As part of Michigan State University’s Empower Extraordinary campaign, the College of Arts and Letters has received an in-kind gift valued at more than $100,000 from CAL alumnus Peter Stougaard, a former studio executive for DreamWorks and 20th Century Fox.
The gift is in the form of 4,000 software licenses for an Apple app Stougaard developed called PopBoardz, whereby users can create, organize and present ideas in the form of video, images, websites or any file type all on one screen. Stougaard, now an entrepreneur, is providing the licenses to the College of Arts and Letters to use in its classrooms as a tool to help students collaborate and present effectively.
“Throughout the past few years, I’ve been working with CAL to find ways to bring real-world experiences to students who want to pursue their creative passions for a living,” Stougaard said. “That being said, I felt that providing the value of PopBoardz to faculty and students would enhance the thought process to help solve creative challenges.”
Unlike PowerPoint slides, which limit presenters to telling stories in only one way, PopBoardz is a flexible tool that is untethered to the Internet and designed for more interactive and open-ended presentations.
“I decided to use it in hopes it would be a single solution to my current situation, in which I am using multiple programs and apps to share content with my students,” said Daniel Trego, coordinator of technology-enhanced instruction. “The biggest impact that I see PopBoardz having on students is encouraging them to be active learners. Because students and instructors can both create and interact with different boards or screens, it may well be the perfect tool to help motivate students and facilitate access to learning.”
In 2013, the Creativity Exploratory, an idea incubator located in Linton Hall on the MSU campus, was offered a test of the first version of PopBoardz. Students used the application as part of their brainstorming sessions and presentations to rousing success.
“This is such an exciting new tool — I can hardly wait to use it in my own classes,” said Elizabeth Simmons, acting dean at the College of Arts and Letters. “There are times when one needs to move rapidly between images and video from multiple sources in order to keep the ideas flowing in a class discussion, and PopBoardz’ capabilities could make all the difference.”