LETTERPRESS SOFTWARE, INC. IS RECIPIENT OF INNOVATION AWARD

LOGAN, UTAH — LetterPress Software received the "Innovation" award at the first annual Utah State University Innovation Campus Workplace and Innovation Awards Program dinner held October 17, 2003.

There are over 1900 employees and 43 corporations that are technology business partners of Utah State University associated with the USU Innovation Campus located in North Logan, Utah. Included are Convergys, Information Alliance, the renowned Space Dynamics Laboratory, and other major corporations. USU invited companies to apply for their first annual Workplace and Innovation Awards Program. The USU Innovation Campus governing board along with other university and community representatives reviewed the applications of all companies that applied for the awards. One company award was given in the categories of innovation, team environment, community service, and growth. The award for innovation was given to LetterPress Software, Inc.

Innovation Highlights
LetterPress Software, Inc. has been involved with ongoing research to discover new scientific principles of instruction that it then shares back with the University's faculty and students by teaching courses, making presentations, and mentoring students.

An example of research conducted by LetterPress Software is the company's invention of a reusable instructional simulations tool based on a new strategy for teaching behavioral skills. This tool is currently being used by LetterPress to develop its PEGS (Practice in Effective Guidance Strategies) product series funded in part by the State of Georgia Department of Education. The PEGS programs train teachers, and soon parents, in how to appropriately respond to disruptive child behaviors. Empirical studies carried out by the University of Georgia into the effectiveness of the program's instructional strategies have found up to a 60 percent decrease in disruptive student behavior in the classrooms of teachers who have used the products. The preschool version of these programs recently was a recipient of an Excellence in E-Learning Silver award.

Another innovate training program just completed by LetterPress Software using scientific principles of instruction that has proven effective is Food Safety 101 funded by the State of Utah Department of Agriculture. This program trains grocery store employees in safe food handling behaviors. State of Utah food safety inspectors in a study conducted by the Food Safety Institute, also part of the Innovation Campus, has found decreases of up to 70 percent in food safety violations in grocery stores using the program.

One final example of some of the innovative instructional design research taking place at LetterPress Software is the development of a model for technology support of inquiry-based classroom instruction. This instructional model offers a new way for classroom teachers to engage students in group instruction supported by technology. It permits teachers to deliver dramatic, thematic presentations of content that are supported with rich arrays of hyperlinked multimedia resources. Discussion and research questions embedded into the presentations activate classroom discussion. Accompanying interactive technology-based simulations or decision making games stimulate students' critical thinking skills and carefully designed off-line activities extend students' interaction with the content beyond the delivery technology. Several of these inquiry-based e-learning programs have been built with the assistance of historians, and with funding from the United States Department of Education for teaching United States history. These programs are currently being used by teachers in school districts in various parts of the country. More programs are under development

LetterPress Software, Inc. embraces the Utah State University Innovation Campus concept as a means of transferring university research into real world commercial applications while returning back to the university community new scientific knowledge gained from the lessons learned in practice.