It Worked for Tech Lending. Will It Work for OER, Too?

Open Educational Resources (OER) are learning, teaching, and research resources in any format and medium either in the public domain or released under an open license, allowing others to freely access, re-use, re-purpose, adapt and redistribute them. OER enable students to gain knowledge regardless of their financial or geographic limitations, allowing them to take advantage of learning materials that might otherwise be unavailable. Despite the many benefits to using OER, students and educators alike still underutilize them. By collaborating with educational institutions, faculty members, and students, libraries can provide access to OER, inform students and educators of the benefits of OER, and increase the awareness and use of these materials effectively.This article is published as Alam, M. I. (2023). It Worked for Tech Lending. Will It Work for OER, Too? OpenISU. https://doi.org/10.31274/b8136f97.8edc94ae. Posted with permission

Teacher Candidates' opinions about Augmented Reality(AR) as a supplemental educational tool

This poster was presented by Alam, I., Teacher Candidates' opinions about Augmented Reality(AR) as a supplemental educational tool. Presented at 10th Annual Graduate and Professional Student Conference, held at Memorial Union, Ames, IA, April 6 2022. Posted with permission.In recent years, augmented reality (AR) technology has been widely proposed as innovative technology. AR technology superimposes digitally simulated information on the physical environment, which can be a unique element for learning experiences. Despite the potential of AR, there has been relatively little integration of AR into the classroom. The purpose of this pilot study is to examine the acceptance and intentional use of AR technology by teacher candidates and their opinions of AR as a supplemental educational tool. The study has utilized a phenomenological design that is comprised of System Usability Scale survey and interview questions. Based on the participants' answers, research data has been analyzed and discussed

A Sustainable Campus for Higher Education Institutions in the US

The green and sustainable campus as a concept is not something new to the US However, well organized and coherent activities to effectively "green" campues are not that common, and efforts are minor in comparison tothe potential of these universities (green and tompson, 2005)This posted was presented by Alam, Md Imtiajul A Sustainable Campus for Higher Education Institutions in the US. at the 5th Graduate and Professional Student Research Conference April 11, 2018, Memorial Union, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. Posted with permission

A sustainable campus for the higher education institutions in the U.S.

The green and sustainable campus concept is not something new to US universities, but well-organized and coherent activities to effectively “green” campuses are not that common, and efforts are minor in comparison to the potential of these universities. This thesis investigates different approaches taken by higher education (HE) institutions that are considered successful in their objectives toward achieving a sustainable campus. It also examines the process of integration of sustainability into the higher education institution’s policy, pedagogy, and research process; approaches taken by HE institutions aim to impact students’ perceptions and their behavior toward the world that they will live with for the rest of their lives and those of their children. This thesis reviews different frameworks for sustainable higher education campuses by examining a set of major national and international declarations related to environmental sustainability in HE campuses. It investigates those declarations and learns from the initiatives taken by selected HE campuses through case studies; it also examines different issues related to the selection of goals and approaches to actually affect the advancement of sustainable HE campuses. This research also argues that an HE campus requires a willingness to adopt a diverse approach of physical modifications to buildings and infrastructure, as well as educational modification to achieve sustainability goals. Finally, some concrete initiatives are outlined as recommendations which may be undertaken by HE institutions in order to achieve their sustainability goals.</p

Assessing the Impact of a Collaborative OER & Affordable Resources Committee: Instructors’ Awareness of Course Material Options

This case study shares observations from a 2022 survey of 197 instructors at Iowa State University, a public research university in the United States. The survey sought to explore instructor awareness of three major affordable course material initiatives supported by the university’s Open & Affordable Education Committee (OAEC): Open Educational Resources (OER), Course Reserves, and Immediate Access. Results from the survey found that despite significant cross-promotion and collaboration between the three programs represented on the OAEC, the awareness and uptake of each program varied greatly, as did instructors’ understanding of the differences between each material type. This paper shares the results of that survey, as well as improvements which have been made to the OAEC’s programming and promotion efforts in the year since.This article was originally published as Elder, Abbey, and Imtiajul Alam. "Assessing the Impact of a Collaborative OER & Affordable Resources Committee: Instructors’ Awareness of Course Material Options." Journal of Open Educational Resources in Higher Education 2, no. 1 (2023): 136-151. https://doi.org/10.13001/joerhe.v2i1.7875. This article is licensed CC-BY 4.0

Game Research Trends at the Annual ASEE Conference: A 15-year Content Analysis

This conference paper is published as Nadolny, L., & Alam, M. I., & Brown, M. G., & Lamm, M. H. (2021, July), Game Research Trends at the Annual ASEE Conference: A 15-year Content Analysis Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. https://peer.asee.org/37215. Posted with permission. © 2021 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015The purpose of this study is to examine the game-related publications from the annual American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) conference using content analysis methodologies. Our search included the terms game, gaming, gamer, gamify, and gamification from 2006-2020 resulted in 176 relevant publications. Our analysis focused on document metadata and abstracts, a methodology similar to other content analyses examining journals’ trends over time. We used text mining software Leximancer1to examine the overall themes in the text and to investigate the evolution of game related research in five-year periods. The software provided evidence for the status of the field and changes over time. Leximancer applied automatic processing of the text in determining a semantic model for critical terms and concepts, highlighting the role of development and design, measurements of learning, and changes in term use over time. The 15 year period was characterized by a focus on students, games, and learning, including topics on the methods of teaching (i.e, pedagogy) and design of learning experience. Virtual reality, STEM education, and gamification were relevant in specific periods of time. There is a need for future research in mixed reality applications, diversity of gamification techniques, and the use of non-digital games

