Dennis Beck

Mapping the Terrain: Educational Leadership Field Experiences in K-12 Virtual Schools

Opportunities for K-12 students to choose virtual and blended learning experiences continue to grow. All 50 states including Washington, D.C., now offer some virtual experience in K-12 education. Of these, 40 states have state virtual schools or state-led online learning initiatives. In addition, federal and state support for this type of learning continues to expand. Field experiences are beginning to be available for virtual school teachers; however, little information is available on field experiences for pre-service administrators in virtual K-12 settings. This study provides a status report on the state of school administrator preparation for K-12 online and blended learning programs in the United States. This research was conducted by surveying initial certification Educational Leadership programs regarding the extent that pre-service administrators are exposed to K-12 online learning environments. Results indicate that very few Educational Leadership programs provide any administrator preparation for leading a K-12 virtual school or teachers of online courses. Important ramifications exist for Educational Leadership programs preparing educators to lead fully online and blended learning programs.

Signature Pedagogy: A Literature Review of Social Studies and Technology Research

A literature review of 121 peer-reviewed articles, books, and conference proceedings was conducted to determine the signature pedagogies of social studies education and technology integration. The authors found that the signature social studies pedagogy is based on two primary instructional models: direct-instruction and inquiry-based, student-centered learning. Technology can be used to support both models, although its potential lies more in enabling inquiry-based, student-centered learning. Future trends and study ideas are offered in helping practitioners and researchers to advance technology integration into the signature social studies pedagogy.

Determinants of Student and Parent Satisfaction at a Cyber Charter School

ABSTRACT Research indicates that in traditional public schools the subjective well-being of students and parents varies by gender, race, and special education status. Prior studies suggest that general education students are more satisfied with their schooling than special education students, that female students have greater satisfaction with their schooling than male students, and that Caucasian and Latino students report greater school satisfaction than African American students. No prior research has studied parental and student subjective well-being in a cyber environment. The authors investigate parental and student subjective well-being in a cyber charter school, using a student (n = 269; 53.7% response rate) and parent (n = 232; 48.7% response rate) survey. They find statistically significant differences in subjective well-being across demographic groups of students, and also significantly higher satisfaction among special education students in the cyber school environment. Implications are discussed.

Development of an Augmented Reality Game to Teach Abstract Concepts in Food Chemistry

One of the most pressing issues for many land grant institutions is the ever increasing cost to build and operate wet chemistry laboratories. A partial solution is to develop computer-based teaching modules that take advantage of animation, web-based or off-campus learning experiences directed at engaging students’ creative experiences. We used the learning objectives of one of the most difficult topics in food chemistry, enzyme kinetics, to test this concept. Students are apprehensive of this subject and often criticize the staid instructional methods typically used in teaching this material. As a result, students do not acquire a useful background in this important subject. To rectify these issues, we developed an interactive augmented reality application to teach the basic concepts of enzyme kinetics in the context of an interactive search that took students to several locations on campus where they were able to gather raw materials and view videos that taught the basics of enzyme kinetics as applied to the production of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). The students needed this background to prepare for a mock interview with an HFCS manufacturer. Students and instructors alike found the game to be preferable to sitting in a classroom listening to, or giving, a PowerPoint presentation. We feel that this use of gaming technology to teach difficult, abstract concepts may be a breakthrough in food science education and help alleviate the drain on administrative budgets from multiple wet labs.

Challenges of Virtual School Leadership.

The purpose of this case study was to examine challenges faced by virtual school leaders in the United States. Through semistructured interviews, the researchers explored challenges faced by eighteen leaders of fully online or blended online programs. Analysis revealed six main challenges: funding, staff, accountability, time, parents, and professional development. The researchers found virtual school leaders face many of the same categorical challenges as leaders in brick-and-mortar schools. The nuances of the challenges, however, are distinct. The researchers concluded that the field of educational leadership must respond to the needs of these leaders through preservice training, in-service professional development, policy reform, and additional research.

