NEWSLETTER

Volume 39, Number 2                                                                                                                                          Patrick R. Lake, Editor
November 2004                                                                                    

  
ANNUAL MEETING

Sunday, December 5, 2004
11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

Imperial B, Convention Level
Marriott Marquis
Atlanta, Georgia

 

PRESIDING
Dr. L. Steve Thornburg
President, Cleveland Community College

WELCOME
Dr. L. Steve Thornburg

INVOCATION
Dr. Willis Lott
President, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College

BUSINESS SESSION
Financial Report
Dr. Marshall W. Smith
President, John Tyler Community College

Election of Board Members and Officers
Dr. J. Terrence Kelly
Chancellor, Alamo Community College District

INTRODUCTION OF SPEAKER
Dr. Millicent M. Valek
President, Brazosport College

KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Dr. James T. Roger
Executive Director
Commission on Colleges
"The New Principles: Will They Make a Difference on Your Campus?"

DOOR PRIZES
Dr. Chuck Mojock
President, Lake Sumter Community College

2004 OFFICERS OF THE ASSOCIATION
PRESIDENT
Dr. L. Steve Thornburg,
President, Cleveland Community College

VICE PRESIDENT
Dr. Millicent M. Valek
President, Brazosport College

SECRETARY / TREASURER
Dr. Marshall W. Smith
President, John Tyler Community College

PAST PRESIDENT
Dr. J. Terrence Kelly
Chancellor, Alamo Community College District

EDITOR
Dr. Patrick R. Lake
President, Henderson Community College

BOARD MEMBERS
Class of 2005
     Dr. Barry W. Rusell, President, Midlands Technical College

Class of 2006
     Dr. James M. Mitchell, President, Wallace State Community College
     Dr. Chuck Mojock, President, Lake Sumter Community College
     Dr. Randy Pierce, President, Floyd College
     Dr. Willis Lott, President, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College
     Dr. Tommy Warner, President, Nunez Community College

 

The SACJTC gratefully acknowledges the sponsorship of the following businesses for today's luncheon:

 

Visualization and Immersive Technology
A Different Instructional Tool 

By Jamie Justice, Director, Technical Education and Workforce Development
Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) 

Community and technical colleges are faced with myriad challenges that impact student learning and success.  To confront these challenges, colleges employ a variety of instructional models and tools to meet student needs and learning styles.  KCTCS is exploring applications of visualization and immersive technologies to enhance instruction and shorten learning cycles for workforce training and general education.  The KCTCS focus on instructional technologies is intended to provide students innovative instruction and real-time assessment results in any content area.  It is essential that colleges provide engaging and relevant instruction to enhance mastery and attainment in shorter time periods.  The following model illustrates the basic framework for this delivery system:

 

KCTCS Visualization and Immersion Center

KCTCS’s visualization and immersive technology is built upon a blended instructional model of real-time assessment and innovative presentation solutions called Emergence Learning.  Emergence Learning Solutions are products of 3D Pipeline Simulation and include highly interactive physics-based models and simulations custom developed for instructional programs.  Real-time assessment is accomplished online with a product called Edmastery and with hand-held devices called iRespond from Reveal Technologies. 

Text Box: "Image courtesy: www.3dpipelinesim.com ".
The primary advantage of visualization and immersion, however,
is not merely using technology, but utilizing technology to remove
educational barriers common in traditional classrooms.  While traditional
teaching models assign students passive roles, technology applications
help to engage or immerse the learner in instruction.  The Emergence
Learning tool provides the instructor with a tool specifically designed to
immerse learners within learning objects.  Imagine possessing the
capability to guide learners through a eukaryotic cell as it appears in the
air in front of a stereographic monitor.  Using visualization technology,
the student can look at the cell components from a variety of directions,
angles and viewpoints.  A student can look at the cell in entirety or focus on
specific portions such as the mitochondria, nucleus, or cytoplasm.  The process
of immersing students inside the cell – rather than relying on drawings or textbook
images -- creates a lasting experience that enhances retention and understanding.   

 

Text Box: "Image courtesy: www.5dt.com”
.
Visualizations or simulations provide an excellent tool for workforce development and other training initiatives.  Through physics based simulations learners can operate equipment in a controlled environment, one that provides real world scenarios to develop problem-solving or troubleshooting skills.  Simulations are an excellent middle training experience between classroom and actual hands-on training, and reinforce theoretical content through application.  Transition from simulation to hands-on applications can be made with more confidence which will greatly improve workplace safety and skill.  This process will ultimately provide for a greater return on investment of training dollars through higher productivity, better safety awareness, enhanced technician troubleshooting and problem solving skills while providing a faster, more efficient training process.

 

 

Text Box: "Image courtesy: www.3dpipelinesim.com ".

 

 

 

 

Visualization services also provide additional benefits to employers through predictive modeling applications for production equipment, compressed air systems, heating, ventilation and air systems, plant emissions, or chemical emissions.  Companies may also utilize simulations to develop emergency plans.  Simulations are typically custom developed to meet the specific needs of each application.  Data is collected on equipment operations including current flow, feed rates, air pressures, timer sequences, temperature or other data, and used to develop simulations of operations based upon physics principles such as Navier-Stokes fluid dynamics models.  Consequently, the simulation is real-time and responds to the end user in the same manner as the actual equipment.

 

 

 

 

 

 


While visualization provides a new opportunity for more effective training there are several challenges that colleges must contend with in order to develop simulation training.  The primary challenge is the availability of content.  There are many 3D models available on the Internet and though industry sources, but the college must provide technical resources to convert and align this content to program applications.   Colleges may need to seek services of graphic artists, programmers, physicists, and content developers to utilize software for simulation development.  However, this is an emerging instructional concept that is just beginning to move from military application to commercial application.   As time progresses, additional content, plug-ins for physics calculations and content common to multiple industries will become available.  Progressive community and technical colleges that become early adopters of this technology may realize opportunity to generate revenue streams from content development and sales, as well as establishing long-term training relationships with a variety of employer groups.

 

Another important component of immersive or connected instruction is the ability to make inferences about student learning in real-time.  Assessment is an essential component of visualization training and general instruction; however there is often a gap between instruction and feedback on student attainment.  To narrow that gap and provide opportunity for instructors to make “real-time” inferences about learning, KCTCS is using a new technology called the iRespond.  iResponds are radio frequency hand held devices that can be instructor driven or student paced to collect data on student participation or to gauge overall student comprehension of instructional content.

 

 

 

 

The iRespond units provide a means to assess students during instruction or as an end of lesson assessment tool.  These units could also be utilized to score performance events from simulation scenarios or provide a final scoring system to bench mark overall group achievement.  Additionally, the iRespond technology provides a variety of reports that immediately offer remediation or teaching points to end users. 

Effective teaching and learning methodologies incorporate a wide variety of instructional tools and procedures to best meet the needs of students at all levels of education.  Visualization and assessment technologies can be a major component of the workforce or general education training classroom.  It is essential that good decisions be made with regard to application, content development and integration of visualization in order to truly enhance instruction.  Visualization and assessment technologies help shorten learning cycles, engage learners and provide perspectives that were not available in the general college classroom.  To this end the greatest impact may be the acquired capacity to engage a generation of learners who are already very comfortable with technology to better utilize their technical skills to increase their learning capacity.

 

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