2022 Conference Program

Wednesday, June 15th | Thursday, June 16th | Friday, June 17th

Wednesday, June 15th, 2022

All times are Eastern time. All sessions will be streamed online and all virtual sessions will be shown in an area at the in-person venue. In addition, all sessions will be recorded for registered attendees.
All rooms are on the 3rd floor of Faculty House, the event venue, unless otherwise noted.

11:30 AM - DOORS OPEN

12:30 PM - 1:45 PM - OPENING SESSION - TRACK 1 [IN-PERSON]
PRESIDENTIAL ROOM 1

12:30 PM - 12:45 PM - CONFERENCE INTRODUCTION [IN-PERSON]

Conference Introduction

David Guralnick, Ph.D.
President and CEO
Kaleidoscope Learning
New York, New York, USA

12:45 PM - 1:45 PM - KEYNOTE [IN-PERSON]

Keynote Speech

Ian Bogost, Ph.D.
Professor, Computer Science and Engineering
Professor and Director, Program in Film & Media Studies
Washington University in St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri, USA

1:45 PM - 2:15 PM - BREAK

2:15 PM - 4:15 PM - PARALLEL SESSIONS

TRACK 1 [IN-PERSON] - SESSION 1A
PRESIDENTIAL ROOM 1
Chair: Antonella Poce, Ph.D., University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Rome, Italy
2:15 PM - 4:15 PM

2:15 PM - 3:15 PM

Learning and Performance Analytics for the Digital Transformation of the Knowledge Ecosystem

Gary Dickelman, EPSScentral, Boynton Beach, Florida, USA

Organizations support employee and customer learning and performance most often with distinct systems, namely Content, Learning, and Knowledge delivery and management systems. The connections between these domains are often not recognized, and they are facilitated by subgroups that do not necessarily collaborate, leading to unnecessary costs around consistency, inaccuracy, and repository maintenance. This presentation frames a Knowledge Ecosystem model that normalizes these repositories, their search mechanisms, and the associated measures of performance. Metrics and analytics around key performance indicators (KPIs) are posited to enable a cost-efficient and sustainable digital transformation. Further, KPIs are framed around not just learning and learner/worker performance, but uncover the connections between L&P and organization goals, including profit and loss, new business, and growth.

Learning and Performance Analytics for the Digital Transformation of the Knowledge Ecosystem

Gary Dickelman

Organizations support employee and customer learning and performance most often with distinct systems, namely Content, Learning, and Knowledge delivery and management systems. The connections between these domains are often not recognized, and they are facilitated by subgroups that do not necessarily collaborate, leading to unnecessary costs around consistency, inaccuracy, and repository maintenance. This presentation frames a Knowledge Ecosystem model that normalizes these repositories, their search mechanisms, and the associated measures of performance. Metrics and analytics around key performance indicators (KPIs) are posited to enable a cost-efficient and sustainable digital transformation. Further, KPIs are framed around not just learning and learner/worker performance, but uncover the connections between L&P and organization goals, including profit and loss, new business, and growth.

3:15 PM - 3:45 PM

Effects of Guidance, Assistance, Narrative, Competition, Challenge, and Age on Performances in Digital Learning Games

Gila Kurtz, Ph.D., Holon Institute of Technology - HIT, Israel and Inbal Leuchter, Holon Institute of Technology - HIT, Israel

Recently, digital games have become popular in many fields, especially in learning. Studies show that digital game-based learning (DGBL) can create a stimulating environment that increases learners' motivation. However, to achieve these goals, we need to understand the role and impact of instructional elements design included in the games. In this study, we examined the effect of four-game elements on player performance: 1. guidance and assistance (including introductory instructions and guide assistance throughout the game); 2. narrative integration (including station order and depth of narrative); 3. competition; 4. challenge (size of the play area), and a background characteristic – players' age. The data collection was based on BIG DATA, which was obtained from the game platform that recorded scores of 3,281 users of nine different games played as part of a visit in a multidisciplinary museum specialized in local cultural materials either in family game mode (independent) or in multiplayer mode (guided) during the period 2015-2020…

Effects of Guidance, Assistance, Narrative, Competition, Challenge, and Age on Performances in Digital Learning Games

Gila Kurtz and Inbal Leuchter

Recently, digital games have become popular in many fields, especially in learning. Studies show that digital game-based learning (DGBL) can create a stimulating environment that increases learners' motivation. However, to achieve these goals, we need to understand the role and impact of instructional elements design included in the games. In this study, we examined the effect of four-game elements on player performance: 1. guidance and assistance (including introductory instructions and guide assistance throughout the game); 2. narrative integration (including station order and depth of narrative); 3. competition; 4. challenge (size of the play area), and a background characteristic – players' age. The data collection was based on BIG DATA, which was obtained from the game platform that recorded scores of 3,281 users of nine different games played as part of a visit in a multidisciplinary museum specialized in local cultural materials either in family game mode (independent) or in multiplayer mode (guided) during the period 2015-2020. The study results show that games played in a guided multiplayer mode stimulated better game performances; players performed better when narrative depth was significant, and the game area was limited. Separating the two research groups led to further findings: players in family mode performed better when the game instructions included a video, while in multiplayer games, participants performed better when a human guide was available to some extent. The results of this study and their implications can assist educators and game designers in planning more accurate and effective learning game activities that achieve their goals and spark motivation in their participants.

3:45 PM - 4:15 PM

Product Learning: What We Can Learn as Learning Professionals from Modern Tech Products

Patrick Blum, Ph.D., blum consulting, Aachen, Germany

All successful companies with a business model that is based on products powered by technology like HubSpot, Slack or Atlassian obsessively focus on providing user outcome and business value. To achieve this, these companies deliver individual features in their product(s) that change behaviors of people which positively influence metrics that matter to the business. This means they are able to connect the two things executives and stakeholders care most about: progress toward business impact and individual product feature ideas. Two of the most effective ways to connect the dots are Impact Mapping and Opportunity Solution Trees. As a chief product officer in a company that provided software as a service in the field of corporate learning, my team and I combined these two methods successfully for our product discovery. Over the past two years, I adapted this approach to provide learning solutions for clients…

Product Learning: What We Can Learn as Learning Professionals from Modern Tech Products

Patrick Blum

All successful companies with a business model that is based on products powered by technology like HubSpot, Slack or Atlassian obsessively focus on providing user outcome and business value. To achieve this, these companies deliver individual features in their product(s) that change behaviors of people which positively influence metrics that matter to the business. This means they are able to connect the two things executives and stakeholders care most about: progress toward business impact and individual product feature ideas. Two of the most effective ways to connect the dots are Impact Mapping and Opportunity Solution Trees. As a chief product officer in a company that provided software as a service in the field of corporate learning, my team and I combined these two methods successfully for our product discovery. Over the past two years, I adapted this approach to provide learning solutions for clients and help them to stop thinking in terms of projects and start thinking in terms of products that measurably change behavior and create learner value as well as business value. In this presentation you will see how this approach works and how it can help you as a learning professional to align your learning solutions with the needs of the learners and the needs of the business.

TRACK 2 [IN-PERSON] - SESSION 2A
BOARD ROOM
Chair: Kinga Petrovai, Ph.D., The Art & Science of Learning, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
2:15 PM - 4:15 PM

2:15 PM - 2:45 PM

Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) as Digital Spaces that are Collaborative, Adaptive, Inclusive, and Autonomous

Nada Dabbagh, Ph.D, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA

A Personal Learning Environment or PLE is a promising student-centered pedagogical approach that allows learners to leverage technology to build and pursue meaningful, adaptive, and flexible education pathways to accommodate their learning, work, and life goals, and become successful agents and curators of their own learning over their lifetimes. PLEs have the potential to support a student-centered learning ecosystem that is diverse, individualized, adaptive, integrative, transparent and skill based. By empowering learners to freely and strategically design their own learning journeys through PLEs, and supporting seamless transitions between a learner’s PLE and the broader education ecosystem, we will generate a more open, inclusive, and distributed learning ecosystem that benefits all education stakeholders and helps to address 21st century skills gaps that exist between education and the workplace…

Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) as Digital Spaces that are Collaborative, Adaptive, Inclusive, and Autonomous

Nada Dabbagh

A Personal Learning Environment or PLE is a promising student-centered pedagogical approach that allows learners to leverage technology to build and pursue meaningful, adaptive, and flexible education pathways to accommodate their learning, work, and life goals, and become successful agents and curators of their own learning over their lifetimes. PLEs have the potential to support a student-centered learning ecosystem that is diverse, individualized, adaptive, integrative, transparent and skill based. By empowering learners to freely and strategically design their own learning journeys through PLEs, and supporting seamless transitions between a learner’s PLE and the broader education ecosystem, we will generate a more open, inclusive, and distributed learning ecosystem that benefits all education stakeholders and helps to address 21st century skills gaps that exist between education and the workplace.

