1. Instructional Technology and
Virginia Tech in 10 Years:
Vi i i T h i 10 Y
My Thoughts
My Thoughts
Scott Midkiff
S tt Midkiff
midkiff@vt.edu
February 11, 2011
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Acknowledgments to Bill Plymale (Learning Technologies)
and Jeff Reed (ECE) for providing content.
2/11/2011 Task Force on Instructional Technology 1

2. My Background
My Background
 Joined Virginia Tech in 1986
 Taught 21 distance learning classes since 1993
T ht 21 di t l i l i 1993
 Synchronous interactive videoconferencing
 Asynchronous online
y
 Hybrid
 Developed or co‐developed four different asynchronous
online courses (including two courses co‐developed for a
li (i l di t d l df
for‐profit)
 Taught in the NCR 1998‐1999 and 2004‐2006
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 Spent 2006‐2009 as a program director at the NSF
(Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems Division)
 ECE department head since August 2009
2/11/2011 Task Force on Instructional Technology 2

3. The Five W s and one H
The Five W’s and one H
Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why?
h ?
How?
2/11/2011 Task Force on Instructional Technology 3

4. The Five W s and one H
The Five W’s and one H
The Five W’s and one H are not distinct questions
2/11/2011 Task Force on Instructional Technology 4

5. Who will we teach in 2020?
will we teach in 2020?
US Census Bureau projections
 B 2050 54
By 2050, 54 percent of the
f h
population will be minorities, with
one third being Hispanic
one‐third being Hispanic
 By 2023, more than half of all
http://www.uh.edu/features/cougar‐credits/another‐first.php
children will be minorities
Will this change how we teach?
g
Will this change where we teach?
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6. Who will we teach in 2020?
will we teach in 2020?
An increasing variety of types of students
An increasing variety of types of students
 Continuous first‐degree students
 Interrupted first‐degree students
Interrupted first degree students
 Full‐time advanced degree
 Part‐time advanced degree
Part time advanced degree
 Targeted, non‐degree learners
Students learning in different places in different
ways will continue to increase in importance.
y p
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7. What will we teach in 2020?
will we teach in 2020?
Aspirations for The Engineer of 2020 (NAE, 2004)
 “… well grounded in the basics of mathematics and science,
and who will expand their vision of design through a solid
grounding in the humanities, social sciences, and economics”
 “… rapidly embrace the potentialities offered by creativity,
, p y
invention, and cross‐disciplinary fertilization to create and
accommodate new fields of endeavor, including those that
require openness to interdisciplinary efforts with
nonengineering disciplines such as science, social science, and
business”
 “… we should reconstitute engineering curricula and related
educational programs to prepare today’s engineers for the
challenges of the future, with due recognition of the rapid http://www.nae.edu/Programs/Education/Acti
vities10374/Engineerof2020.aspx
pace of change in the world and its intrinsic lack of
predictability.”
predictability ”
 “… shape the engineering curriculum for 2020 so as to be
responsive to the disparate learning styles of different student
populations and prepares a person for a creative and
productive life and positions of leadership.”
d ti lif d iti f l d hi ”
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8. Where will we teach and students learn?
will we teach and students learn?
 Continuous first‐degree students  Traditional (but
“smart”) bricks and mortars campuses (and we have
“ ”) b i k d ( d h
a great one)
 Interrupted first degree students  Multiple
Interrupted first‐degree students  Multiple
campuses and online
 Full‐time advanced degree  Research universities
Full time advanced degree  Research universities,
but often in collaboration across institutional
boundaries
 Part‐time advanced degree  Online
 Targeted, non‐degree learners  Online and at the
workplace
2/11/2011 Task Force on Instructional Technology 8

9. Where will we teach and students learn?
will we teach and students learn?
The Board of Visitors have made Hokie Stone the official building
material and collegiate gothic the official style for all academic
material and collegiate gothic the official style for all academic
core and life sciences precincts on the Blacksburg campus
(11/8/2010)
The resolution noted that the “physical campus is one of
the most tangible features that everyone who is
touched by Virginia Tech remembers.”
h db i i i h b ”
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10. Where will we teach and students learn?
will we teach and students learn?
“Hands on, minds on” education
 Shared access to physical artifacts
 Access to high‐cost equipment
 Learning team work
Labs and design studios are becoming more
important, not less (and “virtual” is too limiting).
2/11/2011 Task Force on Instructional Technology 10

11. Where will we teach and students learn?
will we teach and students learn?
The Lab‐in‐a‐Box experience
 Students purchase low‐cost
instruments that, with a PC, moves
the lab to a student’s dorm or
th l b t t d t’ d
apartment
 Great learning tool
Great learning tool
 But, students still want to be in the
lab
 GTA support at the ready
 Socialization
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12. Where will we teach and students learn?
will we teach and students learn?
High‐performance networks
will be even more important
ill b i
for learning and discovery
 High data rate pervasive
High data rate, pervasive
wireless
 “Big pipes” to campus
Big pipes to campus
Infrastructure at the
cutting edge will be
essential to differentiate
our “place.”
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13. Where will we teach and students learn?
will we teach and students learn?
Differentiation will be a challenge, though.
Proximity to high‐performance computing and
y
visualization may be the issue.
Peak Data Rates for Emerging Mobile Standards
LTE LTE‐Advanced
d d IMT‐Advanced
d d
Down link 300 Mbps 1 Gbps 1 Gbps
Up link
p 75 Mbps
p 500 Mbps
p (low mobility)
From a presentation on “Emerging Wireless Standards” by Jeff Reed, Virginia Tech
LTE: Long‐Term Evolution
LTE‐Advanced: Long‐Term Evolution‐Advanced
LTE Advanced: Long Term Evolution Advanced
IMT‐Advanced: International Mobile Telecommunications ‐ Advanced
2/11/2011 Task Force on Instructional Technology 13

