TechSmith Michigan Grant Program Sends $2.3 Million in Software to 339 Michigan Schools

Back in February, TechSmith announced that we would give away $2 million in software to Michigan schools as part of a new grant program. After just a few months, Michigan educators have outdone themselves with their applications and we're pleased to announce the results.

339 Michigan schools.
$2.3 million in TechSmith software.
30,000 licenses of Snagit, Camtasia Studio and Camtasia for Mac.

Wow!

Even our president, Bill Hamilton, is impressed.

"The tremendous response we've received is really heartening. Despite Michigan schools' budget challenges, the grant proposals displayed an open and creative approach to exploring new technologies," Hamilton said. "We are excited to support teachers and students right here in Michigan, where TechSmith was founded and operates its global software business."

Click on the map below to visit an interactive map where you can see each school that has been awarded a grant. Want more information about a school's grant? Please contact Natalie Ebig Scott in our public relations department - n.scott@techsmith.com.

Here are two cool examples of ways grant recipients will be putting the software to use...

Michigan Center High School: Flipping Classrooms

Michigan Center Public Schools superintendent David Tebo said his district's grant licenses of Camtasia Studio and Camtasia for Mac software will be used to advance their innovative learning environment by "reverse engineering" the traditional lecture, note-taking, homework process. Teachers will use Camtasia software to turn their lectures into online videos that students can then download, view and review on mobile devices, or their home computers. Michigan Center High School chemistry teacher Daniel Spencer utilizes this teaching methodology.

"After seeing the positive responses from Dan's (Spencer) students, we formed a team of educators at Michigan Center High School who want to use video podcasting in their classrooms too," Tebo said. "The Camtasia software will allow our teachers to create professional video podcasts of their lectures and make them available to students at all times. Teachers will be able to spend valuable class time on individual instruction and learning. It's a paradigm shift we're excited to be a part of."

Michigan Virtual University: Total Lecture Capture

Michigan Virtual University (MVU) plans to deploy Camtasia Relay, the TechSmith lecture capture solution, to deliver content to their network of more than 560 local and intermediate school districts and nonpublic schools with more than 70,000 online course enrollments. President and CEO Jamey Fitzpatrick said the software will help demonstrate how MVU is applying innovative teaching and learning strategies in its online courses.

"We believe Camtasia Relay will help our instructors further increase their presence in the online classroom, allowing them to create short, just-in-time, screen recordings meant to provide commentary, feedback and guidance to students as a group or individually," Fitzpatrick said. "Challenging assignments, student performance and general announcements can be delivered quickly and easily, helping the students, parents, teachers and school staff who use our resources."

We'll be looking forward to sharing more of these stories in the weeks and months to come. Thanks to all of the applicants! We can't wait to see how you help your students with the latest and greatest from TechSmith.