In this presentation, we describe the PLE, its origins and manifestations to date, using the following themes or perspectives:

• PLEs as new generation learning environments

• PLEs and personalized learning

• PLEs as a social learning experience

• PLEs and self-regulated learning

• PLEs and lifelong learning

• PLEs as a digital learning ecosystem

• PLEs as mindtools

• PLEs as a technosocial reality

• PLEs, data, and AI

• PLEs and Problem or Project Based Learning

Additionally, recent research related to college students’ perceptions of PLEs through the lens of digital tools, processes, and spaces will be shared. The findings of this research revealed that students perceived PLEs as making their learning experience more personal, connected, social, and open; and that their ideal PLE would include opportunities for collaboration and interaction, digital tools for organizing and visualizing learning content, progress tracking tools to help monitor their learning, and the use of effective technology to support a personalized, adaptive, flexible and self-directed learning experience.

2:45 PM - 3:15 PM

KoLidi: Collaborative Literary History Digitally and Interactively

Jens W. Ciecior, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

In a team with scholars from three German universities we are developing a collaborative and interactive course on (German) literary history from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century. German-language literary history is an integral part of German literary studies, and a major part in the educational training for the teaching profession in higher education. KoLidi aims to enable students to interact with historical sources in depth to learn about historical patterns and structures. Moreover, we seek to introduce students to different ways of historical thinking, methodologically as well as theoretically. In Germany, KoLiDi is the first and only attempt to use digital and collaborative tools to teach literary history in such ways at the university level. That is one of the reasons why all teaching materials we are producing are designed as open educational resources (OER) and we seek to foster exchange beyond our own institutions…

KoLidi: Collaborative Literary History Digitally and Interactively

Jens W. Ciecior

In a team with scholars from three German universities we are developing a collaborative and interactive course on (German) literary history from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century. German-language literary history is an integral part of German literary studies, and a major part in the educational training for the teaching profession in higher education. KoLidi aims to enable students to interact with historical sources in depth to learn about historical patterns and structures. Moreover, we seek to introduce students to different ways of historical thinking, methodologically as well as theoretically. In Germany, KoLiDi is the first and only attempt to use digital and collaborative tools to teach literary history in such ways at the university level. That is one of the reasons why all teaching materials we are producing are designed as open educational resources (OER) and we seek to foster exchange beyond our own institutions.

Literary Studies is, to the core, defined by collaborative conversations about texts, discourses, and their contexts. Working in a digital environment poses new challenges how to keep such a conversation going. How can close (analogue) individual readings and digital collaborative learning be productively combined? Or more precisely, how can we converge declarative and problem-oriented knowledge? According to this idea, all media content should perform two functions: convey declarative knowledge to the learners, and, what is more, stimulate student responses to integrate such knowledge into a larger context of problem-oriented knowledge acquisition through joint dialogue. Thus, we organize our courses in small groups of learners providing space for exchange and conversation.

To sum up, KoLiDi is characterized by its modular structure. Our courses are designed as Open Educational Resources (OER) with a collaborative approach. Entire courses, individual course elements or interactive content can be used and individually adapted or modified.

3:15 PM - 4:15 PM

How Learning and Development Can Realize the Opportunities Posed by the Great Resignation

Jimmy Pearson, Google, Salt Point, New York, USA and Donna Murdoch, Ed.D., Columbia University Teachers College, New York, New York, USA

“The Great Resignation” poses significant challenges to retaining employees, particularly mid-career professionals in innovative industries like technology and healthcare (“The Great Resignation”, World Economic Forum, November 2021). But significant opportunities for the learning and development accompany this challenge, as employers increasingly recognize how robust learning can support retention…

How Learning and Development Can Realize the Opportunities Posed by the Great Resignation

Jimmy Pearson and Donna Murdoch

“The Great Resignation” poses significant challenges to retaining employees, particularly mid-career professionals in innovative industries like technology and healthcare (“The Great Resignation,” World Economic Forum, November 2021). But significant opportunities for the learning and development accompany this challenge, as employers increasingly recognize how robust learning can support retention.

But are we ready to fully realize this opportunity? Fortunately, human resources departments - particularly in technology companies - can look to Product Managers’ expertise driving user engagement for innovative employee retention approaches. Reimagining a career as a “product” and the employee as a “user” can unlock new ways of thinking about the employee experience.

This includes integrating all elements of employees’ “user journeys” - including learning and development - into a coherent experience that meets their needs and drives business outcomes:

- Recruitment: Only 5 in 250 applications are ever seen by a human (TopResume). The rest are filtered out by artificial-intelligence-driven Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). What tradeoffs are we making in candidate experience in the pursuit of greater efficiency?
- Learning and development: Employees need to know the career benefit of learning. Learning experiences should map to competencies that support advancement and internal mobility, and employees should have the autonomy to explore them.
- Flex assignments: Opportunities to gain new skills must be paired with opportunities to demonstrate them in project-based work (e.g., short-term assignments, “20% projects”), supporting employees’ pursuit of advancement or internal mobility.
- Internal mobility: New Talent Marketplace Platform software allows employees to explore new opportunities without giving up their existing roles. Employers find “hidden talent” within their organizations, and employees can reimagine their careers in a lateral and linear fashion (Bersin, 2020).

To fully realize the opportunities posed by the Great Resignation, learning and development functions must thoughtfully integrate with other elements of employees’ user journeys to deliver a best-in-class employee experience.

TRACK 3 [IN-PERSON] - SESSION 3A
PRESIDENTIAL ROOM 3
Chair: Steven Schmidt, Ph.D., East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA
2:15 PM - 4:15 PM

2:15 PM - 3:15 PM

Creating Affective Collaborative Adult Teams and Groups Guided by Spiral Dynamic Theory

Lisa Brown, Ph.D., Pamela McCray and Jeff Neal, University of the Incarnate Word / Dreeben School of Education, Department of Graduate Studies, San Antonio, Texas, USA

The field of Adult and Continuing Education caters its teaching and learning for adults who are 25 years of age and older. This particular group brings to the higher education environment a unique set of skills and life experiences that require pedagogical delivery that is innovative and motivating. For example, older adults (who are often technology adverse) enter the higher education space as graduate students with reservations due to perceptions of disconnected and impersonal learning via online learning management systems (LMS) platforms. This proposal offers Spiral Dynamic Theory (SDT) as an instrument of course design scaffolding for contemporary graduate-level courses that integrate technology, embodied learning, and memetic ways of knowing for adults. Social constructivist worldviews aid in the delivery of this innovative learning that facilitates adult development through cultural diversity, student group collaborations, and team-based cooperation learning strategies. Spiral Dynamic theory helps adults recognize the deep-value systems at play within the group dynamics such that distributive leadership and interpersonal effectiveness for meeting communal goals are optimized in both academic and work environments...

Creating Affective Collaborative Adult Teams and Groups Guided by Spiral Dynamic Theory

Lisa Brown, Ph.D. Pamela McCray, MBA, and Jeff Neal, MS

The field of Adult and Continuing Education caters its teaching and learning for adults who are 25 years of age and older. This particular group brings to the higher education environment a unique set of skills and life experiences that require pedagogical delivery that is innovative and motivating. For example, older adults (who are often technology adverse) enter the higher education space as graduate students with reservations due to perceptions of disconnected and impersonal learning via online learning management systems (LMS) platforms. This proposal offers Spiral Dynamic Theory (SDT) as an instrument of course design scaffolding for contemporary graduate-level courses that integrate technology, embodied learning, and memetic ways of knowing for adults. Social constructivist worldviews aid in the delivery of this innovative learning that facilitates adult development through cultural diversity, student group collaborations, and team-based cooperation learning strategies. Spiral Dynamic theory helps adults recognize the deep-value systems at play within the group dynamics such that distributive leadership and interpersonal effectiveness for meeting communal goals are optimized in both academic and work environments. Spiral Dynamic Theory (SDT) is a theoretical framework of evolving psychosocial adult development using a color-coded mnemonic of hierarchical paradigms and worldview constructs identifying similarities and differences in human thinking. Ideally, adult learning progression moves from a simplistic to more complex neuropsychology and problem-solving capacity. However, there is the potential for entrenchment, progression, and regression of thinking with the open-ended SDT framework serving as an interpretive guide to advance innovaton. Units of culture, that are imitated and described as memes, are negotiated among group members who maintain goals to produce concepts of justice and outcome of group achievement.