Board 235: Chemical Engineers in Chemistry Coursework: Longitudinal Impacts on Engineering Identity

Chemical engineers are expected to complete a sequence of chemistry and life science coursework before they enter their major program. As core pre-requisites, these courses serve as the foundational knowledge of chemical engineering work, but their role in contributing to the professional development of chemical engineers is perhaps not well understood. Drawing on research from a design-based implementation study funded by the NSF’s Improving Undergraduate STEM Education program, we follow chemical engineers through three introductory courses to observe how and if their individual beliefs about engineering identity change over time. We present results from within courses to observe how students’ beliefs might change during a semester as well as results that observe the sequential and cumulative impact of course-taking on students evolving beliefs about their competency as engineers using Godwin’s scale [1]. The result for this poster draw upon a larger study of personalized feedback in sequential course-taking among life science, engineering, and non-STEM majors. As we have students from all three groups enrolled in the course sequence, we are also able to offer insight into changing science identity and engineering identity beliefs among students with different motivations and aspirations. Although these groups don’t serve as a counterfactual, they illustrate differences in how students respond to introductory coursework given their distinct goals. We also account for individual motivation within the course using Perez’s adaptation of Eccles’ Expectancy Value Scale for STEM courses [2]. Our sample (n=2819) is composed of students who took 1-3 courses in the Chemical Engineering sequence: Introductory General Chemistry, Advanced General Chemistry, Material and Energy Balances (Chemical Engineering). Our data collection ran from Fall 2020 to Fall 2022, includes 5 semesters and three potential cohorts of students who completed the sequence. In general, the majority of Chemical Engineers complete the sequence in order and on time (about 63% of the eligible students in our data). At the start and end of each semester, students received a brief survey that asked about their motivations for taking the course, their attitudes towards Chemistry, their engineering or science identity beliefs (based on their major), and their coursework strategies. Among the Chemical Engineers in our study, our initial descriptive results suggest that on individual measures of Engineering identity related to interest, enjoyment, and fulfillment, engineering students’ beliefs marginally increased (∆Interest = 0.23 on a seven-point scale; ∆Enjoyment=0.07; ∆Fulfillment=0.1). In general, Engineers experienced relatively low levels of changes in their subjective Engineering identity beliefs (when compared to life and natural science students on an identical measure of Science Identity) within individual courses. In our poster and full paper we will present analyses that identify the impact of changes in subjective belief across coursework on persistence and academic momentum (operationalized as credits taken) across the sequence of chemistry engineering courses.This presentation is published as Brown, M. G., & Lamm, M. H., & Alam, M. I. (2023, June), Board 235: Chemical Engineers in Chemistry Coursework: Longitudinal Impacts on Engineering Identity Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. https://peer.asee.org/42676. Posted with permission. © 2023 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. <br

Investigating the impact of a gamified learning analytics dashboard: Student experiences and academic achievement

Background: The substantial growth in gamification research has connected gamified learning to enhanced engagement, improved performance, and greater motivation. Similar to gamification, personalized learning analytics dashboards can enhance student engagement. Objectives: This study explores the student experiences and academic achievements using a gamified dashboard in a large, introductory STEM course. Methods: We examined two groups of students enrolled in different sections of a one-semester-long physical geology course with a total enrollment of 223 students. The only difference between the groups was that one had access to the dashboard. The data collection included students' assignments, overall performances, and exam scores. Students in both sections completed a Science Literacy Concept Inventory survey at the beginning and end of the term. Additionally, students completed an end-of-term survey containing open-ended questions on their experience and interactions with specific elements. Results: Students shared mostly positive comments about their experience with the dashboard, and the final grade of students with access to the dashboard was 13% higher, on average, compared to their peers in the non-dashboard section. Conclusion: With low costs and little time invested, gamified dashboards could have a significant impact on student performance in large STEM lecture courses.This article is published as Alam, M. I., Malone, L., Nadolny, L., Brown, M., & Cervato, C. (2023). Investigating the impact of a gamified learning analytics dashboard: Student experiences and academic achievement. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12853. Posted with permission.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made

Foundations of Game-based Learning Fall 2019: Course Notes

This course notes posted as Alam, M. I., Aleman, E., Ausenhus, A., Bonner, D., Devine, E., Dreessen, V., ...Vo, V. (2019). In L. Nadolny (Ed.), Foundations of game-based learning: Fall 2019 [Course notes]. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mnJewlE2v5caJnLaAfwcRGt9Ww0t93dtoiDoEA9PzZo/edit?usp=sharing. Posted with permission. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License