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Montana State University Opens Tech-Rich Interactive Learning Rooms

(TNS) — When a student incorrectly answers a problem posed in a Technology Enhanced Interactive Learning (TEIL) room, everyone knows.

That's been the experience of Montana State University Billings College of Business student Bryan Kern.

Still, as Kern put it, that's part of an educational experience -- learning from mistakes when the stakes are low.

MSUB students will have plenty more opportunities for problem-solving going forward, after the university rolled out its second TEIL classroom at the beginning of the fall semester and then dedicated it Wednesday night with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and brief demonstration.

The room will be called the Western Security Bank TEIL Room, in honor of what MSUB Chancellor Mark Nook described as a "significant contribution" from the bank toward the project's funding.

"It takes a community partnership to make something like this happen," Nook said. "To know what is needed in the community, to know what we need to be training students to do, teaching students to do."

"We get a big share of our talent out of a school like this," Western Security Bank President Mike Seppala said. Seppala said the opportunity for students to learn in a TEIL classroom is "a benefit not only to us but to every other business in town."

The classroom is designed to facilitate interactive group learning. Each of the six working stations are equipped with Cisco SX20 and WebEx integration, allowing for the easy inclusion of guest speakers by video, as well as the ability for students to interact with their peers inside and outside the classroom, said MSUB director of e-learning Susan Balter-Reitz.

Connecting devices, whether they be laptops, tablets or phones, is easy, allowing students and professors to share documents, presentations and more, she said.

"The technology becomes invisible in some ways because it's just a tool to solve a problem," Balter-Reitz said. "All these tools work together to help students figure out a solution to problems."

MSUB College of Business professor Salem Boumediene said in a traditional educational setting some students "don't want to stand in front of the whole class," and present. In a TEIL classroom, "it's just push a button, then it's shared for everyone."

MSUB College of Business Dean Barbara Wheeling said that with TEIL classrooms students tend to arrive early, stay late and are more engaged.

"The business world is changing so fast, and technology is a big driver of that change," Wheeling said.

©2016 the Billings Gazette (Billings, Mont.), distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.