3:15 PM - 3:45 PM

Promoting Innovative Technologies in Higher Education by Engaging Computer Science Students in Research Activities

Igor Miladinovic, Ph.D. and Sigrid Schefer-Wenzl, Ph.D., University of Applied Sciences Campus Vienna, Austria

In computer science degree programs, the rapid development of new technologies requires that students are able to learn about new technologies fast and independently. Research activities at a university are usually concerned with the study of issues related to some of these new technologies, and therefore represent an opportunity for students to gain experience with methods for analyzing and evaluating new technologies…

Promoting Innovative Technologies in Higher Education by Engaging Computer Science Students in Research Activities

Igor Miladinovic and Sigrid Schefer-Wenzl

In computer science degree programs, the rapid development of new technologies requires that students are able to learn about new technologies fast and independently. Research activities at a university are usually concerned with the study of issues related to some of these new technologies, and therefore represent an opportunity for students to gain experience with methods for analyzing and evaluating new technologies.

Involving students in research activities has several benefits for both students and the university. From the students’ perspective, the most important goals include the development of competences for: (1) learning innovative technologies, (2) solving relevant complex problems in a structured manner, (3) working in a team in a project-based environment, and (4) communicating research results. From a university perspective, the goals include: (1) a tool to recognize students with outstanding performance, (2) improved scalability in conducting research projects by outsourcing some tasks to students, and (3) promotion of research activities among students.

In this talk, we will present our approach to engaging computer science students in research activities. In our experience, students need to be trained to be able to participate in research projects. Therefore, we have introduced several research elements in our computer science degree programs. We also illustrate our experience with some specific examples where students have done the major part in a research project and the results of these projects.

With this approach, it was possible to involve constantly more students in our research projects, increase the attractiveness of our computer science education, and enable more research projects to be conducted.

3:45 PM - 4:15 PM

Combining Language Learning with Targeted Workplace Scenario Training

Maren Pauli, Babbel GmbH, Berlin, Germany and Tom Hope, Capeesh, Trondheim, Norway

With the ambition to create the best workplace training for international companies, Babbel and Capeesh have partnered to provide business customers with targeted workplace scenario trainers that are customized for the industry, and for the customer’s needs and wishes…

Combining Language Learning with Targeted Workplace Scenario Training

Maren Pauli and Matthew Smalley

With the ambition to create the best workplace training for international companies, Babbel and Capeesh have partnered to provide business customers with targeted workplace scenario trainers that are customized for the industry, and for the customer’s needs and wishes.

On-the-spot language training is combined with everyday workplace scenarios, helping employees feel comfortable with and confident in their learning language at work. The option of adding an extra teaching layer for workplace specifics is also offered.

The Babbel app provides progressive language courses, in which beginner learners can build up language skills and vocabulary that can then be solidified in business specific courses. On top of that, the Capeesh app provides the workplace training. This is customized for every single customer, addressing workplace specifics like vocabulary used on the job, or work rules that must be followed.

This presentation covers an example scenario of a US Fire Department providing its firefighters and first responders with the necessary language skills to take on calls, and deal with car accidents, in Spanish.

TRACK 4 [VIRTUAL] - SESSION 4A
PRESIDENTIAL ROOM 2A
Chair: Jennifer Silverest, Cisco Systems, Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA
2:15 PM - 4:15 PM

2:15 PM - 2:45 PM

Digitalization and Advantages of e-learning for Workers in Hazardous Areas

Morten Aasen, Trainor, Tønsberg, Norway

With so many poorly designed and written courses, no wonder e-learning often has a bad reputation. However, designed right, e-learning is a highly pedagogic, entertaining, and effective training method and can be used as stand-alone training or blended learning together with classroom and practical training…

Digitalization and Advantages of e-learning for Workers in Hazardous Areas

Morten Aasen

With so many poorly designed and written courses, no wonder e-learning often has a bad reputation. However, designed right, e-learning is a highly pedagogic, entertaining, and effective training method and can be used as stand-alone training or blended learning together with classroom and practical training.

It's all about increasing knowledge and doing training as efficiently as possible. The key to success lies in the quality, and creative use of new technology that makes e-learning a preferred choice of training on specific subjects.

How can we truly create high quality e-learning that engages and motivates the students?

For most workers, training is purely a necessity. To change this attitude, we need to produce high quality courses, engaging and inspiring every worker to learn, develop and remember. Trainor will discuss the processes needed to ensure content quality and the best learning outcome for the targeted audience, how to improve engagement and the highest learning retention and use of e-learning in combination with classroom and practical training to reduce knowledge fatigue and improve learning experience.

2:45 PM - 3:15 PM

Experiential Learning in Digital Contexts: A Case Study

Christoph Knoblauch, Ph.D., University of Education, Ludwigsburg, Tuebingen, BW, Germany

Focusing on the intimate relation of experience and education, this paper discusses evaluation findings from a digital project-based course in the higher education sector. The course engages students in the implementation and reflection of projects in the field of education. The empirical findings, therefore, focus on students’ experiences in digital project-based settings. This paper analyses the planning, execution, and critical reflection of projects in the context of experiential learning, taking into account the various digital settings of the course and the projects. It thereby discusses the structure, the digital methodology, and the outcomes of the course with a focus on the experience of the participating students. The study uses digital qualitative interviews for the evaluation research. By doing so, the study investigates and reflects the quality of students’ experiences and their possible influences upon learning. It also discusses the question of how these experiences can be constructively implemented to improve future digital or blend-ed-learning scenarios in the higher education sector.

Experiential Learning in Digital Contexts: A Case Study

Christoph Knoblauch

Focusing on the intimate relation of experience and education, this paper discusses evaluation findings from a digital project-based course in the higher education sector. The course engages students in the implementation and reflection of projects in the field of education. The empirical findings, therefore, focus on students’ experiences in digital project-based settings. This paper analyses the planning, execution, and critical reflection of projects in the context of experiential learning, taking into account the various digital settings of the course and the projects. It thereby discusses the structure, the digital methodology, and the outcomes of the course with a focus on the experience of the participating students. The study uses digital qualitative interviews for the evaluation research. By doing so, the study investigates and reflects the quality of students’ experiences and their possible influences upon learning. It also discusses the question of how these experiences can be constructively implemented to improve future digital or blend-ed-learning scenarios in the higher education sector.

3:15 PM - 4:15 PM

INCLUSIVE LEARNING TRACK

What You Say Matters: How to Make Your Course Inclusive to All

Cristina Vélez and Liz Davie, Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, USA

Online learning allows for the flexibility of accessing course content across time zones placing even more responsibility on students to take control of their own learning. While online instruction may not feel the same as live, in-class instruction, the goal of creating courses that are inclusive, accessible, and meaningful remains even when students are not “geographically together”. During our presentation, we will discuss the importance of designing an online learning environment with the goal of meeting the needs of all learners. We will begin with a quick look at CAST’s UDL guidelines showing a Canvas course design that meets both ADA and UDL standards.

Throughout the presentation, we will bring to light the implicit biases that can often be identified in an online learning environment, providing examples of inclusive design practices. We will bring awareness of local colloquialisms and phrases, address assessment expectations, and provide strategies for acknowledging and embracing student differences to better meet the learning needs of all students.

What You Say Matters: How to Make Your Course Inclusive to All

Cristina Vélez and Natalie Boulton

Online learning allows for the flexibility of accessing course content across time zones placing even more responsibility on students to take control of their own learning. While online instruction may not feel the same as live, in-class instruction, the goal of creating courses that are inclusive, accessible, and meaningful remains even when students are not “geographically together”. During our presentation, we will discuss the importance of designing an online learning environment with the goal of meeting the needs of all learners. We will begin with a quick look at CAST’s UDL guidelines showing a Canvas course design that meets both ADA and UDL standards.

Throughout the presentation, we will bring to light the implicit biases that can often be identified in an online learning environment, providing examples of inclusive design practices. We will bring awareness of local colloquialisms and phrases, address assessment expectations, and provide strategies for acknowledging and embracing student differences to better meet the learning needs of all students.

TRACK 5 [VIRTUAL] - SESSION 5A
PRESIDENTIAL ROOM 2B
Chair: Maria Rosaria Re, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Rome, Italy
2:15 PM - 4:15 PM

2:15 PM - 2:45 PM

The Notebook to Reflect on the Meaning of Life: An Educational Proposal for the Guidance of Young Migrants

Concetta La Rocca and Massimo Margottini, Roma Tre University, Rome, Italy

This work presents the application of the Notebook to Reflect on the Meaning of Life in the CPIA (Provincial Centers for Adult Education) in Rome (Italy). The experience is part of the FARO (FAre Reti e Orientare - Make networks and Guidance) project, coordinated by Massimo Margottini, co-financed by the EU and the Italian Ministry of the Interior (Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund 2014-2020). The project, which ended on March 31, 2022, had the objective of experimenting with the construction of an integrated network system aimed at responding to the training and work needs of citizens of Third Countries in some Italian territories. Through the application of different educational tools and methodologies, a connection was made between knowledge, skills and metacognitive and metariflexive skills (Cornoldi, 1995; Hacker, Dunlosky & Graesser, 2009). So it makes possible the development of a person capable of acting, reflecting, modifying and continually adapting his own actions to achieving the set objectives and being able to carry out a more general life and professional project (Guichard, 2013), following a life- long and life-wide and therefore also life-span (Baltes, 1987). The Notebook to Reflect on the Meaning of Life fits into this framework and places the theme of reflection as a key element from which to start to develop in young migrants those metacognitive skills that can allow them to act consciously and as protagonists in their own educational and professional growth path (Dewey (1938; Pellerey, 2004; 2007). The QSV, built on the basis of the studies of Mezirow (1999), Bernaud (2015) and Mancinelli (2008), is divided into six pages containing the activities that the subject will have to carry out for developing his/her personal guidance path through the reflection on his own values and the narration of his real and imagined path (La Rocca & Margottini, 2018).

