EDUCAUSE | Podcasts and Teaching

Richard Van Eck Presentation on Digital Game-Based Learning

gbayne — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 15:56:38 -0500

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.

Gary Bertoline on Computer Simulations / Visualizations Learners Can Feel

jcummings — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 18:50:16 -0500

[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 also discuss how advances in technology are rapidly lowering the level of resources needed to incorporate computer-simulated haptic force feedback into teaching and learning. Gary closes our conversation by highlighting the importance of integrating technology into teaching and learning to keep pace with the demands of today's learners and the world they will engage when they graduate.

All participants in the spring focus session will get a brief overview of Gary's research during his project parlor on the first day of the event, March 27. On the second day, March 28, they will have the opportunity to delve much more deeply into his findings by attending either one of the two concurrent sessions on the subject.

Sarah Robbins on Teaching in Second Life

jcummings — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 18:10:31 -0500

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.

On the first day of the focus session, March 27, Sarah will conduct a project parlor on her teaching activities in Second Life, which will give all of the session participants a brief overview of her efforts. Participants will then have the option of attending either one of two concurrent sessions Sarah will hold on the second day of the event, March 28, during which she will engage them in her Second Life virtual classroom and help them get a sense for how teaching in that environment works.