Students at Flathead Valley Community College are getting to see Google’s latest cutting-edge technology.
Thanks to a grant from the FVCC Foundation, the college has purchased a pair of Google Glasses, a hands-free wearable device that looks like glasses but allows users to access computer applications, record video, take pictures and stream live footage.
“With Google Glass, our students will be able to watch and record a first person view of the skills they are practicing in the lab, so that they can critique and improve their performance before they go into the real clinical setting,” said Rob Blackston, surgical technology program director at FVCC.
Surgical technology students will be using the Google Glass device but Blackston hopes to share the outcomes of this project with other health science programs at FVCC and other colleges.
The Foundation at Flathead Valley Community College awarded $27,000 to FVCC faculty and staff in November for innovative projects that shift learning experiences for students. The Foundation also awarded student travel grants that enable students to compete or present at national and regional conferences.
Now in its 10th year, the Foundation’s Enhancement Grant program has provided seed money for successful programs including The Culinary Institute of Montana’s Chef’s Table program and The Scholars program at FVCC. It continues to provide resources for new and entrepreneurial initiatives through proceeds from Festival of Flavors fundraising events. All the grants are made possible by the generosity of the businesses and individuals who support Foundation events and make donations to programs.
Grant funding is also supporting the inaugural BioBlitz, a six-hour event for FVCC and Glacier High School focused on biology and natural resource students who want to study birds, trees and invertebrates using DNA barcoding kits. The event is April 18.