Ken Ingle, chief information officer at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, was recently named one of the Top 30 Technologists, Transformers and Trailblazers in Education by the Center for Digital Education. It’s an award which aims to honor pioneers in education technology and showcase the accomplishments and best practices of award winners.

“This award is really about the amazing work our Information Technology Services team has done to provide incredible technology services to our students, faculty and staff,” said Ingle. “Student success is our number one priority. Everything that we do as an IT division should strive to help students succeed through the use of technology, and this award is evidence of the college’s commitment to high-quality, modern education.”

Ingle and his team realize that technology is constantly evolving and strive to stay cutting edge, at the same time maintaining a balance of ease and convenience.

“In some cases technology should be simplified so that it is out of the way, allowing our faculty to focus on instruction and students to focus on learning. In other cases, technology involves releasing new tools like mobile applications, smarter technology classrooms, new education software, virtual reality experiences or other modern innovations to enhance the learning process,” said Ingle.

In keeping with these views, the ITS team has many projects on the horizon including working with Google to create a virtual reality experience for the college, enhancing smart classrooms, providing low cost laptops and tablets to students so they have access to technology beyond campus and much more.