems to build a grid-independent solar house. Competing with 13 other schools in the Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon design competition, their entry was exhibited at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. and took fifth place in the competition.
2002 XCaliber Individual Award
Timothy W. Luke, Political Science,
Launched the on-line master of arts degree in political science, the first program of its kind in the nation.
2002 XCaliber Team Award
Holly S. Bender, Eric M. Mills, Jared A. Danielson, and Pamela J. Vermeer, in the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine's Department of Biomedical Sciences,
Developed an innovative instructional-software program, the Problem List Generator (PLG), which challenges students to develop deductive reasoning and higher-order thinking skills as they make diagnostic assessments, allowing students to simultaneously compare their problem-solving approaches to those used by experts.
2001 XCaliber Team Award
John Seiler, Jeffrey Kirwan, John Peterson, College of Natural Resources,
significantly improved student identification skills by developing an interactive multimedia CD tutorial for the identification of woody plants and trees. They also created the web-based FORSite Education Program, which provides large amounts of information and interactive exercises on trees and forests.
2000 XCaliber Individual Award
Arthur L. Buikema Jr, Biology,
Used web-based technology to broaden and extend his students' learning experiences, focusing on active learning, interactive communication, more self-direct, self-paced learning, computer literacy integrated with content, electronic access to course material and supplemental resources, and electronic access to course information, announcements, and news. He developed modules containing more than 2,000 pages that encourage students to build bridges between facts, instead of having the professor do it for them.
2000 XCaliber Team Award
Barbara B. Lockee, Gregory P. Sherman, Katherine S. Cennamo, Glen A. Holmes, D. Michael Moore, Kenneth R. Potter, Department of Teaching and Learning,
developed ITMA, A distance delivered Instructional Technology Masters Program for practicing educators, a model of how the internet can be used as a teaching tool by responding to student's individual learning needs and focusing on active learning, interactive communication, self-paced learning and computer literacy.
1999 XCaliber Individual Award
Dwight Barnette, Computer Science,
Created "Introduction to the Internet", the first completely web-based course at Virginia Tech, and subsequently developed two other courses, all of which included online testing, homework assignments, short quizzes and interactive video tutorials to diversify and enrich the courses.
1999 XCaliber Team Award
Math Emporium
Transformed the introductory math program at Virginia Tech, becoming an important part of several math courses involving thousands of students in less than two years. The learning center includes 500 work stations and additional specialized spaces and equipment in an environment that allows a variety of learning styles, offering faculty and students’ opportunities to explore better ways to blend technology and personal interaction in their courses.
1999 XCaliber Team Award
Stephen E. Scheckler, C. David Taylor, and Stewart A. Hill
Produced a comprehensive set of 15 integrated courseware tutorials called Plant Biology Tutor, which was designed to enhance students' understanding of basic plant biology relationships in a hands-on laboratory setting using multimedia technology.
1998 XCaliber Individual Award
Valerie G. Hardcastle, Philosophy,
Used an innovative course web site, chat rooms, and virtual classroom concepts in her philosophy course, Knowledge and Reality.
1998 XCaliber Lifetime Achievement Award
Virgil A. Cook, English,
Has been a pioneer at Virginia Tech in integrating technology into the classroom.