iclicker's Student Response System Adopted by California State University, Long Beach

NEW YORK, NY, May 27 (MARKET WIRE) --
With 38,000 students on this large, decentralized campus, California
State University, Long Beach's faculty were looking for a student
response system that was pedagogically sound, flexible, reliable and easy
to use. Starting this fall, the University will roll out iclicker's
plug-and-play solution as its centrally supported system. Today, iclicker
is one of the most widely used response systems, and the fastest growing
system in California higher education.

Clickers were already popular at Cal State Long Beach and the student
senate voted unanimously for clickers to be incorporated into instruction,
mostly because they liked the instant feedback. The goal was to find a
response system that was easy to use and built for educators so the
lecture could be a place for collaborative learning and peer instruction
-- not for fiddling with new technology.

"Simplicity and reliability were central to our faculty's decision to
standardize with iclicker," said Leslie Kennedy, director, instructional
technology support services, California State University, Long Beach. "We
all liked that iclicker's response system was about minimizing the
technology and keeping students focused instead on the course material."

The initial demand for clicker standardization came from students who
found themselves required to buy multiple devices. Associated Students,
Inc. (ASI) met with Paul Boyd-Batstone, chair of the Faculty Advisory
Committee on Technology (FACT), asking for help. Dr. Boyd-Batstone
drafted an Academic Senate resolution after attending clicker
demonstrations, surveying faculty and researching how other universities
standardized. Cost, reliability, ease-of-use, and accessibility were
primary selection criteria.

"It is hard enough to keep students engaged in a lecture without having to
worry about technology issues," said Tim Stelzer, iclicker co-founder and
inventor. "Our mission is to create products with superior reliability and
ease-of-use that engage students and help them play an active role in
their own learning. iclicker is not about the technology. It is all about
peer instruction and the qualitative shift in the lecture that clickers
can help facilitate."

About iclicker:

iclicker is one of the most widely used classroom response systems in
higher education, adopted at more than 700 educational institutions in
North America and used by almost 1 million students. Invented in 2003 by
four University of Illinois professors, iclicker's current design was made
available for adoption in 2006 and continues to be recognized for its
superior reliability, intuitive software, and focus on formative
assessment and pedagogy. Together with a team of faculty advisors and
reviewers, Inventors Tim Stelzer and Mats Selen continue to play lead
roles in product development -- with a focus on ease-of-use and
pedagogical research. iclicker is a division of Macmillan, a global
publishing company with a long history in education. For more
information, visit www.iclicker.com.

About Macmillan:

Macmillan is a global publisher of books, magazines, textbooks, scientific
information, and digital content and services. In the US, the group
includes Farrar, Straus & Giroux; Henry Holt; St. Martin's Press; Tor
Books; Picador; Macmillan Audio; Bedford St. Martin's; W.H. Freeman; Worth
Publishers; i < clicker; and Scientific American Magazine. Macmillan is a
subsidiary of Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, GMbH, a global media
company based in Stuttgart, Germany. For more information, visit
www.macmillan.com.

About California State University, Long Beach:

California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a large, comprehensive
urban university in the California State University (CSU) system. Its
nearly 38,000 students make it the largest campus among the CSU system's
23 campuses and the second largest in the state of California. CSULB's
students are served by more than 975 full-time and 1,425 part-time faculty
members. The university's eight academic colleges (College of Health and
Human Services, College of Liberal Arts, College of Business
Administration, College of Education, College of Engineering, College of
the Arts, College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics and College of
Continuing and Professional Education) currently offer 84 baccalaureate
degrees, 66 master's degrees and two doctoral degrees. Since 1950, CSULB
has awarded 245,000 undergraduate and graduate degrees. In addition to its
academic reputation, CSULB is known for its lush, garden-like campus
spreading over 320 acres just three miles from the Pacific Ocean.
Physically, the campus encompasses a total of 323 acres that include 84
permanent buildings, 149 acres of landscaping and more than 100 acres of
parking and parking facilities.

Media Contact:
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Mann Cronin PR
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