14. Where will we teach and students learn?
will we teach and students learn?
Differentiating learning spaces
 Physical‐mobile interaction can add value to physical
spaces
E. Rukzio, M. Paolucci, T. Finin, P.
, y ,
Wisner, T. Payne, “Mobile interaction
with the real world,” MobileHCI , pp.
295‐296, 2006.
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15. Where will we teach and students learn?
will we teach and students learn?
Differentiating learning spaces
 Immersive Learning – systematic and flexible fusion
of virtual learning and computer‐aided face‐to‐face
learning
l i
R. Zender, E. Dressler, U. Lucke, D. Tavangarian, “Pervasive media and
messaging services for immersive learning experiences," IEEE
PerCom, pp. 1‐6, 2009.
2/11/2011 Task Force on Instructional Technology 15

16. How will we teach and students learn?
will we teach and students learn?
 The world is different for students today than even
just 10 years ago, and it will be different 10 years
j 10 d i ill b diff 10
from now
Smartphone Ownership and SMS Adoption Rates at the End 2008
“Annual Report and Analysis of Competitive Market Conditions With Respect to Mobile Wireless, Including Commercial Mobile Services”, FCC 10‐18, https://www.fcc.gov/14report.pdf
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17. How will we teach and students learn?
will we teach and students learn?
Gartner 2010 Technology Hype Cycle
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1447613
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18. How will we teach and students learn?
will we teach and students learn?
The Horizon Report on “technologies to
watch
watch”
 Time to adoption: 1 year or less
 Electronic books
 Mobiles
 Time to adoption: 2 to 3 years
 Augmented reality
 Game‐based learning
 Ti
Time to adoption: 4 to 5 years
d i 4 5 The Horizon Report, The New Media
 Gesture‐based computing
Consortium, 2011
 Learning analytics
Learning analytics
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19. How will we teach and students learn?
How will we teach and students learn?
On The Horizon Report (2011): “Mobile devices
are one year away from transforming education.
y y g
For the third straight year.”
B. Wieder, “6 Top Tech Trends on the Horizon for Higher Education,” Chronicle of Higher Education‐Wired Campus, 2/8/2011.
2/11/2011 Task Force on Instructional Technology 19

20. How will we teach and students learn?
will we teach and students learn?
 “Learning analytics promises to harness the power of
advances in data mining, interpretation, and
advances in data mining interpretation and
modeling to improve understandings of teaching and
learning, and to tailor education to individual
students more effectively.” (The Horizon Report,
2011)
 P t ti l t
Potential to address
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 Personalized learning
 Assessment (based on outcomes and activities)
Assessment (based on outcomes and activities)
 Applicable to virtual space and interactive physical
space
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21. NAE Engineering Grand Challenges
NAE Engineering “Grand Challenges”
1. Make solar energy economical
2. Provide energy from fusion
Provide energy from fusion
3. Provide access to clean water
4. Reverse‐engineer the brain
5.
5 Advance personalized learning
Advance personalized learning
6. Develop carbon sequestration methods
7. Engineer the tools of scientific discovery
8.
8 Restore and improve urban infrastructure
Restore and improve urban infrastructure
9. Advance health informatics
10. Prevent nuclear terror
11.
11 Engineer better medicines
Engineer better medicines “The NAE Committee on Engineering's
The NAE Committee on Engineering s
Grand Challenges has identified 14
12. Enhance virtual reality areas awaiting engineering solutions in
13. Manage the nitrogen cycle the 21st century.”
14.
14 Secure cyberspace
Secure cyberspace
http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/

22. How will we teach and students learn?
will we teach and students learn?
Advance personalized learning Functional MRI (fMRI) installation at VT‐CRI, 2010
 “Instruction can be individualized
based on learning styles, speeds,
and interests to make learning more
di t t t k l i
reliable”*
 Learning how people learn
Learning how people learn
 Data mining of learning systems
(learning analytics)
(learning analytics)
 Advances in neuroscience?
*http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/
2/11/2011 Task Force on Instructional Technology 22

23. How will we teach and students learn?
will we teach and students learn?
Cyberlearning – “Learning that is
mediated by networked computing and
mediated by networked computing and
communications technologies”
 Create cross‐disciplinary communities
Create cross disciplinary communities
of researchers and practitioners
 Keep a platform perspective –
hardware, software and services
[people?]
 Emphasize transformative power of
Emphasize transformative power of “Fostering Learning in the Networked World:
information technology for learning The Cyberlearning Opportunity and
Challenge,” NSF, 2008
 Promote open resources
Promote open resources
 Sustain innovations
2/11/2011 Task Force on Instructional Technology 23

24. How will we teach and students learn?
will we teach and students learn?
 Fewer master course development teams, developing
courses used by many
courses used by many
 Content specialist
 Instruction design and technology support
 Assessment
 Content via commercial sources or consortia
 In‐person (local or distance) instructors play a different
I (l l di t )i t t l diff t
role than is typical today
 Common, interoperable platforms (commercial or
Common, interoperable platforms (commercial or
consortia)
 New relationships between institutions for shared
development and student transitions
d l t d t d tt iti
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