Derek's+page

Greetings from Chicago, Fellow Scholars! Below is the link to my selected innovation. I look forward to your questions, comments, and feedback.




 * Here are examples of my innovation: Pedagogical Avatars **

(The top two are examples only, click 'play' on the Voki)



media type="custom" key="5746359" Dona comment: This is pretty cool:)


 * Project Storyboard: **



More detailed storyboard

Anne B-G Comment: Derek--this should be a very interesting project.

Dona comment: I agree. this appears to be a very interesting choice for the project. Have you worked with this area before, or have you become interested in this an area recently? I am asking because I was curious how much you know about what exists for VWs in specific areas.

Derek response: This is a new interest. Learning in a VW is a bleeding edge use of technology that has not yet been fully adopted by educators. I have learned that pedagogical avatars have been used for military and medical training for about 15 years.

Timeline for Pedagogical Avatars:

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 * Rate of Adoption for Pedagogical Avatars**



Aracelis comment: Derek your S-Curve idea is wonderful. Like you, I don't have any numbers.

Dona comment: Good job on the S-curve. I struggled with mine.


 * Early Adopters of Conversational Avatars**

Higher Education : []

Medical Training: []

[]

Corporate Training: []

Military:



NASA: []


 * Reasons and Rationale**: Cost-effective; reusable & consistent content; enhanced learner attention and increased learning retention; adaptable to different learning styles;

**Late Adopters of Conversational Avatars:**
K-12 Public Schools: []

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 * Strategies for Innovation Adoption in K-12 Schools:**
 * 1) Share research regarding avatars in education
 * 2) Involve teachers, students, technology coordinators, and school administrators in course design process
 * 3) Be certain that all avatar-led courses are standards-based
 * 4) Student trial group for pre- and post- assessment of learning objectives (for avatar-led courses)
 * 5) Compare standardized test scores of students who participate in avatar-led instruction with non-treatment group


 * Attribute Strategies to promote adoption:**
 * relative advantage-- the greatest obstacle; online learning for K-8 not widely accepted; interactive demonstration of teaching/learning needed for decision makers
 * compatibility-- possible obstacle; avatars are viewed as gaming characters, not instructional agents
 * trialability-- allow for late adopters and laggards
 * observability-- standardized test results and assessments will serve as 'learning indicators' for late adopters and laggards
 * Complexity-- must be easy for teachers and students


 * Reaching Critical Mass:**
 * **Centralized vs Decentralized--** A decentralized approach will need to be used due to the level of customization that will be available to teachers. Though a centralized (district) acceptance and diffusion of this innovation will be required initially, diffusion of the innovation will occur at the school level and further dissemination at the grade or subject level.


 * **The 7 Roles of a Change Agent**-- The most important roles that will be necessary to present this innovation to the Board of Directors are: To develop the need for change by presenting the advantage of avatar centered learning for students, developing rapport with the Board members by listening and discussing district AYP progress, by diagnosing why current alternatives are not working, create an intent to change (innovation trialability),translate an intent to action by offering on-site training and support for one week, stabilize the adoption and prevent discontinuance by requesting an end-of-week feedback session, and achieve a terminal relationship by determining the Board's satisfaction level to provide references to other districts.


 * **Strategies to Achieve Critical Mass**-- Introduce the innovation to the IT Department initially as a new and fun way to teach about the latest IT system improvement. Once accepted by the IT Department (and introduced to staff via the IT Department!), invite Board Members (and teachers) to attend an introductory information session about the advantages of pedagogical avatars, and offer the incentive of free lifetime use of the avatars since they would be initial adopters of the innovation. The district would provide initial feedback for improvement as well as working data regarding pedagogical avatars.

Aracelis comment: Derek, your ideas are well organized. They should be capable of awaken the enthusiasm for adopting your innovation. If you provide incentives and become that communication link and change agent, you should be able to convince them.

Dona comment: your work is very detailed and shows a lot of thought about the process. It looks like your ideas are right on track.

Anne comment: this is really nicely done! Your organizational sense is MUCH better than mine, and you have dotted the I's and crossed the T's and covered all of the bases. I am impressed!


 * Organizational Innovation Adoption**

Organizational Need: To improve K-8 student performance on state and district assessments

Meeting the Need: Pedagogical avatars allow students to work independently while completing assignments and researching topics. Pedagogical avatars engage the learner by interacting with the learner.

=My Presentation= (Pardon the imperfections in my narration. I edited as best I could without destroying the integrity of the movie. I created this using Prezi.com which I later found out does not support audio easily. I had to use a screen capture program for narration. The recording process was more complicated than I thought it would be. I should have hired a Hollywood producer for this assignment !!!)

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Here is a link to the presentation without the narration: []. You click through it like PowerPoint. I am working on rendering the project again in a better format that does not stretch the presentation into widescreen. Any ideas?

NOTE: I rendered another video with different settings. I'm not sure if this will make a difference since it was recorded in widescreen dimensions. Here is the result. I will preview this production later. The embed is not yet 'live' but I must go to work!!!!

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Aracelis's comment: I was able to see the prezi.com presentation. I really like how did you organized the content and the movement of your presentation. Avatar would be a great resource to use with upper elementary grades. Students would be very enthusiastic about this innovations. If cost effective and adaptable to different learning styles are characteristic make avatars appealing, then is worth it. Finally, what I liked the most was your photo of Atchinson Consulting Services.

Dona's commnt: The presentation looked really good, and your pacing on the sound made nice to listen to during the presentation. I did not know very much about avatars prior to your work on this project. It was a well done project:)

Anne's comment: Derek--great job! Well planned and executed! Avatar-based learning is new, but it can be tremendously effective because of the physical separation between the person and their avatar: if a mistake is made it is the avatar that made it, so the human doesn't beat themselves up about it, they just make a mental note that they will not mess up in the same way that that avatar did--these were the preliminary conclusions from an internal study on foreign language study done by a government organization (never actually published because the project was shot down by the IT security people). The handwriting is still on the wall, however, so the ability to distance one's self during the learning process is a very unique concept. If you pursue this topic, also check out Nick Yee's work (a former student of Dr. Balenson). His dissertation on the Proteus Effect is fascinating!