24th Annual TCC | Online Conference | April 16-18, 2019

Sustainable Learning, Accessible Technologies, & Diverse Contexts

tcconline2019

Beyond the School to Prison Pipeline OR; Unravelling the School/Prison Assemblage through Minecraft

Session Description
Cody Lestelle presents a project that was done in collaboration with two other scholars and educational designers from Dr. Peter Leong’s LTEC 652D – Authoring Virtual Learning Environments (Spring 2017). Co-creators of the original Minecraft simulation of the school-to-prison pipeline were Kim Berg and Keahe Davis. Our final design document stated the following as our instructional goal:

“The instructional goal of our project is to educate the learner about the school-to-prison pipeline, its causes and ramifications, and engage them in creating and exploring possible solutions. The school-to-prison pipeline is the phrase used to describe the increasing pattern of children being funneled out of public schools into the juvenile and criminal justice system through changes made to disciplinary policies and practices by public institutions at the local and state level. The policies and practices disproportionately affect youth of color, specifically males. The reasons for this alarming trend include the lack of foresight for whole-child development, ignorance of proactive resiliency practices for children with socio-economic and domestic trauma, and implicit bias among administrators, teachers, parents, and policy makers. By creating this tool for spreading awareness about the school-to-prison pipeline we hope to decrease youth incarceration rates.”

Cody’s presentation of this project will involve a tour of the Minecraft build followed by a portal opening to the AGILE Minecraft Multiversity’s virtual Hawaiian Islands world where participants of the presentation and simulation are invited to imagine and co-create preferred futures beyond the school-prison pipeline/assemblage.

Presenter(s)
Cody Lestelle
Cody Lestelle, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu, Oʻahu, Hawaiian Kingdom
Session Type
20-Minute LTEC Student Session
Audience
All Audiences

Please note that this session did not take place.

Using OpenSim as an Education Tool to Teach the Solar System

Session Description
Why should students learn about the solar system and understand how it is relevant to them? Learning about the solar system is important because it helps us value the Earth and preserve it for future generations. The primary goal of the project was to design an instructional module for middle school learners that would provide general information and facts about the solar system and explain the benefits of space exploration to mankind. The proposed instructional unit aimed to create an immersive and exploratory environment of the solar system in OpenSim (OS) that would engage and stimulate middle school learners in science class. Gagne’s nine events of instruction was utilized as the overarching design format in order to give students an opportunity to engage in every step of the learning process. In the simulation, the solar system utilized the following learning strategies: game-based, diagnostic, demonstrative, and experiential. The simulation could be used repeatedly to teach different solar system topics. A pilot study was conducted with three participants. Verbal feedback during and after the study indicated that participants found the module clear or somewhat clear, and easy to follow. The session will discuss methods, design strategies, and how virtual world instructional tools and techniques were incorporated in the module.
Presenter(s)
Amberlee Kūʻiʻolani Cotchay
Amberlee Kūʻiʻolani Cotchay, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
Elle Nakamura
Elle Nakamura, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
Routhie Ann B. Senoren
Routhie Ann B. Senoren, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
Routhie Ann Senoren is a graduate student of the Learning Design & Technology master’s program at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa College of Education. She has over 10 years of training experience working multiple technical consulting roles (such as Technical Trainer, Online Help Lead, Software Testing Lead, and Instructional Systems Designer) through government contracts. Ms. Senoren is taking a break from the training industry to take care of her 15 months old twin girl and boy. Her new role as a mother was the inspiration behind her master’s project, the HI Mommy website.
Session Type
20-Minute LTEC Student Session
Audience
All Audiences

A recording of this presentation is available.
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College of Education in Minecraft: Exploration or Educational Technology Tools through Virtual Worlds

Session Description
The presentation aims to showcase the College of Education at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM) in a virtual worlds settings using Minecraft. The contents of the virtual building are filled with the instructional tools used in the Learning Design and Technology (LTEC) department. The simulation allows the learners to explore the college, complete a set of tasks including an in-game journal scavenger hunt, and also to experiment with Minecraft as an educational tool. Upon going through a formative evaluation, our team realized that virtual world games do have a learning curve and can be quite challenging for students who are unfamiliar with the game mechanics. Despite the shortcomings of virtual world game-based learning, the students were highly motivated and engaged during their lesson.
Presenter(s)
Casey Bales
Casey Bales, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Kapolei, USA
Bio
Mellissa Lochman
Mellissa Lochman, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Waipahu, USA
Bio
Session Type
20-Minute LTEC Student Session
Audience
All Audiences

A recording of this presentation is available.
Click the button to the right to access the session archive.

