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Final (a-ha) Reflections on Leading Change

The a-ha moment about this course came when I stumbled across a conference paper researching my final assignment. I wish it was something profound but it really comes down to this quote:

“The practice (and arguably, the art) of change management focuses on the “human” element to what typically plays out in a project or program” (Rittenhouse, 2015, par. 7).

The quote reminded me of adrienne maree brown’s Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds (2017). In the book brown writes:

“Change happens. Change is definitely going to happen, no matter what we plan or expect or hope for or set in place. We will adapt to that change, or we will become irrelevant” (pg. 12).

I think both quotes allude to an inevitability and unpredictability of change.

Reflecting on how organizations (and humans) plan for the reactions to change is what defines this field. What makes planning for change so complex is the unpredictability of human behaviour. Moreover, so often humans tend to fear change and prioritize themselves above others.

I came into this course with gritted teeth assuming it would be like taking castor oil, healthy but mainly unpleasant. I’m pleased to say this class has inspired me to reflect on my workplace relationships, my role on teams, how I collaborate, how I lead and like to be led by others (in a good way!).

We started this course reflecting on leadership qualities and I’m finally connecting the dots on why these qualities are so essential for making change work. The leadership characteristics I ranked most highly: “caring, supportive and cooperative” —those that force us to let go of our own egos and prioritize others —are still the ones I believe are most necessary in navigating change for the good of our organizations, our coworkers and, in the long run, ourselves.

References

brown, adrienne maree. (2017). Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds. AK Press.

Rittenhouse, J. (2015). Improving stakeholder management using change management tools. Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2015—North America, Orlando, FL. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute. https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/improve-stakeholder-management-9901

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Project Management: Crucial—And All Kinds of Unsexy

Post-secondary institutions in B.C. are required to report on quality assurance activities, including internal academic program reviews, to the Ministry of Advanced Education (Universities Canada, n.d.). At the teaching and learning centre where I work, my team has been trying to develop a tool and process to keep track of academic departments in need of post-program review curricular support. (This is just the intro. If you are awake and still reading for the unsexy part, it’s building from here, I promise!)

Problem

The need for this, admittedly also unsexy, but crucial organizational tool and a process stems from a lack of capacity and personnel to work with the number of departments on program review related curriculum projects at the college. Often, we as curriculum consultants are busiest during intersession periods when instructional faculty members have the time to engage in projects outside their regular academic duties. Due to the inconsistent project workflow, however, it’s challenging to know how many departments will need to be assisted, what stage they are at in their program review process, and who on our team will have the capacity to assist when it’s needed.

Tool description and goals

It was determined following a number of team meetings that an internal database was needed for curriculum consultants to track work with departments, including related meetings and other post program review details. The stakeholders for this project are the curriculum consultants, who would use and benefit from the database tool. 

The main goals of this database tool include:

  • To provide an important resource for organizational management
  • To create a structure for the efficient storage and retrieval of data
  • To provide insight into the program review work being done by departments with individual curriculum consultants and as a team

The database tool project was developed with the assistance of a data analytics student in consultation with the curriculum consultant team.

Project management challenges

Despite the need for the tool, to date, it remains incomplete. Reflecting on the week’s readings on project management, it’s clear to me that the tool’s unfinished state relates in large part to a lack of project management—probably the least sexy part of working on a cool tech project (I wish I had a citation for this statement). Spending more time on the project planning stage would have helped the team to understand the various action steps and resources needed to get the tool completed and launched (Watt et al., 2014).

Following the initiation stage of the project management cycle, a project plan should be drafted as part of the project planning stage (Watt et al., 2014). The plan is essentially a road map that outlines project related deliverables, requirements, a timeline and resources to ensure it will get off the ground (Watt et al., 2014). Question: who would go on a roadtrip without their Google map route planned out? Working on a project without this necessary document, is essentially like driving without a Google (or any) map on hand (no citation here either). Unfortunately, without this key plan, it wasn’t clear to our team how the tool would be used as part of our day-to-day activities, the process for using it, what information we would need to initially input into it and who would be involved with inputting that data.

Future planning

I believe that this data management tool could still be completed and used by our team. I still see it as necessary to our operations. What needs to happen next is better oversight and leadership to identify these missing project planning steps. And, if our team doesn’t have the capacity to identify and work on these initial planning steps, it seems ill advised to proceed with completing the database at this time.

I would love to hear from others with project management experience: what do you do if you miss crucial steps in early project planning…go back to square one or make fixes after the fact in hopes the project can be saved?

References

Universities Canada. (n.d.). Provincial quality assurance systems. https://www.univcan.ca/universities/quality-assurance/provincial-quality-assurance-systems/#BC

Watt, A. (2014). Project Management. Victoria, BC: BCcampus. https://opentextbc.ca/projectmanagement

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Leading Change to Integrate Digital Accessibility

In June 2021, the Accessible British Columbia Act came into effect and since September 2022, public sector organizations, such as post-secondary institutions, have had to establish accessibility committees and strategize how to integrate accessibility in all aspects of their operations (BC Gov News, 2022).

I spoke with two of my colleagues at Langara College’s Educational Technology (EdTech) department about their efforts to integrate digital accessibility and its impacts so far. For privacy reasons, their names will not be disclosed in this public blog post and they will instead be referred to as a supervisor and an assistive technologist.

Still in the early stages of developing a change management approach to implementing digital accessibility, my colleagues’ reflections seemed to align best with two of the methods highlighted in the literature: the Kanter, Jick and Stein and Leading change methods (Al-Haddad & Kotnour, 2015). I’ve adapted these two models, illustrated in Figure 1, and will apply them here in my discussion of implementing digital accessibility practices at Langara.

