Robert L. Todd

Social media, avatars, and virtual worlds: re-imagine an inclusive learning environment for adolescents and adults with literacy barriers

This paper introduces an innovative and inclusive learning world that The Georgia STEM Accessibility Alliance (BreakThru) is developing by researchers at the University of Georgia and Georgia Institute of Technology. Electronic mentoring (e-mentoring), virtual training, social networking, video analysis, and personalized virtual learning communities are integrated as ways to enhance accessibility of adolescents and adults interested in pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. Universal design (UD) concepts are reflected as core design principles to provide various virtual media options embedded in the project.

E-Learning for Secondary School Teachers: Inclusive Science and Math Instruction for Students with Disabilities

The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) is conducting a research and development project to enhance the capacities of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teachers to educate students with disabilities. The project has conducted online surveys, focus groups and longitudinal studies to discover the training and knowledge needs of teachers. The ongoing research has identified significant gaps in teacher knowledge about students with disabilities and the accommodations that can help them succeed. In particular, there is a pervasive lack of understanding of the uses of assistive technology, along with discomfort in the use of this technology. Findings have been used in the creation of online training courses designed to meet teacher needs in the classroom and laboratory environments. Further research will investigate the use of project resources with teachers of students with focused disability issues.

Virtual Mentoring and Persistence in STEM for Students With Disabilities

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of virtual mentoring for enhancing the persistence of secondary and postsecondary students with disabilities engaged in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning. The student participants (N = 189) were all engaged in STEM coursework and enrolled in a virtual-mentoring program for a span of 4 years. Persistence was measured with an online survey designed to evaluate growth across self-determination, self-advocacy, STEM aspirations, and self-efficacy (math and science). After participating in virtual-mentoring practices, the most significant improvement was demonstrated in students’ perception of self-determination and self-advocacy. Growth differences were identified across type of disability and race/ethnicity populations. Implications pertaining to STEM aspirations and self-efficacy were addressed.

Leveraging Virtual Worlds for Electronic Mentoring

The Georgia STEM Accessibility Alliance’s BreakThru electronic mentoring program responds to a National Science Foundation request for research on virtual worlds to support outcomes for students with disabilities. It also addresses student advancement through critical junctures to STEM careers, particularly from secondary to post-secondary education, and from the undergraduate to graduate level. BreakThru has developed from an exploration of technology platforms into a full-fledged mentoring program that currently enrolls 85 students and 38 mentors. The overall aim of BreakThru is to increase the persistence in STEM of students with disabilities who are enrolled in the program. Toward this end, efficacy is measured in part through enrollment and retention of secondary and postsecondary students with disabilities into virtual mentoring. BreakThru is unique among mentoring programs due to its use of the virtual world Second Life to support or implement most project activities.

The Promise and Pitfalls of Virtual Worlds to Enhance STEM Education Success: Summary of the GSAA BreakThru Model

The Georgia STEM Accessibility Alliance (GSAA) is a research project funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) program, grants 1027635 and 1027655. A collaborative RDE Alliance, it combines the expertise of the University of Georgia and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Launched in 2010 and projected for completion in 2016, GSAA is one of 10 RDE Alliances throughout the United States designed to broaden the participation and achievement of people with disabilities in STEM education and careers. Although the GSAA encompasses many innovative features to achieve its goals, its core features are the use of virtual worlds (Second Life) and online and smartphone technologies to enhance student success through mediated mentoring, collectively referred to as the BreakThru project. This paper will provide provide a brief summary of the status of the use of virtual worlds in STEM education, as well as an overview of the GSAA BreakThru goals, theory of change, demographics, and subject participation. It will posit conclusions that can be advantageous in future research on online, mediated approaches to enhanced education, to ensure the maximum potential for all students to complete educational goals.

Determining the Efficacy of Communications Technologies and Practices to Broaden Participation in Education: Insights from a Theory of Change

BreakThru is the core project of the Georgia STEM Accessibility Alliance (GSAA), which is supported by the Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) program of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Launched in 2010, GSAA is one of 10 RDE Alliances throughout the United States designed to broaden the participation and achievement of people with disabilities in STEM education and careers. The most distinctive feature of GSAA has been its use of virtual worlds and online communications platforms to support or implement most project activities. Empirical findings have informed the creation of a theory of change to explain how characteristics of technologically mediated mentoring practices may positively impact students’ internal characteristics across five indicators (intention to persist, increased self-advocacy, increased self-determination, decreased math anxiety, and decreased science anxiety). Successful internalization of these characteristics may be expected to increase students’ intention to persist in STEM education and support concrete steps to persist. This project seeks to fill a critical research gap and inform the field about the potential efficacy of e-mentoring programs and how they might be evaluated. It also seeks to determine appropriate methodologies and approaches for doing so.

Social media as online mentoring tools for STEM students with and without disabilities

Considerable attention has been given to the need for educating a diverse workforce in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Public and regulatory institutions have stressed the importance of efforts to recruit and retain students chronically underrepresented in STEM fields. Individuals with disabilities are among the most marginalized of these groups and face significant barriers to accessing higher education STEM programs. This paper will discuss affordances for e-mentoring of students in STEM education, with a focus on universal design for online learning and inclusion of all students, especially those with functional limitations due to disability. Preliminary data from ongoing research will be reviewed and discussed.