The Notebook to Reflect on the Meaning of Life: An Educational Proposal for the Guidance of Young Migrants

Concetta La Rocca and Massimo Margottini

This work presents the application of the Notebook to Reflect on the Meaning of Life in the CPIA (Provincial Centers for Adult Education) in Rome (Italy). The experience is part of the FARO (FAre Reti e Orientare - Make networks and Guidance) project, coordinated by Massimo Margottini, co-financed by the EU and the Italian Ministry of the Interior (Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund 2014-2020). The project, which ended on March 31, 2022, had the objective of experimenting with the construction of an integrated network system aimed at responding to the training and work needs of citizens of Third Countries in some Italian territories. Through the application of different educational tools and methodologies, a connection was made between knowledge, skills and metacognitive and metariflexive skills (Cornoldi, 1995; Hacker, Dunlosky & Graesser, 2009). So it makes possible the development of a person capable of acting, reflecting, modifying and continually adapting his own actions to achieving the set objectives and being able to carry out a more general life and professional project (Guichard, 2013), following a life- long and life-wide and therefore also life-span (Baltes, 1987). The Notebook to Reflect on the Meaning of Life fits into this framework and places the theme of reflection as a key element from which to start to develop in young migrants those metacognitive skills that can allow them to act consciously and as protagonists in their own educational and professional growth path (Dewey (1938; Pellerey, 2004; 2007). The QSV, built on the basis of the studies of Mezirow (1999), Bernaud (2015) and Mancinelli (2008), is divided into six pages containing the activities that the subject will have to carry out for developing his/her personal guidance path through the reflection on his own values and the narration of his real and imagined path (La Rocca & Margottini, 2018).

2:45 PM - 3:15 PM

A Project-Based Learning Experience through a Double Interaction between Virtuality and Reality: A Comparative Study

Luigina Mortari, Ph.D., Roberta Silva, Ph.D. and Alessia Bevilacqua, Ph.D., University of Verona, Verona, Italy

Collaborative learning (also online collaborative learning) is a crucial topic in the debate about Higher Education (Dillenbourg, 1999, Reeves, Herrington & Oliver, 2004, van der Linden et al., 2020) and more recently this issue has been addressed focusing on the opportunities connected to hybrid and blended learning, particularly after the pandemic (Chen & Chiou, 2014, Hawang, 2018, Singh et al. 2021). Although this issue has been addressed from several points of view, there are still few scholars who have analyzed collaborative learning experiences conducted in the presence and parallel experiences conducted online through a comparative approach (Gutiérrez-Braojos, 2019 Syafril at al. 2021)…

A Project-Based Learning Experience through a Double Interaction between Virtuality and Reality: A Comparative Study

Luigina Mortari, Roberta Silva and Alessia Bevilacqua

Collaborative learning (also online collaborative learning) is a crucial topic in the debate about Higher Education (Dillenbourg, 1999, Reeves, Herrington & Oliver, 2004, van der Linden et al., 2020) and more recently this issue has been addressed focusing on the opportunities connected to hybrid and blended learning, particularly after the pandemic (Chen & Chiou, 2014, Hawang, 2018, Singh et al. 2021). Although this issue has been addressed from several points of view, there are still few scholars who have analyzed collaborative learning experiences conducted in the presence and parallel experiences conducted online through a comparative approach (Gutiérrez-Braojos, 2019 Syafril at al. 2021)

The contribution here proposed aims to deal with this topic, starting from an experience conducted within a teaching course belonging to the Combined Bachelor and Master's Degree Course in Primary Education of the University of Verona (Italy).

Within this course had been proposed for several years a collaborative learning path inspired by Project-Based Learning: following the new needs that emerged during the pandemic, starting from 2020/2021 the path has been changed and two parallel paths have been conducted, one devoted to the students who attended the course "in presence" and one devoted to the ones who attended the course online. The planning of the learning experience was guided by the need to modify the elements involved in the original path in order to keep them consistent with the specificities of the medium adopted, in compliance with the training objectives of the course. At the end of the course, a survey was proposed to the students to investigate the effectiveness of this “double experience” in order to optimize the path for the future.

3:15 PM - 3:45 PM

Implementation of a Signature Pedagogy in an Online Course for Music Teachers

Svetlana Karkina, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Castile and León, Spain and Elena Dyganova, Ph.D., Kazan Federal University, Kazan, Tatarstan Republic, Russian Federation

The paper presents the implementation of music education at the university by the means of online learning using the signature pedagogy as a teaching strategy. Based on the literature review was stated the gap in research works covering learning strategies in music education which would allow students to take a more active role in getting knowledge in accordance with personal needs. Due to the shifting of the educational process to the online way in the emergency situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, the relevance of online courses which will satisfy future music teachers' educational goals extremely increased…

Implementation of a Signature Pedagogy in an Online Course for Music Teachers

Svetlana Karkina and Elena Dyganova

The paper presents the implementation of music education at the university by the means of online learning using the signature pedagogy as a teaching strategy. Based on the literature review was stated the gap in research works covering learning strategies in music education which would allow students to take a more active role in getting knowledge in accordance with personal needs. Due to the shifting of the educational process to the online way in the emergency situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, the relevance of online courses which will satisfy future music teachers' educational goals extremely increased. In order to design an online course for future music teachers based on signature pedagogy, the term coined by Shulman Lee was studied. The comparative analysis of music education standards in the USA, European countries and Russia let us determine the set of teachers` professional activities in general school music class.

According to its purpose, in the study were characterized three dimensions of the signature pedagogy in musical education including surface, deep and implicit structure, and implemented by the means of SPOC (Small Private Online Course) which structure provided lectures, internet resources, collection of students' performance works, collaborative work in the professional field and discussion of the learning experience. The effectiveness of the online course was proved in the experimental work at Kazan Federal University. The main contribution was the design of a small private online course based on the signature pedagogy which provided learning activities according to the specific features of music teacher professional practice.

3:45 PM - 4:15 PM

Changes in Students' Technology Acceptance of an LMS after a Variety of Online Learning Experiences

Yan Dai, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA and Xi Lin, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA

From 2020 to 2021, China experienced the outburst, under-control, and resurfacing of the COVID-19 pandemic (Wang et al., 2021). The fluctuating forced universities in China to switch between face-to-face and online courses. In the spring semester of 2020, for the first time, all Chinese universities launched courses entirely online, and Chinese college students took classes in a completely online environment. Thus, many Chinese college students were forced to experience online learning without readiness. In the spring semester of 2021, some Chinese universities moved to complete online learning again due to the resurfacing of the pandemic. However, students’ early online learning experiences from the previous semester might benefit their second time online learning. With this assumption, our research takes the capacity of the nationwide online learning in China and aims to explore whether Chinese college students’ technology acceptance towards using the Learning Management Systems (LMSs) will vary with their online learning experience increase…

Changes in Students' Technology Acceptance of an LMS after a Variety of Online Learning Experiences

Yan Dai and Xi Lin

From 2020 to 2021, China experienced the outburst, under-control, and resurfacing of the COVID-19 pandemic (Wang et al., 2021). The fluctuating forced universities in China to switch between face-to-face and online courses. In the spring semester of 2020, for the first time, all Chinese universities launched courses entirely online, and Chinese college students took classes in a completely online environment. Thus, many Chinese college students were forced to experience online learning without readiness. In the spring semester of 2021, some Chinese universities moved to complete online learning again due to the resurfacing of the pandemic. However, students’ early online learning experiences from the previous semester might benefit their second time online learning. With this assumption, our research takes the capacity of the nationwide online learning in China and aims to explore whether Chinese college students’ technology acceptance towards using the Learning Management Systems (LMSs) will vary with their online learning experience increase.

This study used the extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to explore Chinese college students’ technology acceptance using LMS with their learning experience variation between two semesters. Results indicated a statistically marginally significant increase in TAM scores of the same student group as their online learning experiences add up. To be specific, there was a statistically significant increase in Facilitating Conditions, Perceived Usefulness, and Attitude toward Using. No statistically significant difference was found regarding students’ perceptions of System Quality, Perceived Self-efficacy, Perceived Ease of Use, and Behavioral Intention to Use. Findings demonstrate that students’ previous online learning experiences can significantly enhance their acceptance of using the LMS.