Figure 1

Note: Adapted from Kotter (1996) and Kanter et al. (1992)

Create impetus. Both Kotter’s leading change and Jick & Kanter’s methods include establishing a sense of urgency (Al-Haddad & Kotnour, 2015). While not urgent yet, the new Accessible British Columbia Act has created the impetus for departments across Langara College to begin to strategize implementing better accessibility practices college-wide. The supervisor I spoke with said their early steps have included publishing a guidebook for faculty on how to implement digital accessibility and negotiating with software vendors to implement accessibility in the tools used by the college.

Form an engaged committee. Leading change cites forming a “powerful guiding coalition” (Al-Haddad & Kotnour, 2015, pg. 249). Another early step that Langara has taken has been to create an accessibility committee. It remains to be seen if it will be “powerful,” but it will definitely be engaged. Representatives from EdTech and more than 40 members other members are gathering to represent interests from across the campus.

Craft a plan. Jick & Kanter’s method includes a step to “craft an implementation plan” (Al-Haddad & Kotnour, 2015, pg. 249).  This will be an important early step in the digital accessibility change process. Though still in its very early stages, Langara’s committee is having an initial meeting next month to establish terms of references and way forward for the committee to work together with the ultimate goal to craft a plan.

Communicate the plan. The assistive technologist anticipates that once a plan is underway, including training initiatives for employees, a campus-wide communication campaign will be organized to advertise the college’s initiatives to create an accessible campus.

Recruit champions. The assistive technologist, one of the authors of the digital accessibility handbook, anticipates that recruiting champions to implement digital accessibility will be key. Providing longer, more in-depth training for colleagues who are already invested will help the department to train others, spread the word and motivate colleagues to get on board.

Set out achievable milestones.The step in Leading Change that relates to “creating short term wins” (Al-Haddad & Kotnour, 2015, pg. 249) speaks to me. In my own personal work on projects, I’ve found that creating some easy to achieve milestones can help create momentum for change. In this regard, the supervisor at EdTech department said that they have already begun the work to meet with departments and roll out new accessibility related tools. One tool that the the supervisor noted is the Read&Write tool for use with the Brightspace LMS, that allows students to listen to content. Identifying milestones to move forward to create awareness, train faculty and empower them with the resources to be successful will help keep the change process in motion.

Reinforce and anchor change. The final step involves creating a formal digital accessibility policy to ensure that these practices are taken seriously and become a regular part of the college’s larger culture (Gay et al., 2018).

References

Al-Haddad, S., & Kotnour, T. (2015). Integrating the organizational change literature: a model for successful change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 28(2), 234-262. 

BC Gov News. (2022, April 14). New regulation next step toward barrier-free BC [Press Release]. https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2022SDPR0018-000570

Gay, G., West, C. & Miller, F. (2018).  Digital accessibility as a business practice. Digital Education Strategies, The Chang School. https://pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca/dabp/chapter/managing-change-kotters-model/

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Reflections on Digital Leadership

This image was created with the assistance of DALL·E 2.

In ranking leadership characteristics for our class activity, I reflected on past workplaces and mentors I’ve had who have influenced my own approaches to leadership. In addition to working in higher education, I’ve worked for a variety of media organizations, non-profits and small businesses. I value leadership styles and approaches that prioritize compassion in personal and professional relationships and working cooperatively. Accordingly, the leadership characteristics that ranked highest for me included “caring, supportive and cooperative” (Munro, n.d.). These traits correspond to a “reflective leadership” approach where leaders create a safe and transparent work environment that supports trust among employees (Castelli, 2012). I also view these qualities as essential to collaborating on teams.

I also value leaders who are inspiring: able to motivate and lead teams in collaborating for a shared purpose. The idea that transformative leaders are those that inspire others to change “with thought and actions” resonates with me (Workman & Cleveland-Innes, 2022, p. 314). Further, in his video on leadership, Peter Senge notes that the term “leader” doesn’t necessarily refer exclusively to a person leading a hierarchical organization, instead leaders can be found in many roles (2016). I could name many of my colleagues as leaders on the small team of curriculum consultants, facilitators and educational developers I work with. I’ve observed these qualities in them at meetings and working on projects. I am conscious of how their actions have influenced my own personal drive to work harder and perform highly.

Individual v. the group

At the bottom of my list were characteristics like “ambitious” and “independent” (Munro, n.d.). In coming up with a consensus for our rankings, colleagues on my class team felt similarly and observed that these traits are ones we associate with self-interested and individualistic approaches. For us, the characteristics we valued more highly like “caring” and “supportive,” and ranked at the top of our shared list, are ones in comparison, that take the greater good into account (Munro, n.d.).

The circle

One of the most interesting examples of leadership at my workplace was introduced by an Indigenous colleague who brought the concept of the circle into performance evaluations to flatten and make the process more transparent. Formerly, our evaluations were provided behind closed doors with a panel of supervisors and evaluators. In contrast to mainstream, top-down leadership models, in Indigenous circles, everyone is equal, connected and works together in a non-hierarchical way (Julien et al., 2010). Thanks to my colleague, our department is now piloting the Indigenous circle model of leadership to provide peer feedback. The idea is to provide feedback in a more transparent and supportive way.

Successful digital leaders

As a team, we identified a number of characteristics not on the “Characteristics of Admired Leaders” list but that we felt would be important for leaders working in a digital environment. These traits are connected to an adaptive leadership model necessary in anticipating an increasingly complex and changing world (Khan, 2017), such as being nimble, flexible and innovative. Regardless of the environment we also felt traits such as trustworthy and transparent were ones that we would have ranked highly if they had also been included.

