IU’s Dr. Kylie Peppler wins Tech Educator of the Year Mira Award
Dr. Kylie Peppler, an Associate Professor of Learning Sciences in the School of Education at Indiana University — Bloomington, received the Tech Educator of the Year award during TechPoint’s 17th annual Mira Awards honoring the best of tech in Indiana.
Dr. Peppler is incorporating artistic creativity into STEM fields immersion. Peppler has worked to understand the connection between arts and technology in learning and her work is essential in attracting children, especially girls, into STEM fields. Her research with e-textiles helped engage girls in technology and led her to develop Lilypond, an online community for e-textile designers to connect creators.
The Mira Awards judges have great admiration for Peppler’s passion for volunteering in the STEM community. Through her advocacy in the Maker Movement, she has created wearable computers and electronically enhanced puppets to educate children in grades K-3 about biological systems through simulation. Peppler also leads the Make-to-Learn initiative of the MacArthur Foundation which combines digital and technological research, practices, and education into DIY projects to place design at the core of education. The judges recognize her achievements in designing new educational pathways for tech learning that break from traditional models, but are still soundly based on proven methods and years of research and development.
TechPoint, the growth initiative for Indiana’s tech ecosystem, honored Indiana’s best companies, entrepreneurs, educators, and other leaders for their technology excellence and innovation at The Westin in downtown Indianapolis during the 17th annual Mira Awards gala presented by Angie’s List, Interactive Intelligence, and Salesforce.
A total of 17 award winners and seven runners-up were chosen from the 98 outstanding companies, organizations, and individuals who were selected as nominees this year out of the 168 applications received highlighting achievements during the 2015 calendar year.
Forty independent, volunteer judges spent more than 700 total hours reviewing and ranking applications, interviewing nominees, and selecting this year’s winners. Judges included company founders, CEOs and presidents; CTOs, CIOs and software developers; professors and chancellors from Indiana universities; design, human resources and sales professionals, and a variety of other subject matter experts.
Browse photos from the event in TechPoint’s Facebook albums and watch videos on TechPoint’s YouTube channel.
The Mira Awards — named after a variable star thousands of times brighter than the Earth’s sun — represent the best of tech in Indiana each year.