TRACK 6 [VIRTUAL] - SESSION 6A
PRESIDENTIAL ROOM 2C
Chair: Anelise Spyer, Docta, São Paulo, Brazil
2:15 PM - 4:15 PM

2:15 PM - 3:15 PM

Emotional Intelligence: A Journey Inside the Emotional Life within an Immersive Interactive Setting

Barbara Bertagni, Ph.D., Logosnet, Houston, Texas, USA, Roxane Gardner, M.D., MSHPEd, D.Sc, Harvard Center for Medical Simulation, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, Rebecca Minehart, M.D., Harvard Center for Medical Simulation, Boston, Massachusetts, USA and Fernando Salvetti, Ph.D., Logosnet, Houston, Texas, USA

In this workshop, faculty will present an engaging and interactive program intended for people willing to increase their emotional awareness and to learn how to master emotional intelligence…

Emotional Intelligence: A Journey Inside the Emotional Life within an Immersive Interactive Setting

Barbara Bertagni, Roxane Gardner, Rebecca Minehart and Fernando Salvetti

In this workshop, faculty will present an engaging and interactive program intended for people willing to increase their emotional awareness and to learn how to master emotional intelligence. Emotions are an essential part of being human: whether we experience them deeply, overcontrol them or let them overwhelm us, emotions have a big influence on our experiences, our choices and our quality of life. This workshop is like a journey inside the emotional life to understand what emotions are, how they are made and what effect they have on our decisions and behavior in order to enhance our emotional balance and relational success.

Faculty will demonstrate an effective way to use the e-REAL immersive setting to improve emotional awareness, to train emotional granularity and increase empathy. The process of learning by doing within the e-REAL online interactive setting is highly effective and leaves the learners with a memorable experience.

Faculty will present the use of extended reality (VR, AR, MR), both online by the e-REAL cloud platform and on site by the e-REAL mobile pop-up that makes available extended reality into a brick-and-mortar setting with specific "phygital" elements (interactive systems to allow touch, gesture and vocal interaction with avatars, holograms and digital objects as well as real ones). Both the e-REAL solutions (online platform and mobile pop-up) are glasses-free. In an immersive setting, learners are actively involved, allowed to interact with challenging situation digitally displayed visible in a glasses-free mode with fully cognitive and emotional involvement. Visual storytelling techniques are part of the online simulation scene, to represent a realistic context where learners are proactively involved to analyze scenarios and events, to interact with different virtual people training their emotional intelligence. Faculty will explore the neuropsychology of emotions, how anxiety affects people and behaviors, the power of positive energy and self-realization.

By the end of this workshop, participants will have: - Gained an insight into emotional intelligence - Explored ways to advance personal emotional intelligence in an extended reality setting - Exercised their empathy facing realistic situations.

3:15 PM - 4:15 PM

Effective Extended Reality: A Mixed-Reality Simulation Demonstration with Digitized and Holographic Tools and Intelligent Avatars

Fernando Salvetti, Ph.D., Logosnet, Houston, Texas, USA, Roxane Gardner, M.D., MSHPEd, D.Sc, Harvard Center for Medical Simulation, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, Rebecca Minehart, M.D., Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Center for Medical Simulation, Boston, Massachusetts, USA and Barbara Bertagni, Ph.D., Logosnet, Houston, Texas, USA

In this workshop, faculty will demonstrate an effective way to use extended reality (VR, AR, MR), both online by the e-REAL cloud platform and on site by the e-REAL mobile pop-up that makes available extended reality into a brick-and-mortar setting with specific "phygital" elements (interactive systems to allow touch, gesture and vocal interaction with avatars, holograms and digital objects as well as real ones). Both the e-REAL solutions (online platform and mobile pop-up) are glasses-free…

Effective Extended Reality: A Mixed-Reality Simulation Demonstration with Digitized and Holographic Tools and Intelligent Avatars

Fernando Salvetti, Roxane Gardner, Rebecca Minehart and Barbara Bertagni

In this workshop, faculty will demonstrate an effective way to use extended reality (VR, AR, MR), both online by the e-REAL cloud platform and on site by the e-REAL mobile pop-up that makes available extended reality into a brick-and-mortar setting with specific "phygital" elements (interactive systems to allow touch, gesture and vocal interaction with avatars, holograms and digital objects as well as real ones). Both the e-REAL solutions (online platform and mobile pop-up) are glasses-free. Faculty will present a simulation scenario that participants will dry run during the workshop. A debriefing will be part of the experience. Learning objectives:
1. Identifying which virtual, augmented and mixed reality solutions can be implemented to reach long-lasting learning results, both online and on site into a brick-and-mortar facility.
2. Being part of an effective and memorable learning experience.
3. Learning how to design experiences for virtual, augmented and mixed reality for both online and phygital settings. Faculty will demonstrate how to design learning experiences by involving learners in authentic stories that address key issues and realistic concerns, because human beings respond well to things that are relevant to them and context related. The situation-impact-resolution (SIR) format will be presented as an effective tool (with a proven track record) to establish story context for each simulation. This derives from Aristotle’s Poetics and focuses on the sequence drama, suspense, and resolution—to use with epistemological acumen, within a systemic paradigm. Learners will be invited to play specific roles in order to take decisions in realistic scenarios, mentored by the faculty in case of need. Attendees are expected to be able to embed within their educational programs - both on line and on site - innovative modules based on virtual, augmented and mixed reality delivery methods.

TRACK 7 [VIRTUAL] - SESSION 7A
PRESIDENTIAL ROOM 2D
Chair: Bruce Cronquist, Dell Technologies, Seattle, Washington, USA
2:15 PM - 4:15 PM

2:15 PM - 3:15 PM

Give Me 5 for Digital Fitness: A New Approach to Online Learning

Ruth Eichholtz and Oliver Grobs, EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

In classic webinars, a significant amount of content is conveyed in a short time. Participants often feel overwhelmed and do not take the time after the webinar to deepen what they have learned or to put it into practice. Learning psychology says that most people learn through practical exercises. These usually come up short in classic webinars…

Give Me 5 for Digital Fitness: A New Approach to Online Learning

Ruth Eichholtz and Oliver Grobs

In classic webinars, a significant amount of content is conveyed in a short time. Participants often feel overwhelmed and do not take the time after the webinar to deepen what they have learned or to put it into practice. Learning psychology says that most people learn through practical exercises. These usually come up short in classic webinars.

With our learning approach in Give Me 5 for Digital Fitness, we want to turn this disadvantage around for the benefit of the participants. Analogous to an Escape Room, the user has to complete an exercise to get to the next one. These tasks are very low-threshold so that the user remains motivated to complete further exercises. For this purpose, every day the user receives new exercises on a chosen topic, with a total time invest of about 5 min. Advantages of this method:
• Learning as part of the work routine
• Motivation through a sense of achievement when working on the exercises
• Sustainable knowledge transfer through "learning by doing”
• Flatten the forgetting curve
• Additional motivation through gamification elements
• Very low daily time requirement.

In this session, we will show the development path of Give Me 5 for Digital Fitness, present the current state of development, and share first user experiences.

3:15 PM - 4:15 PM

Convergence Science: Adaptive Scaffolding toward Transdisciplinary Collaboration

Mara Alagic, Ph.D., Maria Sclafani, Ph.D., Nathan Filbert, Ph.D., Glyn Rimmington, Ph.D., Zelalem Demissie, Ph.D., Atri Dutta, Ph.D., Aaron Bowen, Ph.D., Ethan Lindsay, Ph.D., Meghann Kuhlmann, Ph.D., Ajita Rattani, Ph.D., and Atul Ra, Ph.D., Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas, USA

Complexities of contemporary global challenges require experts from various disciplines to work together. Since every field of knowledge has its unique language and disciplinary culture, transdisciplinary learning through the collaborative inquiry presents yet another challenge when a group of disciplinary experts starts working together in the context where various disciplines are ‘expected’ to transcend each other to form a new holistic approach. To foster vigorous collaboration and sustain constructive interaction it is necessary to understand the process of merging ideas, research designs, theories, methodologies, and technologies from various fields of knowledge and collaborative sense-making. The adaptive scaffolding model towards this kind of transdisciplinary collaboration has been developed during the authors’ collaboration in two convergence projects focused on some of the current societal needs: Disaster Resilience Analytics and Smart Fusion Material research with attention to socio-economic aspects as well as public and environmental policy. Both project teams included researchers across a midwest university, from STEM disciplines, social sciences, humanities, and library science…

Convergence Science: Adaptive Scaffolding toward Transdisciplinary Collaboration

Mara Alagic, Maria Sclafani, Nathan Filbert and Glyn Rimmington

Complexities of contemporary global challenges require experts from various disciplines to work together. Since every field of knowledge has its unique language and disciplinary culture, transdisciplinary learning through the collaborative inquiry presents yet another challenge when a group of disciplinary experts starts working together in the context where various disciplines are ‘expected’ to transcend each other to form a new holistic approach. To foster vigorous collaboration and sustain constructive interaction it is necessary to understand the process of merging ideas, research designs, theories, methodologies, and technologies from various fields of knowledge and collaborative sense-making. The adaptive scaffolding model towards this kind of transdisciplinary collaboration has been developed during the authors’ collaboration in two convergence projects focused on some of the current societal needs: Disaster Resilience Analytics and Smart Fusion Material research with attention to socio-economic aspects as well as public and environmental policy. Both project teams included researchers across a midwest university, from STEM disciplines, social sciences, humanities, and library science. Critically co-reflecting on the initial and ongoing challenges in finding and revising the convergence path to move the inquiry forward, we recognized some patterns in our collaboration that inspired a moment of stepping away from the main task and discussing the process we were going through. That led to deeper conversations about forms of integration of disciplines and particularly transdisciplinarity as the comprehensive purposeful amalgamation of the disciplines generating new understanding and mindsets that transcends what each individual member brought to the collaborative challenge. A resulting adaptive scaffolding model that we would like to share captures the way a group of experts might be able to productively immerse in a successful collaborative transdisciplinary inquiry.

