Overcoming Roadblocks in Introducing Virtual World Technology to High Schools

The EAST (Environmental And Spatial Technology) Initiative is a non-profit educational organization that provides students in over two hundred schools in eight states with access to advanced computing technologies for the purpose of enabling students to develop technical skills early and to produce solutions to local community problems. Although many high-end technologies are available through EAST, they are desktop solutions that individual students use and there are none that enable students within a school or between schools to collaborate. This thesis is a saga that documents the identification and removal of many roadblocks to introducing a 3D multi-user virtual simulation platform known as OpenSimulator into an EAST high school, Greenland High, located in Northwest Arkansas. The end result seemed compelling, simple and achievable -- with OpenSimulator, students from one or many EAST Labs would be able connect, chat, and work together within the same or nearby virtual areas to build models of (parts and aspects of) their communities. But getting to the point where students can begin to use this platform involved solving cost, safety, firewall, administrative, sustainability, and other puzzles. Most of this thesis is concerned with solving problems up to introducing OpenSimulator to Greenland -- more work is needed in understanding whether and how this kind of technology will benefit high school computing programs like EAST

Active Learning Through The Use Of Virtual Environments

Immersive Virtual Reality (VR) has seen explosive growth over the last decade. Immersive VR attempts to give users the sensation of being fully immersed in a synthetic environment by providing them with 3D hardware, and allowing them to interact with objects in virtual worlds. The technology is extremely effective for learning and exploration, and has been widely adopted by the military, industry and academia. This current study set out to study the effectiveness of 3D interactive environments on learning, engagement, and preference. A total of 180 students took part in the study where significant results were found regarding preference for this new technology over standard educational practices. Students were more motivated when using the immersive environment than with traditional methods which may translate into greater learning and retention. Larger studies will need to be performed in order to quantify the benefits of this new, cutting edge technology, as it relates to understanding and retention of educational content.

Who is Reading Whom Now: Privacy in Education from Books to MOOCs

This Article is the most comprehensive study to date of the policy issues and privacy concerns arising from the surge of ed tech innovation. It surveys the burgeoning market of ed tech solutions, which range from free Android and iPhone apps to comprehensive learning management systems and digitized curricula delivered via the Internet. It discusses the deployment of big data analytics by education institutions to enhance student performance, evaluate teachers, improve education techniques, customize programs, and better leverage scarce resources to optimize education results. This Article seeks to untangle ed tech privacy concerns from the broader policy debates surrounding standardization, the Common Core, longitudinal data systems, and the role of business in education. It unpacks the meaning of commercial data uses in schools, distinguishing between behavioral advertising to children and providing comprehensive, optimized education solutions to students, teachers, and school systems. It addresses privacy problems related to small data --the individualization enabled by optimization solutions that read students even as they read their books-as well as concerns about big data analysis and measurement, including algorithmic biases, discreet discrimination, narrowcasting, and chilling effects. This Article proposes solutions ranging from deployment of traditional privacy tools, such as contractual and organizational governance mechanisms, to greater data literacy by teachers and parental involvement. It advocates innovative technological solutions, including converting student data to a parent-accessible feature and enhancing algorithmic transparency to shed light on the inner working of the machine. For example, individually curated data backpacks would empower students and their parents by providing them with comprehensive portable profiles to facilitate personalized learning regardless of where they go. This Article builds on a methodology developed in the authors\u27 previous work to balance big data rewards against privacy risks, while complying with several layers of federal and state regulation

Intramural, collaborative learning systems

This thesis focuses on three related concepts: problem-based collaborative learning; the use of multimedia tools in learning systems; and participatory design as a software engineering methodology to create multimedia tools to be used in learning systems. A literature review of the three areas is followed by an overview of the pedagogical, technological, and business trends that affect the direction of innovation in education, including problem-based learning. A discussion of a software engineering project to develop a multimedia application that enhances the learning of geography skills and puts the programming, interface design and multimedia systems capabilities of college students into action ensues. The project results are presented, and suggestions for future research are proposed

A Cognitive Theory-based Approach for the Evaluation and Enhancement of Internet Security Awareness among Children Aged 3-12 Years

In the age of technology, the Internet has spread widely and used for multiple purposes by users of all ages, especially children who start using it frequently to play in their spare time. With the use of the Internet, children must have a sufficient security awareness to avoid security risks found online. This study takes us through the journey of evaluating and enhancing the level of the Internet security awareness among a group of Saudi children aged 3-12 years. The developed evaluation survey shows that there is some awareness among the Saudi Children; however, they still need more concrete ways of ensuring secure practices as they showed a poor knowledge of proper Internet security practices in areas such as interacting with anonymous advertisements as well as understanding some of the Internet Security symbols. The study also presents a suggested Awareness Enhancement solution to raise the security awareness among children. The solution’s design takes into consideration the Piaget’s theory of children’s cognitive development, which states that children in different age groups have different perceptual and learning abilities. The test of the suggested solution shows a significant increase in the sample’s Internet security level. The work of this study emphasizes on the importance of targeting the Saudi children with interactive training sessions to raise their Internet security awareness level

Using Music as a Classroom Tool

The main focus of the project was to develop resources that will use music as a tool to improve literacy and support learning in third grade self contained classrooms. Research provides strong data connecting the relationship of music to academic achievement, language arts and improved test scores. This project provides prototype lesson plans that support grade level expectations and uses t4e Washington State Essential Academic Learning Requirements as a basis for the concepts being taught. A unit of lesson plans was developed that integrates music into the language arts. Worksheets, graphic organizers and a music book list were developed as resources for self contained third grade classroom teachers

Computational Thinking in Education: Where does it fit? A systematic literary review

Computational Thinking (CT) has been described as an essential skill which everyone should learn and can therefore include in their skill set. Seymour Papert is credited as concretising Computational Thinking in 1980 but since Wing popularised the term in 2006 and brought it to the international community's attention, more and more research has been conducted on CT in education. The aim of this systematic literary review is to give educators and education researchers an overview of what work has been carried out in the domain, as well as potential gaps and opportunities that still exist. Overall it was found in this review that, although there is a lot of work currently being done around the world in many different educational contexts, the work relating to CT is still in its infancy. Along with the need to create an agreed-upon definition of CT lots of countries are still in the process of, or have not yet started, introducing CT into curriculums in all levels of education. It was also found that Computer Science/Computing, which could be the most obvious place to teach CT, has yet to become a mainstream subject in some countries, although this is improving. Of encouragement to educators is the wealth of tools and resources being developed to help teach CT as well as more and more work relating to curriculum development. For those teachers looking to incorporate CT into their schools or classes then there are bountiful options which include programming, hands-on exercises and more. The need for more detailed lesson plans and curriculum structure however, is something that could be of benefit to teachers

Jacksonville Jaguars Foundation-Teens and Sex…the Real Truth-Straight Talk Executive Report to the Community

A booklet sponsored by BCBSF from the Jacksonville Jaguars Foundation about Teens and Sex…the Real Truth-Straight Talk Executive Report to the Community