The National Science Foundation has awarded researchers at Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia (UGA) $1.47 M for an exciting new program to benefit students studying science, technology engineering, and math (STEM). The 5-year grant funds the Georgia STEM Accessibility Alliance to build a 3-D virtual learning environment for high school and college students with disabilities as well as STEM faculty and teachers.
"The influence of digital media has changed the way young people learn, play and socialize," notes Robert Todd, principal investigator for Georgia Tech. "The grant will allow us to take advantage of the these new spaces and engage young people in a way that is fun, empowering, and effective."
Todd, along with Noel Gregg and Michael Hannafin of UGA, plans to build a one-of-a-kind virtual Mentoring Island where students meet and interact with mentors to address their STEM education needs. Participants will include students from Georgia Perimeter College, and the school systems of Georgia's Greene, Clarke, and Gwinnett counties. Georgia's Tools for Life (AT Act program) is a collaborating partner.
"There is terrific potential for this program model to integrate with our High School/High Tech curriculum and supports," notes AT Programs Manager Joy Kniskern of Georgia's Dept. of Labor. "We're excited to provide yet another avenue for mentorship and to help channel motivated students to this new virtual environment" (see HS/HT in this newsletter).
So what, exactly, is a Mentoring Island?
According to Todd, the Mentoring Island will be an online 3-D virtual world where students, teachers and faculty enter and interact through the use of avatars. (To get a feel for this technology, check out Second Life.)
And what is an avatar?
Avatars are animated characters. Each participant chooses an avatar to represent his/her physical self. Entering a virtual world is a bit like entering a Pixar movie. It's fun, appealing, and entirely in each participant's control. For example, on the Mentoring Island a student or teacher who uses a wheelchair in real life can continue to use a chair online, or s/he might choose to be someone entirely different, even fantastical.
How will the Mentoring Island teach?
Avatars will interact with one another in virtual classroom spaces designed to exemplify the best of universal design in the real world. In these fantasy learning environments, student participants will obtain real assistance: mentoring and teaching, social networking, academic support, transition assistance, and research participation. In addition, participating teachers and faculty will be able to virtually access training modules on universal design and evidence-based teaching strategies for their virtual and real-world classrooms and labs.
What are the GSAA's goals?
The project will serve as a pipeline between secondary and postsecondary institutions to strengthen students with disabilities' capacities to access and succeed in STEM programs across critical junctures: high school, two-year college, four-year college, graduate school. The program seeks to increase the number of students with disabilities enrolling in STEM classes and majors; increase their retention and graduation rates; and increase their rate of entry into STEM graduate programs. The researchers are excited that the model has potential to build a large user community of students and teachers who would not otherwise reach each other. They also see a potential broader application for the media to build national and international communities among STEM stakeholders.
Congratulations Georgia!