4:15 PM - 4:30 PM - MINI-BREAK

4:30 PM - 6:00 PM - PARALLEL SESSIONS

TRACK 1 [IN-PERSON] - SESSION 1B
PRESIDENTIAL ROOM 1
Chair: Antonella Poce, Ph.D., University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Rome, Italy
4:30 PM - 6:00 PM

4:30 PM - 5:30 PM

BreakThrough Communication in a Hybrid World: Amplifying Interactive, Experiential Learning

Susan Glaser, Ph.D and Peter Glaser, Ph.D., Glaser & Associates Inc., Eugene, Oregon, USA and Carol Shuherk, Ph.D., University of Rochester, Simon Business School, Pittsford, New York, USA

BreakThrough Communication is an evidence-based hybrid learning initiative that strengthens organizational outcomes by boosting communication in individuals and teams. It is grounded in over 35 years of our published research, honored by the International Association of Business Communication for bridging communication theory and practice. There are three courses in the series:

BreakThrough Conflict: Navigating Challenging Conversations

Hardwiring Teamwork: A Blueprint for Engagement

Persuasion & Influence: Presenting with Impact…

BreakThrough Communication in a Hybrid World: Amplifying Interactive, Experiential Learning

Susan Glaser Ph.D, Peter Glaser, Ph.D and Carol Shuherk

BreakThrough Communication is an evidence-based hybrid learning initiative that strengthens organizational outcomes by boosting communication in individuals and teams. It is grounded in over 35 years of our published research, honored by the International Association of Business Communication for bridging communication theory and practice. There are three courses in the series:

BreakThrough Conflict: Navigating Challenging Conversations
Hardwiring Teamwork: A Blueprint for Engagement
Persuasion & Influence: Presenting with Impact

As researchers and professors of experiential, outcome-based learning for 40 years, our key challenge in this initiative: Powering experiential learning in a virtual context both synchronously and asynchronously. Our commitment to the principles of andragogy, the science of teaching adult learners, meant embracing new technology to create interactive virtual learning, with data as our foundation. Self-paced video courses provide foundational knowledge on a schedule convenient for each learner. These video courses include engagement activities and interactive workbooks, so learners participate in their learning, instead of being a passive spectator. Live virtual workshops are customized around examples and case studies that address actual organizational communication challenges, further boosting engagement. Each learner interacts, practices and gets feedback in facilitated breakout rooms in this collaborative, skill-based practicum. Within 30 days following training, key performance metrics are measured and participant learning evaluated using surveys, interviews, and follow up sessions. This evidence-based programming has already accumulated enduring results and international endorsements.

The last 18 months has revealed deep fissures around diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice that many organizations are seeking to discuss and resolve. The challenge: How to hardwire BreakThrough Communication skills so that divergent perspectives become an asset leading to better decisions and stronger relationships. The goal is to engrain communication best practices within people and teams with an evidence-based virtual learning option that is engaging, energizing, and powerful.

5:30 PM - 6:00 PM

Teacher Training Capacity Development in Blended & Online Pedagogy - Maldives

Anthony Ralston, AR Educational Technology Inc., Edmonton, Alberta, CA

The overarching premise of the project to be presented is based on a collaboration with UNICEF to provide capacity development support to the National Institute of Education, Maldives. The project aimed to develop the capacity of curriculum developers, teacher educators, and teachers in blended learning and online pedagogy and assessment. The presentation outlines the delivery methodologies underpinning the training inclusive of student-centered learning, online pedagogy assessment methods, and aspects related to disability-inclusive pedagogy in blended and flipped teaching approaches. The training sessions were delivered virtually (from Canada) to over 350 teachers (National Institute of Education), teacher trainers, and curriculum developers. They included policy guidelines for blended learning in the school education system. The presentation will consist of survey results from the four-month training project in this presentation.

Teacher Training Capacity Development in Blended & Online Pedagogy - Maldives

Anthony Ralston

The overarching premise of the project to be presented is based on a collaboration with UNICEF to provide capacity development support to the National Institute of Education, Maldives. The project aimed to develop the capacity of curriculum developers, teacher educators, and teachers in blended learning and online pedagogy and assessment. The presentation outlines the delivery methodologies underpinning the training inclusive of student-centered learning, online pedagogy assessment methods, and aspects related to disability-inclusive pedagogy in blended and flipped teaching approaches. The training sessions were delivered virtually (from Canada) to over 350 teachers (National Institute of Education), teacher trainers, and curriculum developers. They included policy guidelines for blended learning in the school education system. The presentation will consist of survey results from the four-month training project in this presentation.

TRACK 2 [IN-PERSON] - SESSION 2B
BOARD ROOM
Chair: Patricia Behar, Ph.D., Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
4:30 PM - 6:00 PM

4:30 PM - 5:30 PM

Adapt to Learners: Practitioner Levels and Practice Support Methodologies [Virtual Talk]

Alicia Haulbrook, Fiserv, Alpharetta, Georgia, USA

You have a learner who does not meet the prerequisites. How do you adapt? You can list prerequisites and/or require them. Inevitably, there are learners that enter the classroom without the appropriate background knowledge for a successful learning experience. Technical training, where the class is relatively short and learners need to be able to return to their job and implement what they learned, adds another layer of difficulty…

Adapt to Learners: Practitioner Levels and Practice Support Methodologies

Alicia Haulbrook

You have a learner who does not meet the prerequisites. How do you adapt? You can list prerequisites and/or require them. Inevitably, there are learners that enter the classroom without the appropriate background knowledge for a successful learning experience. Technical training, where the class is relatively short and learners need to be able to return to their job and implement what they learned, adds another layer of difficulty. It is your job as a trainer to do whatever you can to ensure learners are prepared for success when they leave your classroom. In a class with a wide range of experiences, you must be able to pivot with your learners. Resulting from an immediate need to solve for various experience levels in a technical training classroom, and inspired by Ken Blanchard’s Situational Leadership II ®, a Learning and Development department created a theory for identifying and then adjusting to various learner levels in one training session. Further tested through classroom experiences and then adjusted, Practitioner Levels and Practice Support Methodologies is a proven approach to help ensure learners are ready for work once they leave the classroom. To succeed, trainers must first identify the practitioner level of each learner through simple questions and then adapt based on various coaching techniques ranging from detailed coaching to pushing more experienced learners to dig deeper independently.

5:30 PM - 6:00 PM

The New Workplace Learning Landscape after COVID-19 Lockdowns

Veronica Chehtman, AySA SA, Ciudad Autonoma de B, CABA, Argentina

In March 2020, as a consequence of the lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic, our training center closed the doors and our team had to reshape the usual practices.

Training and development switched to emergency remote overnight. Two years later, we never returned to “classrooms as usual”. Organizations seek for less commuting, face new training needs, new safety conditions and new demands towards training proposals…

The New Workplace Learning Landscape after COVID-19 Lockdowns

Veronica Chehtman

In March 2020, as a consequence of the lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic, our training center closed the doors and our team had to reshape the usual practices.

Training and development switched to emergency remote overnight. Two years later, we never returned to “classrooms as usual”. Organizations seek for less commuting, face new training needs, new safety conditions and new demands towards training proposals.

Lockdown taught us that learning can be not only continuous and permanent but also ubiquitous. Moreover, that is a leading process to keep workforce connected and committed in a workplace that will never be the same.