Campfires in Cyberspace: A STEAM Simulation in OpenSim

Session Description
The “leaky STEM pipeline” is a well-documented phenomenon that depicts a 96% loss of students from the beginning of high school to actual completion of a college degree in a STEM major. Nearly thirty years since the National Science Foundation helped guide U.S. educators’ classrooms with STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) standards and guidelines, educators continue struggling with classroom implementation.

A clear goal for implementation is an instructional design challenge that can be solved by a pedagogically-sound instructional unit mediated by technology and targeted toward the teachers who have a direct hand in implementing STEM and inspiring students to stay in the STEM pipeline. The inclusion of art (STEAM) is a key ingredient in bridging the gap between theoretical science and technology and the practical, real-world applications needed for economic success. In addition, technology and art together are key to engaging and retaining students who would normally fall out of the pipeline because of the rigors of science, math, and engineering.

Role-playing, experiential, and collaborative experience that included constructive, demonstration, and skill-building opportunities (Richter, Anderson-Inman, and Frisbee, 2007) were utilized in a simulated world based on Thornburg’s concepts of learning spaces called Campfires in Cyberspace. The objective was to strengthen teacher knowledge and confidence in developing and implementing STEAM curriculum in the classroom through a collaborative, immersive virtual reality environment.

This session will discuss the Campfires in Cyberspace simulation’s instructional design, features, strategies, virtual world tools utilized within the virtual environment Open Simulator.

Presenter(s)
Sarah Espinosa
Sarah Espinosa, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan
Sarah Espinosa is a Navy Veteran and performed professionally as a hornist in United States Navy bands for 11 years throughout North America, Europe and Africa. She has a Bachelor of Music degree in horn performance and a Master of Arts in Music and Worship Studies from Liberty University. She and her family currently reside in Yokosuka, Japan. Sarah continues to perform as a civilian alongside musicians from the Yokosuka Fireman Band, SEVENTH Fleet Navy Band, and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Band Yokosuka, as well as teach private horn lessons from her home. She is in her final semester of the LTEC Master’s program at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
Nancy Ooki
Nancy Ooki, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Kahului, HI, USA
Bio
Edmond Lee
Edmond Lee, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Oahu, HI, USA
Session Type
20-Minute LTEC Student Session
Audience
All Audiences

A recording of this presentation is available.
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RaW Sustainability: Synchronous Online Research and Writing Workshops for Interactivity and Community-Building

Session Description
In this session, we share an online workshop series designed to provide an interactive educational and community-building opportunity to online students. Interest and attendance in our live online workshop series, as well as enthusiastic participation from students, exceeded our expectations. The literature on online students talks about the role online workshops play in developing a sense of community for online students, which aligns with what we observed in our series. Scholarship on commuter and non-traditional students also points to the valuable role informal workshops can play to engage and retain these student groups. At this session, we provide lessons learned from our project on selecting topics, publicizing, selecting and working with the right tools, and working towards developing a community of online learners. During the 2018-19 academic year, we have focused on managing the workload to increase the sustainability of the workshops.
Presenter(s)
Natalie Perez
Natalie Perez, Honolulu Community College, Honolulu, Hawai’i, USA
Robyn Tasaka
Robyn Tasaka, University of Hawai’i-West O’ahu, Kapolei, HI, USA
Robyn Tasaka is a Tutor Coordinator in the No‘eau Center for Writing, Math, and Academic Success at the University of Hawai‘i-West O‘ahu.
Rebecca Carino
Rebecca Carino, University of Hawai’i-West O’ahu, Kapolei, HI, USA
Session Type
45-Minute Interactive Session
Audience
All Audiences

A recording of this presentation is available.
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