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

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

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. 

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.   

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.

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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