We propose to make the most of what we learned in 2020 and develop a 360° training model as a way to offer as many opportunities to learn and as just in time as possible. A new model emerged. We will discuss some features of the model and show examples of successful implementations:
1. Continuous Learning culture
2. “Learning from the workplace” approach
3. Everywhere learning devices
4. Agile L&D mindset
5. Learning-focused Leadership
6. Meaningful Interaction possibilities
7. Relevant resources and sustainable development approach
8. Seamless learning environment
9. Specifically trained trainers
10. Global learning assessment methodologies


In brief, 360° corporate learning is a training approach compatible with a learning-oriented organization. This means learning as part of the job description, trainers trained for meaningful online teaching, relevant content and useful strategies and methodologies. Involves continuous and seamless learning environments including face to face, blended, hybrid and distance learning. Requires responsive platforms for mobile devices, ways of embedding learning in everyday routines…

The focus is not the prefix (e- m- c-) but just plain, enjoyable, meaningful, anywhere/anytime “learning”.

TRACK 3 [IN-PERSON] - SESSION 3B
PRESIDENTIAL ROOM 3
Chair: Gary J. Dickelman, EPSSCentral, Annandale, Virginia, USA
4:30 PM - 6:00 PM

4:30 PM - 5:30 PM

Creating a Learning Environment for the 5th Industrial Revolution

Crystal Loose, Ph.D., Rose Jagielo-Manion, Ph.D. and Michael Ryan, Ph.D., West Chester University, Ephrata, Pennsylvania, USA

It has been argued that we have moved into the age of personalization. One can see this while ordering drinks at a local Starbucks where options are limitless. This personalization has been called the 5th Industrial Revolution, a time noted for a deep, multi-level cooperation between people and machines. With emphasis on innovation, purpose, and inclusivity, this revolution calls for changes in the classroom setting in order to focus on relationships between human needs and lived experiences. So, how do we prepare our students for this reality? In this session participants will be exposed to methods of instruction that create an engaging and collaborative learning community. The five facets of personalized learning will be examined through the lens of student research and application. Examples of products and the process in which they were created will be shared including Padlet, Mentimeter, Google Jamboard, and Dotstorming. Adult learning theory stresses the need for students to learn in situ to be engaged in the learning process. The learning instruments introduced in this session will demonstrate ways to encourage individual and collaborative reflection in stimulating learning environments

Creating a Learning Environment for the 5th Industrial Revolution

Crystal Loose, Rose Jagielo-Manion and Michael Ryan

It has been argued that we have moved into the age of personalization. One can see this while ordering drinks at a local Starbucks where options are limitless. This personalization has been called the 5th Industrial Revolution, a time noted for a deep, multi-level cooperation between people and machines. With emphasis on innovation, purpose, and inclusivity, this revolution calls for changes in the classroom setting in order to focus on relationships between human needs and lived experiences. So, how do we prepare our students for this reality? In this session participants will be exposed to methods of instruction that create an engaging and collaborative learning community. The five facets of personalized learning will be examined through the lens of student research and application. Examples of products and the process in which they were created will be shared including Padlet, Mentimeter, Google Jamboard, and Dotstorming. Adult learning theory stresses the need for students to learn in situ to be engaged in the learning process. The learning instruments introduced in this session will demonstrate ways to encourage individual and collaborative reflection in stimulating learning environments.

5:30 PM - 6:00 PM

Why Open Educational Resources Are Essential in Education Following the Pandemic [Virtual Talk]

Rory McGreal, Athabasca University, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Open Educational Resources (OER) are learning resources that have been released under an open license permitting their free use and modification. OER render this knowledge accessible to all. As more and more institutions, due to the Covid pandemic, are participating in online learning, the need for OER is becoming more apparent. The introduction of OER can be an essential concrete action supporting successful online initiatives in schools, colleges or universities. OER are becoming more widely available. The ability to reuse OER or repurpose, mix, mash, them without restriction is a major advantage in adapting resources that can address the special needs of diverse groups in schools, including indigenous peoples, minorities and foreign nationals. OER are also available to support formal, non-formal and informal basic education, as well as accredited post-secondary learning. OER can be freely adapted, downloaded and printed out by instructors, reformatted and redesigned for specific populations or for larger, more generic groups. There are user rights available in OER that are relevant in supporting the use of content at no cost. These rights include the right to use content under Creative Commons licences with some limited restrictions that favour access over the technological and legal limitations used by commercial publishers, such as digital locks and restrictive licences that prevent modifications or use in environments not specifically allowed by the publishers…

Why Open Educational Resources Are Essential in Education Following the Pandemic

Rory McGreal

Open Educational Resources (OER) are learning resources that have been released under an open license permitting their free use and modification. OER render this knowledge accessible to all. As more and more institutions, due to the Covid pandemic, are participating in online learning, the need for OER is becoming more apparent. The introduction of OER can be an essential concrete action supporting successful online initiatives in schools, colleges or universities. OER are becoming more widely available. The ability to reuse OER or repurpose, mix, mash, them without restriction is a major advantage in adapting resources that can address the special needs of diverse groups in schools, including indigenous peoples, minorities and foreign nationals. OER are also available to support formal, non-formal and informal basic education, as well as accredited post-secondary learning. OER can be freely adapted, downloaded and printed out by instructors, reformatted and redesigned for specific populations or for larger, more generic groups. There are user rights available in OER that are relevant in supporting the use of content at no cost. These rights include the right to use content under Creative Commons licences with some limited restrictions that favour access over the technological and legal limitations used by commercial publishers, such as digital locks and restrictive licences that prevent modifications or use in environments not specifically allowed by the publishers.

In education, availability and ease of use should be paramount. This includes the technological capacity and legal right to highlight, annotate, print, and share content with minimal, if any, technical or copyright restrictions. OER include the right to receive a file that is not locked or crippled and subject to recall by the publisher; the right to convert files to different formats for use in print or on a variety of devices and computer platforms. OER have minimal if any restrictions. They are technologically neutral, printable and can be adopted or adapted at almost no cost with little effort or concern by the teachers, staff and learners. That is why OER are considered to be essential in supporting online learning.

TRACK 4 [VIRTUAL] - SESSION 4B
PRESIDENTIAL ROOM 2A
Chair: Bruce Cronquist, Dell Technologies, Seattle, Washington, USA
4:30 PM - 6:00 PM

4:30 PM - 5:30 PM

Hacking a Virtual, Digital, and Personalized Onboarding Journey for STEM Graduates

Jennifer Silverest and Jessica Burke, Cisco Systems, Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA

In a competitive environment where top university graduate talent have many choices in where they choose to work, providing a memorable and personalized learning experience can be a competitive advantage. Faced with the challenge of creating a new program for Cisco Software Engineers, ‘Build it, Run it’ was the ultimate goal, but it was a journey to get there. With this use case, get a peek into the partnership, process, and outcomes of this successful pilot program that was customized to meet the needs of the business and the learner with individual learning paths. Go on the journey with us as we share the learning framework, takeaways, lessons learned, specific actions to meet the need of diverse talent, and feedback received both from participants and from their leaders.

Hacking a Virtual, Digital, and Personalized Onboarding Journey for STEM Graduates

Jennifer Silverest and Jessica Burke

In a competitive environment where top university graduate talent have many choices in where they choose to work, providing a memorable and personalized learning experience can be a competitive advantage. Faced with the challenge of creating a new program for Cisco Software Engineers, ‘Build it, Run it’ was the ultimate goal, but it was a journey to get there. With this use case, get a peek into the partnership, process, and outcomes of this successful pilot program that was customized to meet the needs of the business and the learner with individual learning paths. Go on the journey with us as we share the learning framework, takeaways, lessons learned, specific actions to meet the need of diverse talent, and feedback received both from participants and from their leaders.

5:30 PM - 6:00 PM

Using Google Classroom to Teach When Technology Issues Emerge

Kimberly Washington-Ballard, Lancaster ISD, Waxahachie, Texas, USA

Students having access to their own learning online and in the classroom creates a little frustration, especially when technology plays a major part in how they access their learning. As an Elementary Art teacher, I provide the synchronous instruction for students physically in the classroom and then develop asynchronous assignments that reflect the same lesson for students who are learning online. It can be very time consuming and hard, when technological issues emerge, when students or parents cannot gain access to the online class or when there are slight delays during the lesson being taught. Understanding the frustration and technology issues that can evolve, teachers must be creative in how information can be communicated. Solutions to resolving the issue come with being prepared in having a backup plan when the first plan does not function. In accommodating my students or their parents who are experiencing issues with the internet, I provide and inform them that every lesson I teach will be recorded and added to the Google Classroom for them to access when they are able to connect…

Using Google Classroom to Teach When Technology Issues Emerge

Kimberly Washington-Ballard

Students having access to their own learning online and in the classroom creates a little frustration, especially when technology plays a major part in how they access their learning. As an Elementary Art teacher, I provide the synchronous instruction for students physically in the classroom and then develop asynchronous assignments that reflect the same lesson for students who are learning online. It can be very time consuming and hard, when technological issues emerge, when students or parents cannot gain access to the online class or when there are slight delays during the lesson being taught. Understanding the frustration and technology issues that can evolve, teachers must be creative in how information can be communicated. Solutions to resolving the issue come with being prepared in having a backup plan when the first plan does not function. In accommodating my students or their parents who are experiencing issues with the internet, I provide and inform them that every lesson I teach will be recorded and added to the Google Classroom for them to access when they are able to connect.