References

Castelli, P. (2016). Reflective leadership review: a framework for improving organisational performance. Journal of Management Development, 35(2), 217-236. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-08-2015-0112

Julien, M., Wright, B., & Zinni, D. M. (2010). Stories from the circle: Leadership lessons learned from aboriginal leaders. The Leadership Quarterly, 21(1), 114–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.LEAQUA.2009.10.009

Khan, N. (2017). Adaptive or Transactional Leadership in Current Higher Education: A Brief Comparison. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(3), 178-183. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v18i3.3294

Munro, C. (n.d.). Characteristics of Admired Leaders [Class handout]. Royal Roads University, School of Education & Technology, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Senge, P. (2016). What Makes a Great Leader [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aYaj2-GZqk

Workman, T., & Cleveland-Innes, M. (2012). Leadership, personal transformation, and management. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 13(4), 313-323. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v13i4.1383

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Design Principles to Boost LMS Accessibility in Higher Education

Ahead of engaging in the design thinking process for this assignment, my partner and I considered Morris’s Critical Instructional Design (2018) and the need to slow down the design of online courses in order to better consider technologies used; in our case, the use of learning management systems (LMS) in higher education. How are these systems being integrated into students’ lives (Morris, 2018)? What could we as designers do to ensure that we are caring for our students in creating courses on our institution’s LMS (Morris, 2018)? How could our approach LMS design impact our students’ learning? How could we make it better?

Empathize – Design context

The users for the design challenge that my partner and I approached for our Assignment 2A were the international learners enrolled in online hospitality studies classes at a private training college. In exploring the context, we found that student and institutional goals were misaligned. While students in these classes are focused on immigration concerns and working to pay for steep tuition fees, the college’s priorities are in recruitment and meeting private licensing course requirements that include mandatory attendance in synchronous classes. The result of this misalignment has meant inconsistent attendance in classes and students struggling to succeed.

Define – Problem statement

We identified our problem statement: the instructor needed to design a learning environment that caters to diverse learners and is flexible for those students who are unable to attend but required for their visa to attend synchronously and support students to succeed in her classes.

Ideate and Prototype – Brainstorming solutions

In discussing potential solutions to help boost student success, we determined that more could be done to support students in accessing course content and navigating the LMS.

We leveraged the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework (CAST, 2018) in coming up with principles to help us in making design choices. Applying UDL principles to the overall LMS design accommodates for diverse learners and learning preferences (CAST, 2018). Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) (Sweller, 1988) was also important in outlining ideas for a future class LMS. Applying strategies to reduce working memory load ultimately helps improve student learning (Caskurlu et al., 2021).

The design principles introduced here (and in the visual above) reflect these models and could be used by any instructor in the higher education context looking to update and refine their LMS to be more flexible and accessible to students.

  • Equitable use

Facilitate equitable use by ensuring that the LMS design is accessible to all users (Centre for Excellence in Universal Design, n.d.; Elias, 2010). All content should be online with translation available whenever possible (Elias, 2010)

  • Less is more

Keep text to a minimum, layout sparse and easy to use (Pappas, 2014).

  • Visual consistency

Reduce cognitive load by keeping to consistent fonts, contrasting but complementary colour schemes, and repetitive visual elements throughout the course (Clark & Lyons, 2010).

  • Predictability

Create a consistent online learning environment to build learner confidence (Landrum, 2020); one that can be templated and reused in other courses.

  • Offer choice and flexibility

Accommodate a wide range of individual preferences and abilities in representing information. Using different multimedia types rather than text alone (CAST, 2003; Takacs, 2021).

  • Chunk learning

Keeping content and learning “bite-sized” (Pappas, 2014). Use videos to highlight key learning outcomes, assignments (Caskurlu et al., 2021).

  • Use explanatory visuals

Help users activate prior knowledge and/or attach additional lesson details using visual elements (Clark & Lyons, 2010).

References

Caskurlu, S., Richardson, J. C., Alamri, H. A., Chartier, K., Farmer, T., Janakiraman, S., Strait, M., & Yang, M. (2021). Cognitive load and online course quality: Insights from instructional designers in a higher education context. British Journal of Educational Technology, 52(2), 584–605. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13043

CAST. (2018). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.2. https://udlguidelines.cast.org/

Clark, R. C., & Lyons, C. (2010). Graphics for learning: Proven guidelines for planning, designing, and evaluating visuals in training materials. John Wiley & Sons

Elias, T. (2010). Universal Design Principles for Moodle. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. 11: 2. https://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/869/1579

Landrum, B. (2020). Examining students’ confidence to learn online, self-regulation skills and perceptions of satisfaction and usefulness of online classes. Online Learning Journal. 24: 3. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1271797.pdf

Morris, S. M. (2018). Critical Instructional Design. In An Urgency of Teachers. Pressbooks.  https://pressbooks.pub/criticaldigitalpedagogy/chapter/critical-pedagogy-and-learning-online/

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The Potential of Open Educational Practices

Having had the opportunity to take part in open educational practices (OEP) in a few classes, their potential as an innovation and impacts on learning have made an impression on me. The approach is defined as:

“the use of open educational resources to support learning, or the open sharing of teaching practices with a goal of improving education and training at the institutional, professional, and individual level” (BCCampus, n.d.).

A personal example of how OEP could be used comes from a graphic design class for instructional designers. In the class, my instructor integrated OEP into the class leveraging the internet, software and digital graphic design tools to have us collaboratively create an open resource. In small groups we applied our research and graphic design skills to create a digital book that we all took away following the class.

