The University of Maine offers an interdisciplinary course to undergraduate and graduate students designed around the annual PopTech conference held in Camden, Maine. Key educational outcomes were evaluated: 1) impact of the PopTech conference attendance, 2) the value of 3D virtual world technology, 3) the use of telepresence robot technology.
Evaluation of Educational Outcomes of the Integration of Virtual Worlds and Robotics in a Distance Education Course
Amy Cross, University of Maine, Orono, ME
Robert Avanzato, Penn State Abington, Abington, PA
The University of Maine offers an interdisciplinary course to undergraduate and graduate students designed around the annual PopTech conference held in Camden, Maine. PopTech features nationally-recognized experts from business, technology, the arts, and academia and brings them together around a particular theme. The course uses contemporary learning technologies to consider radical changes in society and to explore their implications. The course utilizes instructors from several disciplines and across Universities to teach segments around their fields of study that relate to the annual theme of the conference. The online course involves reading and research, online interaction with peers and faculty through the use of Immersive Virtual Environments (IVEs), synchronous and asynchronous video streaming and participation in the PopTech conference. The goals for this study were to assess the educational benefits of three components of the course: (1) participation/attendance at the conference, (2) the use of virtual world technology as an immersive collaborative experience in the course instruction and (3) the benefits of incorporating telepresence robotics technology in the instruction and collaboration/participation.
Students in the fall 2015 PopTech course participated in a survey to assess the educational outcomes of the course. Fifteen questions were presented to the students and 50% students participated in the anonymous survey. The questions were categorized into 3 major areas: 1) impact of the PopTech conference attendance on learning outcomes, 2) the value of Second Life virtual world and 3D modeling technology, 3) the use of telepresence robot technology. The results indicated that attendance at the conference was very beneficial for networking purposes and interaction with fellow students and faculty. Second Life was also valued by the students as a tool for student and faculty interaction in an online course and also as a tool for building and sharing 3D models. Students also indicated that using a telepresence robot to remotely visit a Penn State University robotics lab was very useful and resulted in an improved understanding of robotics technology. The survey data will be analyzed in more detail in the presentation. Overall, 100% of the participants would recommend the PopTech course to other students in the future.