Over 70 students and professors met Max, the “Around the World Biker” and learned about open access to quality educational materials from IDF and OpenSAP.
SAP University Alliances, Interaction-Design Foundation (IDF), and Georgia Southern University (GSU) welcomed students and professors to the Share the Knowledge Tour which stopped at GSU in Statesboro, Georgia on May 22, 2013. See the Statesboro Herald video of the tour stop at Georgia Southern.
On May 13, 2013, IDF’s biker, Max Peer, kicked off a four-year around the world bike and canoe journey from SAPPHIRE NOW in Orlando, Florida. In the first six month leg of his journey in North America, Max is visiting universities promoting open access to quality educational materials on interactive design available free through IDF, as well as Massive Open Online Courses featuring SAP HANA available through OpenSAP. His message is that education is the single most powerful way to lift people out of poverty and change lives, and Max is sharing his vision at every stop.
Students and professors cheered Max’s arrival and saw his cutting edge touring technology at GSU’s Recreation Activity Center.
Steve Burrell, Chief Information Officer at GSU, welcomed the audience and thanked Max, IDF, and SAP for making it possible for GSU professors and students to benefit from IDF’s free educational resources on improving technology design.
Dr. Thomas Case, Professor and Chair, Department of Information Systems, College of Business Administration shared that GSU has been a member of SAP University Alliances since 2000, integrating SAP software and hands-on curriculum to improve students’ academic and career outcomes. GSU professors are on the forefront of integrating SAP’s innovation platform into courses, including analytics, enterprise mobility, and SAP HANA offerings. Students “Learn, Apply, and Share” their knowledge, including engaging in co-innovation events such as the Utility of Tomorrow contest.
Kim Huffman of SAP welcomed Max on behalf of SAP, which is sponsoring the tour. “We are incredibly excited by this amazing journey and we applaud Max’s effort to get the word out about the impact access to education can provide to a young person.” Huffman continued “SAP share’s Max’s and IDF’s passion for simplified design to provide a new digital, integrated and delightful consumer experience to our customers and their customers; as well as sustainability co-innovation, and giving back to the community. That’s why we’re partnering to help Max get his message heard across North America.”
The audience heard that SAP engages with university professors and students through the SAP University Alliances program, enabling students to “Learn, Apply, and Share” as they develop skills with SAP Business Suite on SAP HANA, analytics, enterprise mobility, and in-memory computing using the SAP HANA.
Max shared his story about his “Around The World” bike journey. And he shared knowledge about free learning resources available from IDF, including textbooks, videos, and other resources on the topic of improving the design process and customer experience with technology products ranging from software, websites, mobile devices, and consumer products. Max highlighted that IDF’s Professional Association enables students to receive mentoring and share their resumes among members of the IDF community, enhancing their career opportunities. Max also introduced the audience to SAP’s Massive Open Online Courses available free through OpenSAP, starting with the SAP HANA Developer course.
Reporters from two local newspapers as well as the student newspaper interviewed Max.
After Max’s presentation, attendees signed up for membership in IDF and SAP Student Council.
The audience was invited to follow the Share the Knowledge tour online and to continue to support Max by “liking” the videos, photos, and blog posts at the University Alliances Community. And the audience was invited to learn more about Interaction Design Foundation and SAP’s Sponsorship of IDF.
John Baxter, SAP University Alliances, email@example.com
Lee Traupel, IDF Media Relations, firstname.lastname@example.org
SAP University Alliances supports colleges and universities in building the talent needed by SAP and its customers and partners, and channels innovation from universities into the SAP ecosystem. In fulfilling its goal of educating future corporate leaders, SAP University Alliances provides connections between students, customers, partners, and SAP experts. SAP donates licenses to over 1,300 University Alliances member institutions and fully outfits their professors with software and curriculum which provides students with hands-on experience with SAP applications, analytics, mobile, database & technology, cloud, and SAP HANA solutions.
IDF is a ten year old transformative non-profit enterprise focused on educating, informing and stimulating the global technology design community. The organization has created a powerful cloud based publishing model, blending free courses with an immersive web site for thought leaders, students, authors, academia, design professionals, futurists and even tech-challenged consumers.
The Denmark based foundation has self-funded throughout its ten years in existence but is now sponsored by SAP Corporation and partly funded by professionals who become supporting Foundation Members, Corporate Sponsorships and Grants.
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