Discussions about open pedagogy point to its benefits in flattening traditional classroom hierarchies that privilege the instructor’s knowledge (Werth & Williams, 2022). As an adult learner it was exciting to work as part of a team to apply critical thinking and design skills to create a product and take part in sharing knowledge with others to be used in both academic and professional contexts. Werth & Williams (2022) also highlight that being able to take an assignment and use it offline, after the course and as part of the portfolio helps students like me learn how to contribute to an open resource and get a chance to experience open publishing within the protected confines of a learning environment. The feedback from my instructor, a professional designer, was valuable and contributed to the final product.

In my personal context, the success of the course’s design to incorporate OEP also came down to logistics. As an adult learner, with a full-time job and children, I was only able to negotiate enrolling in one class for the term. Focusing on one assignment with one team and a limited set of tools was manageable. Thinking more broadly of implementing OEP in multiple classes with instructors preferring different tools and platforms (including WordPress, Hypothes.is, Google Docs, and the LMS) could make their integration much more challenging (Paskevicius & Irvine, 2019). Further, I was fortunate to be in a class familiar with OEP, comfortable working online, with digital technologies and in teams. For less experienced students, both the technical learning curve and shift from the top-down approach of traditional class environments could be considerable (Werth & Williams, 2022).

For Bates (2019), bringing more OEP to post-secondary institutions involves an important culture shift, where educators no longer occupy a role as content providers to one more focused on learning support; and where students are actively engaged in discovering, curating and sharing knowledge. From my personal experience, that role shift was at times uncomfortable but ultimately very stimulating.

References

Bates, A.W. (2019). Teaching in a Digital Age – Second Edition. Vancouver, B.C.: Tony Bates Associates Ltd. https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/teachinginadigitalagev2/

BCCampus. (n.d.). What is open pedagogy? Open.BCCampus.ca. https://open.bccampus.ca/what-is-open-education/what-is-open-pedagogy/

Paskevicius, M. & Irvine, V. (2019). Practicalities of implementing open pedagogy in higher education. Smart Learn. Environ. 6, 23. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-019-0110-5

Werth, E. & Williams, K. (2022). The why of open pedagogy: a value-first conceptualization for enhancing instructor praxis. Smart Learn. Environ. 9, 10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-022-00191-0

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Adapting ADDIE for More Inclusive Learning Design

Like head chefs creating menus, designers of learning experiences are faced with a myriad of planning-related decisions. Regardless of the context, decision-making begins with a range of questions, from simple to complex: like who the learners are, how instruction will be delivered, how evaluation will be approached, to name just a few (Stefaniak, 2020). Heaster-Ekhol (2020) argues that in addition to process-oriented questions, designers must also consider culture and the biases they bring when approaching design problems. What can we do as designers to reduce the impact of our personal biases, interests, “epistemologies and theories” on the final design product and ultimately on learners (Heaster-Ekhol, 2020, p. 52)? The widely used ADDIE framework is a good example of how models can be adapted to address our own biases for more inclusive learning design (Heaster-Ekhol, 2020).

My own practical experience working with ADDIE is limited to my work as a curriculum consultant at Langara College. At the college, there are no dedicated instructional designers. Instead, programs and courses are designed in consultation with a range of internal and external actors. Depending on whether it’s a program or course, curriculum working groups will include faculty, department chairs, curriculum consultants, subject matter committees, and accreditation bodies among others. At Langara, different frameworks, models and pedagogical approaches are used and intersect depending on the nature of the project, course, department or program. ADDIE, Universal Design for Learning, Backwards Design and Bloom’s Taxonomy are the frameworks and planning approaches regularly used for design projects. 

The curriculum cycle at Langara College

The curriculum cycle at Langara is based on ADDIE. We use the iterative structure to design both programs and courses. One of the strengths of ADDIE is its adaptability (Heaster-Ekhol, 2020). At Langara, the framework has been adapted to address its lack of inclusivity. As Heaster-Ekhol (2020) notes “there is nothing within the general structure of ADDIE that explicitly addresses learner diversity and elements of cultural difference” (p. 54). In consultations with Langara faculty and academic leaders to discuss the curriculum cycle and ADDIE, curriculum consultants include Indigenization, decolonization, intercultural engagement and EDI as ongoing stages in the cycle. Unfortunately, I don’t have permission to share the image of the adapted cycle used for internal purposes. However, this adaptation was created to emphasize the importance of these discussions as part of the design process at Langara. It’s worth noting that while these additional stages are necessary adaptations to the cycle, it remains unclear whether or not these discussions impact curriculum developers (faculty) in a material way as part of their design process beyond these consultations. 

INCLUSIVE ADDIE

In another adaptation to ADDIE, Gamrat, Tiwari and Ozkan Bekiroglu (2022) developed “INCLUSIVE ADDIE” that they call “an action-oriented framework for inclusive educational practices” (Tiwari, 2022).  This innovative adaptation goes much further and builds in sub-stages to bring in missing pieces of inclusive pedagogy. What is particularly appealing about this new and improved framework is how it provides designers with ideas of how to design for inclusivity, not always apparent for curriculum developers. Though not explicitly mentioned, the stages of INCLUSIVE ADDIE overlap with elements of Universal Design for Learning, another framework that addresses learner diversity (Takacs & Zhang, 2022). For instance, in its “Lessons” sub-stage designers are encouraged to include diverse course materials and in the “Understanding” sub-stage including choice in assessment is recommended (Gamrat et al., 2022).

Adaptations to ADDIE, like the examples mentioned here, are necessary innovations to the design process – for decision-making, planning and beyond.