In this presentation, I provide ways that Google Classroom can provide students quick access to their assignments, lessons, resources, recordings, and presentations when technological issues arise. By using this platform, teachers can record lessons and demonstrations and upload them for students to watch later, if their connection is bad or if they need a clearer understanding of the assignment. Detailed assignments and projects can be added for students to complete when technology issues happen, plus parents can also access the Google Classroom to understand what their child is learning or may have missed. With Google Classroom, the information can be communicated in various ways for students who learn differently, in which it provides them the opportunity to respond or complete their assignments creatively as well.

TRACK 5 [VIRTUAL] - SESSION 5B
PRESIDENTIAL ROOM 2B
Chair: Patrick Blum, blum consulting, Aachen, Germany
4:30 PM - 6:00 PM

4:30 PM - 5:30 PM

Evidence-Centered Design for Virtual Reality Training

Kristin Torrence, Talespin, Los Angeles, California, USA

This session will equip you with the knowledge you'll need to implement Evidence-Centered Design for Assessment (ECD) to design and measure learning within your virtual reality (VR) solutions. ECD can bring value to your VR learning solutions by helping you embed assessments directly within the experience without breaking immersion or disrupting flow. In the ECD framework, evidence of learning is directly tied to and measured by a learner’s actions within the VR environment, providing empirical data that you and your company can use to make inferences about a learner’s competency levels. You'll discover how you can leverage the three main models of the ECD framework to ensure that your VR designs are strategic and measurable. You'll explore the intricacies of the Competency Model, Evidence Model, and Task Model and unpack how their interconnections fuel both design and evaluation…

Evidence-Centered Design for Virtual Reality Training

Kristin Torrence

This session will equip you with the knowledge you'll need to implement Evidence-Centered Design for Assessment (ECD) to design and measure learning within your virtual reality (VR) solutions. ECD can bring value to your VR learning solutions by helping you embed assessments directly within the experience without breaking immersion or disrupting flow. In the ECD framework, evidence of learning is directly tied to and measured by a learner’s actions within the VR environment, providing empirical data that you and your company can use to make inferences about a learner’s competency levels. You'll discover how you can leverage the three main models of the ECD framework to ensure that your VR designs are strategic and measurable. You'll explore the intricacies of the Competency Model, Evidence Model, and Task Model and unpack how their interconnections fuel both design and evaluation.

You'll discover how developing a Competency Model enables you to make claims about a learner using evidence collected within your VR solution. You'll see firsthand how a Competency Model operationalizes unobservable facets to observable indicators and provides a tangible way to identify the key behavioral evidence we'd want to solicit from a learner in order to infer their proficiency with the competency.

You'll look at what qualifies as "evidence" within the Evidence Model and mechanisms for how evidence can be measured within your VR training. You'll uncover how to use the Competency Model and Evidence Model to inform the design of VR activities, such as scenarios or procedures, within the Task Model to solicit evidence of learning. You'll learn how you can adapt the ECD framework to fit your VR training needs and you'll come away knowing how to design evidence-based VR experiences that have a lasting positive impact on the success of both the learners and your company.

5:30 PM - 6:00 PM

A Conceptual Model for Meeting the Needs of Adult Learners in Distance Education

Anne Fensie, University of Maine, Northport, Maine, USA

More than 40% of undergraduate students are 24 years of age or older (Cahalan et al., 2020), and over half of these students are enrolled in distance education (Snyder et al., 2019). Yet, adults do not fare as well as traditional-aged college students who are four times as likely to graduate (Miller, 2019). Understanding the needs of the adult learner in distance education is important for improving their experience and outcomes. By combining cognitive, social and emotional, and background factors, sensitive to the impact of context, we can develop programming that meets the needs of the whole learner. Drawing from the science of learning, I will outline the components of my conceptual model for meeting the needs of adult learners in distance education. There is a diverse body of evidence-based instructional practices to support each of the factors in this model, but additional research may show significant interaction effects that may be especially beneficial for adult learners in distance education.

A Conceptual Model for Meeting the Needs of Adult Learners in Distance Education

Anne Fensie

More than 40% of undergraduate students are 24 years of age or older (Cahalan et al., 2020), and over half of these students are enrolled in distance education (Snyder et al., 2019). Yet, adults do not fare as well as traditional-aged college students who are four times as likely to graduate (Miller, 2019). Understanding the needs of the adult learner in distance education is important for improving their experience and outcomes. By combining cognitive, social and emotional, and background factors, sensitive to the impact of context, we can develop programming that meets the needs of the whole learner. Drawing from the science of learning, I will outline the components of my conceptual model for meeting the needs of adult learners in distance education. There is a diverse body of evidence-based instructional practices to support each of the factors in this model, but additional research may show significant interaction effects that may be especially beneficial for adult learners in distance education.

TRACK 6 [VIRTUAL] - SESSION 6B
PRESIDENTIAL ROOM 2C
Chair: Gabrielle Sun, EY, Portland, Oregon, USA
4:30 PM - 6:00 PM

4:30 PM - 5:30 PM

PEX: Two Problems With One Solution: An Experiential Journey to People Leadership

Angela Coolidge and Marco Cobb, Cisco, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA

Like most organizations, Cisco faces the challenge of creating an internal pipeline of experienced people leaders and a pathway for high performers to gain the required experience to move into people leadership positions. Cisco’s Customer Experience Academy, an internal emerging talent management organization, found themselves without the people resources to scale their onboarding programs…

PEX: Two Problems With One Solution: An Experiential Journey to People Leadership

Angela Coolidge and Marco Cobb

As the largest provider of compliance training in the Australian financial services sector, Kaplan Professional Education embarked on its vision in e-learning to improve the quality of training courses. We initiated the Tier 2 project with the goal to increase the quality of our compliance training as measured by feedback from bank employers and students. To date, the Tier 2 Accreditation course has been completed by over 25,000 students in all the major banks and insurance companies in Australia. Our project success is measured by the feedback that the course materials are engaging and relevant to compliance accreditation in the Australian financial services industry.

Like most organizations, Cisco faces the challenge of creating an internal pipeline of experienced people leaders and a pathway for high performers to gain the required experience to move into people leadership positions. Cisco’s Customer Experience Academy, an internal emerging talent management organization, found themselves without the people resources to scale their onboarding programs. Cisco CX Academy solved both challenges with a single program: The Practical Experience (PEX) Manager Program for Aspiring Leaders. Join us as we share our framework, lessons learned, and steps to providing internal growth opportunities while upscaling the size of the team to meet program needs.

5:30 PM - 6:00 PM

The Power of Synchronous Sessions in Online Graduate Analytical Thinking Courses: Social Capital and Community-Building

Roxana Toma, Ph.D. and Ali Ait Si Mhamed, Ph.D., SUNY Empire State College, Saratoga Springs, New York, USA

We introduce the idea of building community and social capital in the often-misunderstood, one-sided narrative of online learning, which is seen as both an isolated and isolating experience. We also look at praxis – that is informed, committed action, to address socially differentiated educational attainment, which is perceived to be more pronounced in online learning. To this end, we think that the field could benefit from a presentation of the significant effects of adding synchronous sessions to online courses, particularly for teaching research and analytical subjects at the graduate level. To investigate this, we perform a narrative analysis of qualitative data from student evaluations from five graduate courses taught within the past two years. Results seem to suggest that synchronous sessions, especially during the pandemic, were perceived as the cornerstone of a pedagogy of care; that they work better for adult learners, for students with learning disabilities, and for students who are prone to lower educational attainment, because of the added layer of support, and that they give a unique platform for students to build community and social capital.

The Power of Synchronous Sessions in Online Graduate Analytical Thinking Courses: Social Capital and Community-Building

Roxana Toma and Ali Ait Si Mhamed

We introduce the idea of building community and social capital in the often-misunderstood, one-sided narrative of online learning, which is seen as both an isolated and isolating experience. We also look at praxis – that is informed, committed action, to address socially differentiated educational attainment, which is perceived to be more pronounced in online learning. To this end, we think that the field could benefit from a presentation of the significant effects of adding synchronous sessions to online courses, particularly for teaching research and analytical subjects at the graduate level. To investigate this, we perform a narrative analysis of qualitative data from student evaluations from five graduate courses taught within the past two years. Results seem to suggest that synchronous sessions, especially during the pandemic, were perceived as the cornerstone of a pedagogy of care; that they work better for adult learners, for students with learning disabilities, and for students who are prone to lower educational attainment, because of the added layer of support, and that they give a unique platform for students to build community and social capital.

6:00 PM - DRINKS - IVY LOUNGE - 1st FLOOR