Collaborative Research: STEM Education in Virtual Worlds Workshop Series

这个项目的意义和重要性是创建了两个讲习班，重点是在虚拟世界中学习科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)科目，以及如何利用虚拟世界增强其他教育技术。在每个研讨会上，STEM教育工作者将分享他们的研究成果，并向教育和工业专家学习。研讨会的预期成果包括改善大学生在STEM领域的教育活动，让教师更好地了解学生如何使用虚拟世界学习STEM科目，以及加强教育工作者和计算机/软件行业虚拟世界设计师之间的合作。该项目的目标和范围包括开发两个研讨会，将教师和行业代表聚集在一起分享知识，并创建一个强大的学术虚拟世界社区，可以将虚拟世界整合到STEM课程中。参与者将分享他们在课堂上传播、评估和制度化虚拟世界的经验。每个为期四天的研讨会将提供深入的研究报告、实践经验、引人入胜的活动和活跃的讨论。私人投资促进机构将邀请约30人参加每个研讨会。此外，课程设计和评估方面的专家将帮助STEM教育工作者了解如何制定具有可实现、可衡量的学习目标的活动。来自虚拟现实硬件和软件开发公司的程序员和代表等行业专家将分享他们的技术知识，并了解使用他们服务和产品的教育工作者的需求。

The significance and importance of this project is the creation of two workshops that will focus on learning of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects in Virtual Worlds and how other education technologies can be augmented with Virtual Worlds. At each workshop, STEM educators will share their research and learn from specialists in education and industry. Anticipated outcomes of the workshops include improved educational activities for college students in STEM fields, faculty with a better understanding of how students learn STEM subjects using Virtual Worlds, and stronger collaborations between educators and Virtual World designers in the computer/software industry.The goals and scope of this project include the development of two workshops that will bring together faculty and industry representatives to share knowledge and create a strong scholarly Virtual World community that can integrate Virtual Worlds into the STEM curriculum. Participants will share their experiences with dissemination, assessment and institutionalization of Virtual Worlds in the classroom. Each four-day workshop will offer in-depth research presentations, hands-on experiences, engaging activities, and lively discussions. The PIs will invite approximately thirty attendees to each workshop. In addition, experts in curriculum design and assessment will help STEM educators understand how to develop activities with achievable, measurable learning objectives. Industry experts, such as programmers and representatives from companies developing virtual reality hardware and software, will share their technical knowledge and learn about the needs of educators who use their services and products.