Showcase: The New Learner & The Global Collaboratory

UPDATE: In case you missed it or just want to share it with your colleagues, here is a link to the archived webinar recording: http://go.nmc.org/vjlxy
Some links to the individual presentations are included under the respective projects below.

9 am - 10 am Central

RSVP for this free, live webinar here: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=102900309812416

-Featured Projects-

NEW LEARNER:

"Project Ringtones" by India Council for Integral Education

The Student-Designed Learning Content for Mobile Devices Project, being conducted by the India Council for Integral Education (ICIE), will provide rural and urban students with severe economic and linguistic challenges in India with technology and educational expertise sufficient to create student-centered, project-based learning environments. The projects students will be asked to undertake involve creating software and educational content relevant to major national education priorities that include a $35 device called an e-slate and national 3G access that will allow them to connect anytime and anywhere.

The ICIE is working with a rural village school in Tamil Nadu and an urban slum school in Mumbai to help students develop this software for themselves and their communities. The project will provide a marginalized group of students with the opportunity to develop basic skills and knowledge that underlie the STEM disciplines. Middle and upper class schools in India are famous for their STEM-rich curriculum and successful STEM-related expertise, however this kind of education does not often extend past the more privileged classes to the children in poverty. This project will provide a window into how to extend the wealth of STEM+ knowledge and experience so that all children in India have access to strong STEM educational experiences.

First, using HP Servers, Virtual Rooms, and Tablet PCs, ICIE will provide at-risk schools with the technology and educational expertise needed to create student-centered, project-based learning environments — virtual environments where the students can more easily develop STEM skills. The results of this project will better inform models for future grassroots, culturally appropriate technology integration in developing nations.

"Reaching the World, Mapping the Mind: Global STEM+ Collaborations between College Study-Abroad Students, At-Risk Youth, Pre-Service Educators and Career Teachers" by Reach the World
Link to this presentation: http://prezi.com/zxlehyififzn/teaching-and-assessing-core-geography/?aut...

How do we prepare students to thrive in the global society of the 21st century? Reach The World’s (RTW) programs always aim to do just that. In this particular project, RTW focuses on fostering collaboration between marginalized secondary students and volunteers traveling in study abroad programs; and between pre-service teachers and in-service teachers. The significance in applying the RTW approach to The Rafael Hernandez Dual Language School in the Bronx is the nurturing it provides to at-risk, bilingual students, engaging them to respect and promote cultural diversity. Partnering with the school will be volunteers from the Communication, Computing and Technology in Education Department at Teachers College, Columbia University; and the U.S. Department of State’s Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program.

For each semester-long volunteer/classroom match, the volunteers will focus on either STEM+ or Social Studies themes, producing rich-media research content for the RTW website, participate in at least three videoconferences with their students, and exchange frequent project-based email communication. To further this relationship, every RTW classroom participates in the GeoGames curriculum, which ensures that students develop the core world geography skills that support deep engagement with global geographic issues. Students will utilize HP Tablet PCs to digitally complete mapping exercises.

To support RTW’s efforts at a teaching level, pre-service teachers from local colleges and universities are also matched up with classrooms, where they work with teams of three to four teachers, providing important technology support and training to the in-service teachers as they integrate RTW into their curriculums. By personalizing both the teaching and learning experiences, RTW strives to create model global citizens who understand how to wield the power of true collaboration to solve socially-pressing problems.

GLOBAL COLLABORATORY:

"Cairo Cloud Computer" by Cairo University - Faculty of Computers and Information
Link to this presentation: http://youtu.be/FjClJ_mnl-M

Imagine using the new wave of distributed, powerful computing environments as a means of solving large-scale problems. That is exactly what the Faculty of Computers and Information at Cairo University in Egypt hopes to do. Specifically, their target is social development problems in Africa. In doing so, the project will also investigate how cloud computing impacts the quality of the knowledge comprehension and work produced in both basic and advance computer science courses for 2,200 students, and ultimately, which courses in particular benefit the most.

The Cairo Cloud Computing project will be the first of its kind in Egypt, and will use HP servers, workstations, and Tablet PCs to allow their professors and lecturers to join forces with other institutions in Egypt and Africa, creating a super cloud offering nearly ubiquitous access for all the researchers who will be participating.

The cloud will minimize the costs of buying and maintaining computer resources for African researchers and maximize the current computing resources. Services will extend to the scientific community of Cairo University as well, and will not only develop staff awareness of cloud computing, but also help them solve their computationally intensive problems.

"Learning to Create a Better Built Environment: Activity Led Learning with Information and Communication Technology for a 21st Century Collaborative Global Education" by Coventry University

Communication is highly relevant to all industries, but is rarely a focus in disciplines like science, mathematics, and engineering that will fill the jobs that build out our world. The Department of Build Environment at Coventry University in the United Kingdom, in conjunction with the Pacific Northwest Center for Construction Education and Research at the University of Washington, is incorporating that explicit focus into their programs by exploring how global collaboration using cloud computing builds communication and interdisciplinary skills in the areas of Architecture, Engineering, and Construction. The project is connected with the Brain Gain initiative to seek expanded learning and teaching opportunities, and is specifically focused on Urbanization, Globalization, and Sustainability.

Students will initially participate in the project during their formative freshman year. During the first six weeks, freshmen in Civil Engineering and Building courses will be dispersed into small groups, and with each new task, the groups and each student’s role therein will continuously change to foster diverse experiences. Because of the fast-paced, changing nature of the students’ workgroups, the communication of the initial design must be accurate. HP Tablet PCs and Virtual Room will help students become fully immersed in collaborative activities and allow them to listen to podcasts that explore distinct communication styles. Ultimately, the impact of communication will be illuminated and measured in their teamwork skills.

In the final year of the project, all undergraduate students will work in ten-person, competitive teams to produce a design of a building, including outlines, costs, overarching company policies, and a construction plan — drawing upon their communication skills. Additionally, UC-DBE will use the Advanced Construction Technologies simulation centre to fine-tune students’ managerial and problem-solving skills on a virtual construction site.

• Project Showcases