Crestron Honors Ohio State University Professor with Summum Bonum Award for Excellence in Teaching

Mar 26, 2014

Professor of Mathematics receives esteemed teaching award

Crestron awarded Professor Jim Fowler of Ohio State University® with the Summum Bonum Award for Excellence in Teaching during a special awards ceremony at the school’s annual Innovate Conference. The award recognizes the crucial mentoring role that teachers play in the academic and personal development of students. Crestron Marketing Director Jeff Singer presented Dr. Fowler with a commemorative plaque and cash prize during the blue ribbon event, recognizing his long-term commitment to his students, education, and technology. More than 100 faculty and students attended the ceremony.

Dr. Fowler is renowned for his passionate and inventive approach to teaching mathematics, in particular Calculus, which provides the foundation for a number of higher-disciplinary skills.

In 2013, he created an open online course called Calculus One which included over 200 short videos of himself explaining the core concepts of Calculus using diagrams, drawings, performance, and play dough. The response to Calculus One by both students and faculty has been enormously positive. Since launching last June, Calculus One has become the number one course in the world on iTunes U® with over 150,000 downloads and 186,000 streams.

“We applaud Dr. Fowler for his contributions to Ohio State University and his students,” said Crestron President and CEO and Summum Bonum Award Committee Chairman, Randy Klein. “Jim has invested his career in transforming teaching and learning through technology to better engage and teach students the critical skills for college and life success. We applaud him for his dedication to advancing education through technology.”

Crestron, a global leader in communication and control technologies, is committed to innovation through education and created the award to celebrate passionate educators. Latin for “highest good,” Summum Bonum is an expression used in philosophy to describe the ideal we should all strive for: to provide the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.

Crestron congratulates Dr. Fowler on this distinguished award and wishes him continued success in his truly outstanding career.

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