References

Gamrat, C., Tiwari, S. & Ozkan Bekiroglu, S. (2022, March 10). INCLUSIVE ADDIE: Initial considerations for DEI pedagogy. EDUCause. https://er.educause.edu/articles/2022/3/inclusive-addie-initial-considerations-for-dei-pedagogy

Heaster-Ekholm, K. L. (2020). Popular instructional design models: Their theoretical roots and cultural considerations. International Journal of Education and Development Using Information and Communication Technology, 16(3), 50–65. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1275582.pdf

Stefaniak, J. (2020). Documenting instructional design decisions. In J. K.  McDonald & R. E. West, Design for Learning: Principles, Processes, and Praxis. EdTech Books. https://edtechbooks.org/id/documenting_decisions

Takacs, S. & Zhang, J. (2020). Universal Design for Learning: A practical guide. Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Innovation. Justice Institute of British Columbia. https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/jibcudl/part/universal-design-for-learning-a-practical-guide/

Tiwari, S. (2022). INCLUSIVE ADDIE [Infographic]. EDUCause. https://er.educause.edu/articles/2022/3/inclusive-addie-initial-considerations-for-dei-pedagogy

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Assignment 3 (final): It’s 2030…and the Future of Learning is in Virtual Worlds

It’s 2030 and the Omega variant of COVID-19 has taken hold…closing schools across the world yet again. But this time, B.C. post-secondary institutions are prepared.

In the years following 2020’s first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, poll results from student and faculty on their experiences of distance education revealed widespread feelings of isolation, disconnection and disengagement in Zoom-led classrooms. Moved to action, in partnership with the Ministry of Education and local tech startups, post-secondary institutions across B.C. rolled out new virtual worlds to enhance blended and distance education. The goal? To think beyond traditional classroom experiences, while also preparing students for increasingly remote and collaborative workplaces of the future.

Having lived through the disruption of in-person learning in a crisis, imagining a scenario like this in the not so distant future is no longer difficult. Additionally, the hugely popular social virtual worlds in games, like Fortnite and Minecraft, and platforms for creating three-dimensional (3D) immersive experiences, like Unreal Engine and Unity, hold promise for educational contexts. Research into virtual environments in education have highlighted benefits such as their capability “of facilitating highly interactive, engaging, multimodal learning” (Gregory et al., 2016, p. xix). Still, despite their potential—and “cool factor”—challenges such as ensuring accessibility, the limits of IT infrastructure, and implementation are many. This short paper will provide an overview of what learning in a virtual world could mean for future learners, its benefits and the challenges that remain ahead.

Defining ‘Virtual Worlds’

To say it has been a challenge to settle upon a single definition of “virtual world” for educational researchers would be something of an understatement. In the literature, researchers use many labels for the same technology (Girvan, 2018). Others include the term “virtual” for simulated environments with fairly significant differences. For example, some have used “multi-user virtual environment” to describe immersive 3D worlds such as Second Life (Honey et al., 2012 as cited in Girvan, 2018, p. 1089), others have used “virtual environment” for social media platforms, like Facebook (Minocha et al., 2010 as cited in Girvan, 2018,  p. 1089). Still others, use “virtual learning environment” for learning management systems (Girvan, 2018, p. 1089).

Without wading into the exhaustive possibilities, for simplicity, this paper will use the widely cited definition of the term “virtual worlds” by Bell (2008) and one with a focus on people: “A synchronous, persistent network of people, represented as avatars, facilitated by networked computers” (p. 2).

Promise and Potential

Despite overwhelming education systems, the coronavirus also presented opportunities for teachers at all levels to test out the potential of new technologies and even reimagine what schools of the future could look like. South of the border many schools are even embracing virtual schools. A recent study by Rand Corp, an American think tank, revealed two of 10 K-12 school systems in the U.S. are considering fully remote schooling as an option (Diliberti & Schwartz, 2021).

However, like counterparts around the world, students and faculty at B.C. post-secondary institutions grappled with having synchronous class time limited to web conferencing platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, to name just a few. While initially novel, facilitators and learners soon found that class engagement limited to sharing screen time was isolating. “I’m a very social being. So it kind of hurts my soul,” expressed one student in a Vancouver Sun article (Todd, 2020, par. 1). This absence of a shared space for students to travel to, move around in, construct and experience together left everyone wanting for options for learning activities than LMS’s and conferencing tools.

Constructing Place

For engineering students at Purdue University, learning through the use of virtual labs and “digital twins” —virtual representations of physical objects—is already a reality (Chiang, 2021, par. 5). The further use of virtual worlds to immerse students and present decision-making and experimentation opportunities that teach the realities of the workplace, are not only exciting but could also prove to be cost-effective (Chiang, 2021). For instance, administrators at Purdue have found that replacing costly equipment and facilities with simulations using “responsive animation” have not only worked but have resulted in positive feedback by a majority of their engineering students (Chiang, 2021, par. 4).

The use of virtual worlds to teach students in other industries such health care, architecture, media and entertainment could have similar benefits. Use of Genesis, a virtual production studio, and Unity, a virtual reality development platform, are already making it possible for film makers and crews to work together live on-set and/or remotely (Siggraph Conferences, 2019, par. 8). Film production students could leverage the same software for collaborating on student films.

Tutorials found in the Unreal Engine learning portal, software for creating virtual worlds, is already set up to create them for educational purposes (Unreal Engine, n.d.). The platform has been used for building virtual museums with K-12 students (Niehoff, 2020); and to train architecture students at Florida International University (Pomerantz, 2018).

