A new enterprise license agreement between IU and Top Hat, a cloud-based teaching platform used by the University, will mean students on all eight campuses in the IU system will have access to Top Hat's educational tools at no additional cost.
The expanded partnership was announced in an article in the "IT News & Events" section of the IU website.
Per the article, the new agreement is designed to "increase engagement and support learning via interactive tools and content accessed via students’ personal devices."
In 2017, Top Hat Classroom was selected by IU as the University's preferred student engagement platform, replacing small, handheld response systems that were frequently called clickers.
With Top Hat, students are able to use their own personal devices to deliver real-time feedback to professors. Last year, IU students spent $665,000 on licenses to use Top Hat programs.
Following the agreement, all IU students on all IU campuses will have access to Top Hat Classroom.
Additionally, students will have access to Top Hat Textbook, Top Hat Attention and Attendance, as well as Top Hat Assignment. These tools will be piloted starting in fall 2018, per the IU article.
"The decision to partner with Top Hat really boils down to its innovative, user-friendly design and our commitment to providing best-in-class tools for student learning," said Matt Gunkel, director of teaching and learning technologies at University Information Technology Services. "If we can do that at no cost to our students, all the better."
Cameron Drummond
