George Veletsianos, PhD

ICEM 2012 Call for Papers

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On February 1, 2012

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2nd CALL for PAPERS

62nd Annual conference of the International Council for Educational Media 2012

In conjunction with the 5th Innovative Learning Environments 2012

http://icem2012.cardet.org

Download the Call for Papers

CONFERENCE THEME: Design Thinking in Education, Media, and Society

DATE AND LOCATION: 26-29, September 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus

ORGANIZERS: CARDET, ICEM, UNIC

Extended Deadline for Abstracts: March 12, 2012

The theme of the conference is “Design thinking”. All humans have an inherent ability to design. When planning a dinner, a trip, a building, a learning activity, a new product, we engage in design. Everything that we have around us (with the exception of the untouched nature) has been designed. However, the process of design was poorly understood for a long time. Design thinking is an interdisciplinary framework that draws from the fields of cognition, creativity, engineering, arts, and the social sciences. Design thinking uses the sensibilities of a designer to develop human-centered innovative solutions to problems. During the ICEM2012 conference we will explore the various applications of design thinking and discuss challenges and opportunities that might arise when applying such a framework to solve problems faced in education, media and society.

Topics of interest to this international event include, but are not limited to the following:
– Design thinking and its application across contexts
– Arts-based approaches to education, design and problem solving
– E-learning theory, design, and practice
– Learning design (theory and practice)
– Games in education and training
– Mobile learning applications
– Visual and media literacy
– Design research across disciplines
– Accessibility and assistive technologies
– Technology and social justice
– Distance education and online environments
– Educational media production and distribution
– Research and evaluation methods in educational technology
– Teacher education and lifelong learning
– Applications of technology in business, government, and medicine
We encourage the submission of a variety of papers and work including but not limited to empirical research, case studies, classroom implementations, case studies with applications of technology, theoretical discussions, and critical reviews of literature.

Notable Adventure Learning Projects

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On January 19, 2012

In adventure learning, courses

I am finalizing my syllabus for the class I am teaching this semester, entitled Design and Development of Adventure Learning, and I thought that others might benefit from this list of technology-enhanced projects relating to adventure, expedition, and the outdoors. If you are interested in learning that happens outside of the classroom, the use of the outdoors in education, the use of technology in enhancing outdoor learning, and the use of narratives in education, then the following projects will interest you:

Improving Computer Science Education through Project Engage

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On January 18, 2012

In emerging technologies, engagement, my research, online learning, open, sharing

Part of my research demands that I develop technology-enhanced interventions in order to study them. I enjoy this part of my work partly because I get to create solutions to tackle education problems and partly because it has allowed me to explore technology-enhanced learning across different disciplines (e.g. I was involved with developing online learning environments for American Sign Language, environmental stewardship, and sociological concepts).

Now comes another excitement and challenge: Last August, Dr. Calvin Lin and I were awarded a National Science Foundation grant (award #1138506) to develop a hybrid “Introduction to Computer Science” course to be taught at Texas high schools and institutions of higher education. The project is a collaboration between the department of Computer Science (Dr. Lin) and Curriculum and Instruction – Instructional Technology (me). I’ll be posting more about the project (probably on a different blog), but the overarching goal here is to enhance how CS is taught using emerging technologies and pedagogies (mostly PBL) while valuing local contexts and practices. Mark Guzdial, in a recent paper, notes that “We need more education research that is informed by understanding CS—how it’s taught, what the current practices are, and what’s important to keep as we change practice. We need more computing education researchers to help meet the workforce needs in our technology-based society.”

I look forward to sharing more about this project with everyone soon!

 

What happens when pedagogical agents are off-task?

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On January 3, 2012

In my research, pedagogical agents, scholarship

Social and non-task interactions are often recognized as a valuable part of the learning experience. Talk over football, community events, or local news for example, may enable the development of positive instructor-learner relationships and a relaxed learning atmosphere. Non-task aspects of learning however have received limited attention in the education literature. Morgan-Fleming, Burley, and Price (2003) argue that this is the result of an implicit assumption that no pedagogical benefits are derived from non-task behavior, hence the reduction of off-task activities in schools such as recess time. This issue has received limited attention in the pedagogical agent literature as well. What happens when a virtual character designed to help a student learn about a topic, introduces off-task comments to a lesson? What happens when a virtual instructor mentions current events? How do learners respond?

These are the issues that I am investigating in a paper published in the current issue of the journal Computers in Human Behavior, as part of my research on the experiences of students who interact with virtual instructors and pedagogical agents. The abstract, citation, and link to the full paper appear below:

Abstract
In this paper, I investigate the impact of non-task pedagogical agent behavior on learning outcomes, perceptions of agents’ interaction ability, and learner experiences. While quasi-experimental results indicate that while the addition of non-task comments to an on-task tutorial may increase learning and perceptions of the agent’s ability to interact with learners, this increase is not statistically significant. Further addition of non-task comments however, harms learning and perceptions of the agent’s ability to interact with learners in statistically significant ways. Qualitative results reveal that on-task interactions are efficient but impersonal, while non-task interactions were memorable, but distracting. Implications include the potential for non-task interactions to create an uncanny valley effect for agent behavior.

Veletsianos, G. (2012). How do Learners Respond to Pedagogical Agents that Deliver Social-oriented Non-task Messages? Impact on Student Learning, Perceptions, and Experiences. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(1), 275-283.

2012…

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On January 1, 2012

In sharing

May it be healthy, peaceful, and full of joy to you and yours!

I have memories of white holidays from my years in Minnesota, mild winters from growing up in Cyprus, and cold winters from my time in Manchester… but winters of 25 degrees Celsius (75 F) are new to me. I suppose that’s an appropriate way for Austin to welcome the new year!

Salman Khan on Reddit

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On December 30, 2011

In my research, NPS, online learning, open, scholarship

Reddit is one of the communities that I follow for professional and personal purposes. For professional purposes specifically, it serves as a site for my online ethnography on networked participatory scholarship and digital scholarship. As part of that work, I am trying to make sense of the meaning of open digital participation for learning, teaching, scholarship, and education. One of the most informative and enjoyable aspects of Reddit is the IAmA subreddit in which individuals with interesting stories answer user questions. For example, one individual shared intimate details of his/her work and experiences with for-profit education, and another discusses teaching high school science and the misconceptions surrounding the teaching profession. The other day, Salman Khan (of Khan Academy) answered questions on the site, and I thought some of you might be interested in reading the Q&A, not just for Khan’s answers but also for the types of questions that were being asked. Though my vision of education differs from Khan’s vision of education, I appreciate that numerous students and teachers have found value in his efforts and I welcome any initiative that opens up conversations about what the future of education should look like. In any event, here is the Q&A with Salman Khan.

* Reddit logo courtesy of Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Reddit_logo.svg

Student Publications from UT Austin

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On December 15, 2011

In sharing

Congratulations are in order for two students enrolled in our Instructional Technology program who recently published their work in peer-reviewed journals:

Royce Kimmons has published his paper, Understanding Collaboration in Wikipedia, in First Monday.

Michael Anderson has published his paper, Crowdsourcing Higher Education: A Design Proposal for Distributed Learning, in the Journal of Online Learning and Teaching.

Keep up the good work Royce and Michael!

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