Four students watch video of Dick Cheney sitting in an airplane, gazing out a window. "He's thinking about today's tough issues," a voiceover announces.

A Bush-Cheney campaign commercial? Sort of. The minute-long video film, made by communication studies majors in the College studying the art of political persuasion, is an example of how technology is transforming student learning across campus. While the students' films are driven by technology, surprisingly, many of Tim Groeling's students have no filmmaking experience at all.

"It's a case of learning by doing," said Groeling, assistant professor of speech and communication studies, who is overseeing the production of political campaign films as part of the students' assignments. "You couldn't do this 10 years ago, or even five years ago."

Such technological innovations that enrich education are revolutionizing teaching in many different disciplines, thanks to faculty like Groeling, one of four instructors who have won the 2004 Brian P. Copenhaver Award for Innovation in Teaching with Technology awarded by the UCLA College. This year's recipients also include Russell Poldrack and Stephen Engel of psychology and Kimberly Jansma of French and Francophone studies.

Poldrack, an assistant professor, shares the award with Engel, an associate professor, for designing and implementing research experiments using functional MRI to measure brain activity.

"Our students end up learning more than they would have otherwise," said Engel. "An analogy would be when radio telescopes provided a wholly different way of seeing the universe."

Jansma's quest to use technology to enhance learning partly began with a question: "What are the symbols of French culture that students should know about?" she asked. In response, she worked with several colleagues and students for three years to design multimedia modules offering authentic and culturally- enriching material based on pedagogical principles.

This annual award was created by the Faculty Committee on Educational Technology that selects recipients each year from among those nominated. This year, 23 faculty from 14 departments were nominated for the awards, which were named to honor Brian Copenhaver, provost of the College from 1993?2003, for encouraging the use of technological innovations to improve teaching and learning.

"We thank Richard and Barbara Bergman, who endowed the Brian P. Copenhaver Awards, for their generous and thoughtful support," said Acting Executive Dean Judi Smith. "Rewarding faculty who are at the forefront of teaching innovation is very important."