Podcasts, Teaching and Learning, and ELI_07_SpringFocusSession

In this podcast of “ Cyberinfrastructure-Enabled Learning Environments for Gen Z,” Gary R. Bertoline, distinguished professor of computer graphics and assistant dean at Purdue University, discusses the ways cyberinfrastructure is positioned to revolutionize learning as it has already revolutionized scientific research. He outlines how computation, visualization, storage, and high-speed networks can bring together the best of traditional pedagogy with new paradigms that reflect our times.

This podcast presents a panel discussion with four experts on immersive learning environments (ILEs), covering the operational aspects of implementing an ILE, including infrastructure, user support, and pedagogical and policy requirements. The panelists for this session, “The Bar May Not Be as High as You Expect: Considerations in Implementing an Immersive Learning Environment,” were:

In this podcast of the presentation " Cognition, Learning, and Literacy in Virtual Worlds," Constance Steinkuehler, assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, discusses the intellectual practices that constitute gameplay in virtual worlds (for example, collaborative problem solving, informal scientific reasoning, computational literacy, and digital media literacy) and the way these coalesce into a form of cosmopolitanism found in the least likely of places, in context of pop culture.

In this podcast of the presentation “ Virtual Learning Environments in 3D,” Phillip D. Long, associate director of MIT’s Office of Educational Innovation and Technology, looks at the evolution of online interaction from text-based collaboration such as wikis to 3D virtual worlds (VWs) such as Second Life. He discusses the potential of these immersive 3D VWs to serve as learning spaces and to become persistent new home campuses.

This was presented as a general session at Immersive Learning Environments: New Paths to Interaction and Engagement, the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative's Spring 2007 Focus Session, held at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation in Raleigh, North Carolina, March 27–28, 2007. Additional resources from the event, including session recordings and audio interviews, video, presentation materials, and photos, also are available online.

In this podcast of the presentation "Generation G and the 21st Century," Richard Van Eck, associate professor of instructional design and technology at the University of North Dakota, discusses the theory behind the effectiveness of games in teaching and learning; what the past can teach us about if, how, and when to implement digital game-based learning; and what this will mean for colleges and universities.

This was presented as a general session at Immersive Learning Environments: New Paths to Interaction and Engagement, the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative's Spring 2007 Focus Session, held at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation in Raleigh, North Carolina, March 27-28, 2007. Additional resources from the event, including session recordings and audio interviews, video, presentation materials, and photos, also are available online.

[When initially posted, the audio file of this interview had some technical problems that hindered listening to it. Those issues have been addressed in the new file, which is attached below. - JSC]

In another interview related to the ELI 07 Spring Focus Session, Immersive Learning Environments: New Paths to Interaction and Engagement, I spoke with Gary Bertoline, Distinguished Professor in Computer Graphics and Assistant Dean at Purdue University. We discussed Gary's project parlor and concurrent session topic for the focus session, The Impact of Computer-Simulated Haptic Force Feedback on Learning.

Over the course of our conversation, Gary explains that "computer-simulated haptic force feedback" refers to providing physical response to learners through computer simulations, essentially allowing them to feel forces in a simulation that they would otherwise have to infer. He then provides a brief overview of the research that demonstrates how such feedback enhances learning outcomes in science, technology, and math education and reviews its potential to support teaching and learning in other disciplines.

We're about a week from the ELI 2007 Spring Focus Session, Immersive Learning Environments: New Paths for Interaction and Engagement. As usual, I'm interviewing some of the presenters scheduled for the event to get an advanced sense for the issues they plan to address at the focus session.

In this interview, I talk with Sarah Robbins, a TA Instructor in English at Ball State University, about her experiences in teaching classes in the immersive learning environment Second Life. I ask her about the teaching and learning objectives that led her to try to teach in Second Life, as well as the level of technical expertise she feels is or isn't necessary to teach in that online space. We also discuss the benefits she has found that students derive from learning in Second Life, as well as the benefits she has realized as a developing faculty member by teaching in an immersive learning environment.