Creating Space

Beyond simulations, studies have also examined the educational purpose of virtual worlds in replicating a range of “real-world” instructional activities, like lectures, labs or field trips (Ghanbarzadeh & Ghapanchi, 2020)—and can be seen as an invaluable substitute for classrooms in supporting remote learning during times of crisis. However, the promise of virtual worlds as an extension of the bricks and mortar classroom goes beyond simply being in real-time or imitative of the physical world. Researchers point to educational experiences in virtual worlds, like Second Life or Breakroom, as being able to stimulate a “sense of presence” as learners are immersed together in creating new and idealized worlds (Ghanbarzadeh & Ghapanchi, 2020, p. 857). For social constructivists, the educational rationale for virtual worlds lies is in facilitating interactions where learners are more than guests or attendees at an instructional event; but are there to problem-solve and experiment in, collaborate on and construct these worlds together (Ghanbarzadeh & Ghapanchi, 2020; Girvan, 2018).

Challenges

The examples outlined above are just a few of a wide range of possibilities for how virtual worlds have been and could be used by educators. While the benefits seem endless, there are still a number of challenges that need solving before virtual worlds can become part of mainstream teaching toolboxes. Challenges outlined by researchers include accessibility, technical issues, instructional design, learning metrics and user adoption (Ghanbarzadeh & Ghapanchi, 2020; Pomerantz, 2018). Two of these major challenges, relating to accessibility and technical logistics, are briefly explored below.

Accessibility

The pandemic opened up many more options for many students with physical disabilities, who were able to easily access school online, take advantage of captioning and playback options for class among other accommodations (Beery, 2020). But depending on the technology being used, learning online can be rife with barriers making participation impossible for users with disabilities (Todd et al., 2016). Like with any other education technology, designing for differently-abled users—with physical, visual, auditory and cognitive limitations—is a critical consideration in creating virtual worlds that are universally accessible (Games For Change Student Challenge, n.d.). For example, software used must ensure communication is possible in-world for deaf users, like providing the option to enable sound amplifiers, or using captions for communication (Pomerantz, 2018; Todd et al., 2016). In the case of users with low vision, the need for accessible browser clients, magnifiers, text to speech software, among other technologies may be needed (Todd et al., 2016). For others, assistive technology may not be needed, but having clear instructions for how to navigate a virtual world may be an additional consideration (Todd et al., 2016). Access to standard assistive technologies, guidelines and resources are among design priorities needed to ensure students can universally participate in virtual worlds (Todd et al., 2016).

Technical Logistics

For anyone working at a higher education institution, getting IT assistance to set up basic equipment like a printer or complete a software update often seems like a monumental task. A 2018 EDUCAUSE report exploring the use of 3D tech in American universities, revealed some of the technical challenges early adopter universities have had with augmented reality and virtual reality related technologies (Pomerantz, 2018). At one institution, hardware related issues—getting a specific adaptor needed for headsets—caused delays in being able to use the technology (Pomerantz, 2018). For another institution, it was the need to upgrade graphic drivers to be able to deploy the software (Pomerantz, 2018). In Canada, where post-secondary institutions are found to be behind the U.S. in innovating with digital tech (Lewington, 2019), having the necessary processors, equipment, software and IT support to be able set up and diagnose technical trouble for sophisticated 3D technologies could be problematic.

From the user’s perspective, having classes using web conferencing tools during the pandemic revealed variable access to stable internet at home—even for those in urban centres. In the event of a crisis where educators may need or want to shift their entire class to a virtual world, students would need to have access to stable, high-speed internet to be able to participate (Ghanbarzadeh & Ghapanchi, 2020).

Conclusions

Despite the challenges that still lay ahead, in examining the use of virtual worlds for learning by early adopting institutions, it’s clear their impact for the future of education will be significant. There are clear benefits for students in having the option to participate in virtual worlds, not just during a crisis, but for general use to access simulations and a unique way to collaborate, interact and engage in real-time. As both assistive technologies become more sophisticated and IT infrastructures improve, it’s only a matter of time before virtual worlds will become more widespread in higher education.

References

Beery, Zoë. (2020, August 24). When the world shut down, they saw it open. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/24/style/disability-accessibility-coronavirus.html

Bell, M. (2008). Toward a definition of “virtual worlds.” Journal of Virtual Worlds Research.  1(1), 1-5.  https://doi.org/10.4101/jvwr.v1i1.283

Chiang, M. (2021, August 27). Making virtual learning real. Forbes.com. Retrieved Sept. 21, 2021 from https://www.forbes.com/sites/mungchiang/2021/08/27/making-virtual-learning-real/

Diliberti, M. & Schwartz, H. (2021). The rise of virtual schools. Rand Corp. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA956-5.html

Games For Change Student Challenge. (n.d.) Inclusive play: designing games for all. Games For Change Student Challenge. Retrieved Oct. 28, 2021 from https://gamesforchange.org/studentchallenge/nyc/inclusive-play/

Ghanbarzadeh, R., & Ghapanchi, A. H. (2020). Antecedents and consequences of user acceptance of three-dimensional virtual worlds in higher education. Journal of Information Technology Education: Research, 19, 855-889. https://doi.org/10.28945/4660

Girvan, C. (2018). What is a virtual world? Definition and classification. Education Tech Research Dev. 66, 1087–1100. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-018-9577-y

Gregory, M., Lee, J.W., Dalgarno, B. & Tynan, B. (Eds.). (2016). Introduction. In Gregory, M., Lee, J.W., Dalgarno, B. & Tynan, B. (Eds.). Learning in virtual worlds (pp. xix-xxvii). AU Press. https://doi.org/10.15215/9781771991339.01

