This highly interactive session will involve a combination of thought leadership, hands-on experiential learning, and Q&A.
In line with Toolwire's belief in the power of student-centered learning, hands-on learning, this session will give the audience control over what it wants to hear by mirroring cutting-edge Immersive Learning Environments now being used to teach over 70,000 higher education students a month in a wide range of subjects. The potential applications for these state-of-the-art Immersive Learning technologies are limitless and introduce a golden-opportunity for higher education universities looking for impactful, cost-effective, and scalable learning solutions.
A presentation that allows the audience to select what information it wants to hear, this session will offer information covering four primary topics: Learner Experience, Learning Technology, Instructional Design, and Natural Assessment.
Learner Experience
The profound changes created by the Internet over the past 20 years have affected 21st Century knowledge workers more than any other group. The ability of individuals to access massive amounts of information on seemingly every subject presents both benefits and challenges to the learner. While having ubiquitous information at one's fingertips is a luxury unimagined by our forefathers, it also alters fundamentally the way we learn and perform. Why? Simply put, it means that knowledge is no longer power. Access to knowledge - and the ability to turn that knowledge into action and decisions - has become the new power.
Learning organizations, be they institutions of higher learning or corporate training departments, must now recognize this sea change and adjust to it. The new priority is to develop agile minds of resourceful individuals who can locate and master skill sets or the knowledge they need, not simply memorize learning content. We call it "MindFind" - the development of skills to find data, not the development of skills to store information.
Learning Technology - The Experiential Learning Spectrum
A range of experiential learning technologies are available in the market today. This session will briefly highlight four of them: Student Desktops, LiveLabs, Scenarios, and Immersive Learning Environments.
Student Desktop
A fully functional Windows desktop, the Desktop is available anytime, from anywhere via an Internet‐connected web browser. The web‐based Desktop includes all of the software applications, lab tools, and central storage required for a given course or an entire degree program. It includes a safe, personal, centralized online data storage facility. A feature called "My Briefcase" allows students to maintain a centralized e‐Portfolio of their projects, programs, websites, and IT‐oriented reports.
LiveLabs
Remote hands‐on laboratories with live equipment via a web‐based anytime, anywhere interface, "Live" Labs are advanced experiential learning activities that allow students to follow a series of guided actions, work with real‐world case studies, and actively control real equipment and applications in a distributed data center. The case studies are invaluable tools for helping students develop logic and troubleshooting skills necessary to solve day‐to‐ day IT challenges.
InteractiveScenarios
"Day‐in‐the‐life" experiences that combine the instructional power of LiveLabs with the engaging authenticity of virtual worlds, InteractiveScenarios enable students to fully-appreciate how the material they are learning has real world implications and applications. In these virtual worlds, students get to live the life of an IT professional, healthcare technician, business consultant etc. Intelligent avatars engage with students using everyday office tools such as mobile phones, email, meetings and onsite visits. Students gather critical scenario data, solve business problems and interact with avatars through interactive responders.
Immersive Learning Environments
Immersive Learning Environments engage students with photorealistic, three dimensional environments that combine video interaction and real world context. Each Immersive Learning Environment is designed according to clearly defined course objectives. Students pursue multi-pathed learning options that enable them to explore and interact with their environment, and they are guided by "real-life" characters that deliver learning content, assess progress, and provide remediation.
Instructional Design
This part of the session will explore the Immersive Learning Environment co-creation process and will focus on the following steps:
1. Instructor/Institution shares course idea
2. Instructor/Institution provides course objectives
3. Creation of Assignment Map
4. Creation of Initial Course Outline / Client Feedback
5. Flowcharts and Storyboard / Client Feedback
6. Development
7. Alpha version / Client Feedback
8. Beta version / Client Feedback
9. Final Sign-off
The goal of the design process is to deliver compelling experiential learning environments that are unique in their simplicity of design, yet extremely powerful in their ability to engage students by immersing them in real-life situations.
Natural Assessment
These immersive technologies integrate assessments into the flow of the storyline so naturally that students don't even feel that they are being assessed. As students engage characters in conversations, reply to emails, create charts, build presentations or take a conference call, they demonstrate skills through a full range of contextually sensitive assessment types such as multiple-choice responders, short answer, drag-and-drop, single paragraph composition, and short essay. The natural assessment output is recorded, saved, and compiled into a single file. At the completion of the session, the file is downloaded to the student's desktop for submission to the instructor
Summary
Through cutting-edge experiential learning technologies, today's learning institutions have a tremendous opportunity to extend their campuses in innovative ways proven to increase course completion and student retention. By integrating a "virtual internship" modality into a course, institutions can better engage students by presenting material in contexts that are more relevant to life and improve retention by increasing student satisfaction. Institutions that successfully adapt learning architecture to this more student-centric orientation will be better prepared to produce intrinsically motivated, self-actualized learners who have a clear understanding of what is needed to be successful in both life and in the workforce.
