BRINGING LIFE TO LEARNING: IMMERSIVE EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING SIMULATIONS FOR ONLINE AND BLENDED COURSES

In order to keep pace with today’s networked society, Higher Education instructors face the daunting challenge of integrating new technologies into their courses. This imperative is driven by the need to create engaging content for today’s learner and to better prepare students with the skills that...

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Main Authors: Michael Watkins, John M. Beckem II
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Online Learning Consortium 2012-09-01
Series:Online Learning
Subjects:
Online Access:https://olj.onlinelearningconsortium.org/index.php/olj/article/view/287
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author Michael Watkins
John M. Beckem II
author_facet Michael Watkins
John M. Beckem II
author_sort Michael Watkins
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description In order to keep pace with today’s networked society, Higher Education instructors face the daunting challenge of integrating new technologies into their courses. This imperative is driven by the need to create engaging content for today’s learner and to better prepare students with the skills that they will need after graduation to achieve success in the 21st Century workplace. At the same time, these online learning tools must both support the needs of instructors and help institutions to achieve greater long term sustainability. Of the emerging online social tools, rich media immersive learning simulations that enable “learning by doing” have achieved widespread adoption in a relatively short period of time and are now demonstrating exciting results. Building upon the ancient Confucian wisdom, “What I hear, I forget; What I see, I remember; What I do, I understand,” these experiential learning tools have become an important asset within a growing number of online and blended learning courses. In this paper, we will share results of a pilot deployment of experiential immersive simulations within the course, "Diversity in the Workplace,” as part of the business program at the State University of New York (SUNY) Empire State College. This course, completed in March 2012, was taught by Dr. John Beckem and taken by two cohorts of undergraduate students. Results show this approach was effective in achieving improved subject matter retention and student success as demonstrated by outcomes of the in-class assignments and Exit Surveys.
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spelling doaj.art-5f5d55c1b5fa42fca1f594ed830190b82024-02-03T09:42:52ZengOnline Learning ConsortiumOnline Learning2472-57492472-57302012-09-0116510.24059/olj.v16i5.287BRINGING LIFE TO LEARNING: IMMERSIVE EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING SIMULATIONS FOR ONLINE AND BLENDED COURSESMichael Watkins0John M. Beckem IIToolwireIn order to keep pace with today’s networked society, Higher Education instructors face the daunting challenge of integrating new technologies into their courses. This imperative is driven by the need to create engaging content for today’s learner and to better prepare students with the skills that they will need after graduation to achieve success in the 21st Century workplace. At the same time, these online learning tools must both support the needs of instructors and help institutions to achieve greater long term sustainability. Of the emerging online social tools, rich media immersive learning simulations that enable “learning by doing” have achieved widespread adoption in a relatively short period of time and are now demonstrating exciting results. Building upon the ancient Confucian wisdom, “What I hear, I forget; What I see, I remember; What I do, I understand,” these experiential learning tools have become an important asset within a growing number of online and blended learning courses. In this paper, we will share results of a pilot deployment of experiential immersive simulations within the course, "Diversity in the Workplace,” as part of the business program at the State University of New York (SUNY) Empire State College. This course, completed in March 2012, was taught by Dr. John Beckem and taken by two cohorts of undergraduate students. Results show this approach was effective in achieving improved subject matter retention and student success as demonstrated by outcomes of the in-class assignments and Exit Surveys.https://olj.onlinelearningconsortium.org/index.php/olj/article/view/287Simulations/immersive learning environmentsWorkforce readinessExperiential learningBlended learningStudent engagement and retentionInnovation
spellingShingle Michael Watkins
John M. Beckem II
BRINGING LIFE TO LEARNING: IMMERSIVE EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING SIMULATIONS FOR ONLINE AND BLENDED COURSES
Online Learning
Simulations/immersive learning environments
Workforce readiness
Experiential learning
Blended learning
Student engagement and retention
Innovation
title BRINGING LIFE TO LEARNING: IMMERSIVE EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING SIMULATIONS FOR ONLINE AND BLENDED COURSES
title_full BRINGING LIFE TO LEARNING: IMMERSIVE EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING SIMULATIONS FOR ONLINE AND BLENDED COURSES
title_fullStr BRINGING LIFE TO LEARNING: IMMERSIVE EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING SIMULATIONS FOR ONLINE AND BLENDED COURSES
title_full_unstemmed BRINGING LIFE TO LEARNING: IMMERSIVE EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING SIMULATIONS FOR ONLINE AND BLENDED COURSES
title_short BRINGING LIFE TO LEARNING: IMMERSIVE EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING SIMULATIONS FOR ONLINE AND BLENDED COURSES
title_sort bringing life to learning immersive experiential learning simulations for online and blended courses
topic Simulations/immersive learning environments
Workforce readiness
Experiential learning
Blended learning
Student engagement and retention
Innovation
url https://olj.onlinelearningconsortium.org/index.php/olj/article/view/287
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