Lewington, J. (2019, April 24). Why are Canadian universities so slow to adopt digital learning. Macleans. https://www.macleans.ca/education/why-are-canadian-universities-so-slow-to-adopt-digital-learning/

Niehoff, M. (2020, November 13). How this teacher uses Unreal Engine to elevate his students’ learning. EdSurge. Retrieved Oct. 25, 2021 from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-11-13-how-this-teacher-uses-unreal-engine-to-elevate-his-students-learning

Pomerantz, J. (2018). Learning in three dimensions: Report on the EDUCAUSE/HP campus of the future project. Educause. https://www.educause.edu/ecar/research-publications/learning-in-three-dimensions-report-on-the-educause-hp-campus-of-the-future-project/the-future-of-3d-technology-in-higher-education

Siggraph Conferences. (2019, March 19). An ‘irresistible’ way to make films using real-time technology for ‘Book of the Dead.’ Siggraph.org. Retrieved Oct. 25, 2021 from https://blog.siggraph.org/2019/03/an-irresistible-way-to-make-films-using-real-time-technology-for-book-of-the-dead.html/

Todd, D. (2020, October 23). Pandemic rattles the soul of higher education in B.C. Vancouver Sun. https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/the-soul-of-campus-life-hurt-by-pandemic

Todd, R.L, Pater, J. & Baker, P.M.A. (2016). (In)accessible learning in virtual worlds. In Gregory, M., Lee, J.W., Dalgarno, B. & Tynan, B. (Eds.). Learning in virtual worlds (pp. 87-115). AU Press. https://doi.org/10.15215/9781771991339.01

Unreal Engine. (n.d.). A tour of the new Unreal Engine learning portal. UnrealEngine.com.

Retrieved Oct. 26, 2021 from https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/onlinelearning-courses/a-tour-of-the-new-unreal-engine-learning-portal

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The ‘Great Media Debate’: Revisiting its Relevance

By Katrina Fraser and Alexandra Samur

Screenshot by LMS Virtual.Lab: Acoustics (via Flickr Creative Commons)

Emerging in the 80s and 90s, clearly a very different era of computer and internet technologies than today, the “Great Media Debate” between Richard Clark (1994) and Robert Kozma (1994) traded arguments on whether or not media enhance learning. The debate is important to revisit for instructional designers, focused on the creation of learning experiences and materials—how technologies can advance learning is at the core of our profession.

The posts below explore Clark and Kozma’s positions and imagines their responses to contemporary technological advances written about in mainstream media.

“Adobe Fosters Creative Digital Literacy for Students in All Majors” By Chris Hayhurst (February 12, 2020)

https://edtechmagazine.com/higher/higher/higher/k12/k12/article/2020/02/adobe-fosters-creative-digital-literacy-students-all-majors

Article Summary

“Adobe Fosters Creative Digital Literacy for Students” in All Majors (Hayhurst, 2020) is a promotional article to support the adoption of Adobe Creative Cloud into widespread use across university and college campuses.

Biology Major Vincent Fu, who minors in Computer Science and Chemistry, found his skills in Adobe Creative Cloud to be essential in his position at a medical device firm. He was able to “communicat[e] complicated content and research data in a visually consistent way” (Hayhurst, 2020, para 3).

This focus on creative digital literacy is expected in most fields, which has led to universities examining their curricula, and their graduates’ preparedness for it. Creative Cloud in particular has three key features ideally suited to higher ed.  The creativity-productivity platform helps users, no matter their academic discipline, to solve problems, develop critical thinking and share knowledge. Also, being cloud-based, it works on all devices no matter the user’s level. Lastly, it is the industry standard, far superior to hacking together pieces from free software. 

Students use the software on campus, and take that knowledge to employers who use it as well. What used to be a kind of technological magic have become  commonplace tools to leverage on a student’s resume (Hayhurst, 2020).

How Would Clark and Kozma Respond

Clark would have a difficult time arguing against leveraging of software skills into the job market. Of course, that is not his purpose nor likely an effective use of his time. Clark’s (1994) view is essentially that technology is not teaching anything. 

It would, however, be very interesting to hear his perspective when the technology itself is the learning, and mastery of its use is the learning goal. Clark’s position is that effective learning comes from the quality of instruction, and that quality of instruction could be equally delivered through a wide variety of media formats (Clark, 1994). The media itself does not act as the instruction; it carries the instruction to the learner. 

However, it is unclear to me how one would attempt to instruct in the use of a technology tool without using that tool. By that I mean, if we are to apply the argument that Clark (1994) employs, that the technology essentially delivers the instruction, and that instruction could be effectively delivered through various media, then that would follow that the learning of Adobe Creative Cloud could be effectively instructed using various media, and not necessarily the Cloud tools themselves. This would mean that a collection of print-, video-, and/or other media-based instruction would be just as effective at teaching a learner how to use Creative Cloud as would using the tech itself. 

I find this pretty hard to believe. At the very least, if efficiency were of the utmost importance, as Clark (1994) claims it should be, there seems to be a real efficiency problem with using any other media of instruction versus the technology itself. It does not make sense to work outside of that particular medium when instructing that medium. 

This supports Kozma’s (1994) supposition, that a medium itself provides a richness of capability that cannot be otherwise duplicated. The salience and experiential capacity of the media provide attributes that themselves combine into causal elements that generate effective learning.  

Of course, efficiency being paramount, it is unlikely that Clark would advocate for the use of print-based instruction over using the Creative Cloud technology itself, but the point is that his viewpoint suggests it is possible to do so. Kozma (1994), on the other hand, would likely argue that the value of learning the Creative Cloud tools is reflected in developing capacity in these tools, and the associated socio-experiential learning that would be gained therein. 