A Comparison of the Degree of Student Satisfaction Using a Simulation or a Traditional Wet Lab to Teach Physical Properties of Ice

It is often difficult to offer food chemistry students traditional, hands-on laboratory experiences due to lack of funds for equipment, insufficient laboratory space, or the nature of distance education. A traditional wet laboratory exercise was developed to demonstrate the effects of the physical properties of ice formation when making high-quality sorbets, varying the amounts of sugar, water, and stabilizer. This wet lab was compared to a simulated, detective-based crime scene investigation (CSI) of why a famous food scientists sorbet had become a “stiff.” Forty-six food chemistry students were randomly assigned to groups, completing either the traditional wet lab or the simulated lab 1st before completing the 2nd type of laboratory. While there were preferences for one lab over another, there were no differences in the learning outcomes between the 2 laboratory formats. Students who preferred the simulated lab felt they could move at their own pace and were able to stop and review the simulation to understand the concepts more clearly. Traditional wet lab proponents liked working in groups and having immediate access to instructors. From the initial evaluation it appears that simulations could be used as replacements for hands-on laboratory experiences or could serve as effective introductions to laboratory principles and concepts, resulting in increased student learning.

Computational Thinking and Social Skills in Virtuoso: An Immersive, Digital Game-Based Learning Environment for Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder

The adoption of computational thinking (CT) has been increasing in K-12 classrooms and curricula. One population that could benefit from early instruction in CT is students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Unfortunately, many individuals with ASD lack the social competencies to successfully navigate a work environment. The purpose of this paper is to discuss a digital games-based learning intervention for youth with ASD to learn computational thinking and social skills. Dubbed “Virtuoso”, the intervention targets youth with ASD to gain social skills while working together to solve introductory computer programming problems with virtual, programmable robots. One objective is to create learning materials that embed social competency instruction within a CT-focused curriculum. Another objective is to develop an immersive space where participants can work together on curricular content. Using educational design research methods, we are developing and refining instructional interventions so as to maximize their educational impact.

Exploring the future of immersive education

Trabalho apresentado em iLRN 2016 - Workshop, Short Paper and Poster Proceedings from the Second Immersive Learning Research Network Conference, Santa Barbara, California, USA, 2016.This paper outlines the current state of learning, the problems arising and research needed by developers and educators using Virtual Worlds as an intelligent learning environment. Artificially intelligent avatars are required for virtual on-line problem and case based learning. However, the use of AI requires extra supportive frameworks, models and both staff and student goals. Natural simulations and avatar interactions are all part of the learning environment but realism, student paced learning, adaptive goals, natural language interaction, feedback and assessment are active goals for the next decade of virtual education research.What makes an educational game good? This paper describes three research directions that could provide insight in the underlying principles of effective educational games. These aspects are 1) The importance of distinguishing between types of to-be-learned knowledge, 2) the need to understand the relationship between game mechanics and learning goals, and 3) using research on intelligent tutoring systems to create more personalized learning experiences. Central in these directions is the concept of cognition and how it impacts the educational effectiveness of an educational game. This paper will give a short introduction on cognition and discuss why the research directions require further research.

Influence of Avatar Choice on Teacher Expectations and Perceptions of Student Success

The gender and ethnicity of students have been shown to affect teacher expectations. As part of a Multi User Virtual Environment (MUVE), people socially interact via avatars that have the capability to be customized to details of ethnicity and gender. Teachers in MUVEs instruct students with little knowledge of potential biases and prejudices toward avatars of different genders and ethnicities. This study’s purpose was to examine the influence of student avatar choice of gender and ethnicity on teachers’ expectations. Teachers were asked to review a transcript, image, and video of a student avatar and then respond about the student’s intellectual and relational abilities. Results indicate that avatar gender and ethnicity influence teachers’ expectations. Results may help teachers discover potential biases and prejudices toward some student avatars, as well as level the playing field for student avatars of differing genders and ethnicities. DOI: 10.4018/jgcms.2012010101 2 International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations, 4(1), 1-24, January-March 2012 Copyright

iLRN 2018 Montana. Workshop, long and short paper, and poster proceedings from the fourth immersive learning research network conference

Educational transformation requires that people volitionally change from a set of behavioral practices buttressed by organizational supports, policies, and incentives to a markedly different set of practices that requires an altered organizational context accompanied by a shift in assumptions, beliefs, and values at both the individual and institutional levels. Some research in immersive learning, particularly in virtual reality, shows promise of accomplishing the unlearning of deeply held beliefs, values, and attitudes by influencing the mind/brain cognitively and affectively, intrapersonally and interpersonally.