Making Virtual Learning Real by Miang Chiang (August 27, 2021)

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mungchiang/2021/08/27/making-virtual-learning-real/?sh=2113d5031563

Article Summary

The Forbes article “Making Virtual Learning Real” (Chiang, 2021) highlights how new technologies—virtual labs and educational digital twins—enhance online learning and spur innovation (2021).

Virtual labs for engineering students, who typically have to spend a significant amount of time in labs, is one innovation that can provide huge cost-savings. The virtual labs, replaces the need for facilities or equipment by providing simulated experiences of being in a bricks and mortar lab including randomized lab results (Chiang, 2021).

Similarly, experiential learning through the use of educational digital twins have allowed students to explore virtual versions of items such as car or human body parts when the physical objects are not available (Chiang, 2021). 

During COVID these innovations provided Purdue students the opportunity for hands-on learning when working in-person was not possible  (Chiang, 2021).

Clark and Kozma: Virtual vs. In-Person Learning 

For Clark (1994), there was no direct link between the use of media and learning.  Instead it is instructional methods that influence learning, and not its delivery. So, if he were alive to contend with COVID, he would likely whole-heartedly embrace virtual environments for teaching and argue that really, it doesn’t matter how students receive instruction but the method and content that matter. Students will and do learn from high-quality instruction whether it’s delivered in-person or online. However, the amount or quality of what they learn is not directly impacted by media. 

Further, regardless of a pandemic, Clark (1994) would likely recommend the use of virtual labs over physical facilities in order to cut costs of delivering instruction, assuming that instructional methods stay the same. 

In contrast, Kozma (1994), steadfast in his rebuttal, would argue that it’s an oversight not to recognize the potential that virtual labs would have in enhancing student learning. By learning in a simulated environment, students will have the opportunity to make more mistakes, try more experiments and therefore be exposed to more potential results than they would in a physical lab. 

The same goes for working with educational digital twins. Being able to see machine processes on a computer or break the parts of a car and then rebuild them with the aid of a digital version can only expand a student’s horizons. By contrast, working in a physical lab, if you were, say, dissecting a real life body part, you aren’t likely going to have multiple parts to take apart and learn from that hands-on experience in the same way. 

For Kozma (1994), media attributes and the learning process are not separate but complementary. Given the unprecedented development in technology since these debates took place, it’s hard to imagine Clark would not also acknowledge the media attributes that realize instructional methods through new innovations and applications for technologies.  

References

Chiang, M. (2021, August 27). Making virtual learning real. Forbes.com. Retrieved Sept. 21, 2021 from https://www.forbes.com/sites/mungchiang/2021/08/27/making-virtual-learning-real/?sh=2113d5031563

Clark, R. E. (1994). Media will never influence learning. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(2), 21-29. http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~bmann/0_ARTICLES/Media_Clark.html

Hayhurst, C. (2020, Feb 12). Adobe Fosters Creative Digital Literacy for Students in All Majors. EdTech. Retrieved Sept. 22, 2021 from https://edtechmagazine.com/higher/higher/higher/k12/k12/article/2020/02/adobe-fosters-creative-digital-literacy-students-all-majors

Kozma, R. B. (1994). Will media influence learning: Reframing the debate. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(2), 7-19. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.167.4904

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Tamar Huggins: Founder and CEO, Tech Spark Canada and Spark Plug

I first read about Tamar Huggins in an article a couple of years ago about an entrepreneur building the “Black Silicon Valley” outside Toronto. The headline piqued my attention. The article in NOW Magazine profiled Huggins and her organization, Tech Spark, working to build tech programs inside local schools.

In the article, she explains: “We’re seeing Black children at the high school level dropping out of STEM-related courses at an alarming rate. Our goal is to create a pipeline that moves students from being interested in technology to engaging with it to eventually pursuing higher education and becoming active members in the tech community as entrepreneurs and corporate professionals” (Rattan, 2018, par. 6).

Since that article was published three years ago, Huggins has been establishing tech programs (in areas such as coding, gaming and robotics) in schools and for kids from BIPOC communities in Ontario, while also training teachers on equity and diversity in the classroom (Style Canada, n.d.).

Her latest venture, Spark Plug (formerly, EDUlytics), is a learning analytics dashboard that creates custom lesson plans that address different learning styles, cultural backgrounds to help teachers meet K-12 students where they are at in their learning (Mroczek, 2019). One of the concerns about learning analytics dashboards like Spark Plug, highlighted in 25 Years of EdTech, is the issue of data ownership (Weller, 2020). However, students and parents retain control over their data and how its used by Spark Plug, says Huggins (Mroczek, 2019). Though it’s still being tested (currently in Ontario only), the tool, and others like it, hold promise in providing solutions for teachers on how to provide personalized support and address gaps for at-risk kids in schools and beyond.

For more about her work in tech and education, read recent profiles by The Globe and Mail, Style Canada and Disruption Canada. Follow her on Twitter @TamarHuggins

References

Mroczek, B. (2019). Tech education for the next generation. Disruption Magazine. https://www.disruptionmagazine.ca/tech-education-for-the-next-generation/

Rattan, R. (2018). Building the Black Silicon Valley near Toronto. Now Toronto. https://nowtoronto.com/lifestyle/education/black-futures-silicon-valley-durham

Style Canada. (n.d.). Meet #LeadingLady Tamar Huggins Grant. https://style.ca/leading-lady-tamar-huggins-grant/

Weller, M. (2020). 25 Years of Ed Tech. AU Press. https://doi.org/10.15215/aupress/9781771993050.01