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Electronic Mentoring Recruitment, Retention, and Success in…

The Georgia STEM Accessibility Alliance (GSAA) aims to increase accessibility and success in STEM courses for students with disabilities through online mentoring and learning modules. By focusing on e-mentoring, universal design principles, and immersive virtual environments, GSAA fosters retention and progression in STEM majors. Join the BreakThru community to enhance communication, address mentoring challenges, and overcome accessibility barriers.

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Electronic Mentoring Recruitment, Retention, and Success in…

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  1. Electronic Mentoring Recruitment, Retention, and Success in… www.georgiabreakthru.org

  2. What is the Georgia STEM Accessibility Alliance (GSAA)? www.georgiabreakthru.org Funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Research in Disabilities Education (RDE), Grant Nos. 1027635 and 1027655. BreakThru is a collaboration between the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Georgia.

  3. GSAA Collaborative Leaders www.georgiabreakthru.org University of Georgia Noel Gregg (ngregg@uga.edu) Gerri Wolfe (gwolfe@uga.edu) Georgia Institute of Technology Robert Todd (robert.todd@coa.gatech.edu) Chris Langston (chris.Langston@coa.gatech.edu) Nathan Moon (nathan.moon@cacp.gatech.edu)

  4. NSF-RDE Alliances Source: AccessSTEM and DO-IT, University of Washington www.georgiabreakthru.org

  5. What is BreakThru? www.georgiabreakthru.org Online learning and mentoring community Connects students and mentors virtually Promotes accessibility and achievement in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) courses

  6. What is BreakThru? www.georgiabreakthru.org

  7. What Else is BreakThru? www.georgiabreakthru.org

  8. Stated Goals www.georgiabreakthru.org Increase the number of secondary students with disabilities enrolling in STEM postsecondary classes and majors Increase the retention and graduation of postsecondary students with disabilities in STEM majors Increase the successful entry of postsecondary students with disabilities into STEM graduate programs or the STEM workforce

  9. Changing Focus www.georgiabreakthru.org Deeper research on efficacy of e-mentoring Increased focus on duration and modes of communication and quality of mentoring relationship Wider range of communications technologies, especially mobile technologies Focus on understanding qualitative factors rather than just increasing enrollment, retention, and graduation

  10. BreakThru Foci www.georgiabreakthru.org • Access and support through social networking and virtual environments • E-mentoring as primary project activity to support retention and progression • Learning modules to address disability, STEM, and overall student success • Development according to principles of universal design for learning (UDL)

  11. In Brief: Benefits of Virtual Worlds www.georgiabreakthru.org Mediated consequences Individualization Creative Solutions Immersion Collaborative Learning Control over Personal Representation Access to Mentors

  12. BreakThru Mentor Islands www.georgiabreakthru.org • A primary platform for the project on Second Life • Mentors and students meet virtually on BreakThruIslands to seek assistance, share knowledge, and assist each other to overcome barriers

  13. Why Second Life? www.georgiabreakthru.org • Well-documented, active support community • Extremely rapid prototyping • Significant third-party development • TextSL • Radegast, Metabolt, etc. • Extensive user customization • Marketplace

  14. Two Mentor Islands www.georgiabreakthru.org

  15. Updated Tools www.georgiabreakthru.org

  16. Mentoring Challenges www.georgiabreakthru.org Guidance on mentoring process, for both mentors and students. What does each need to know? How to get started? • Learning modules to help mentors and students communicate and share meaningfully • Address important topics (time management, self advocacy) and everyday concerns • Mentors: http://georgiabreakthru.org/mentors • Students: http://georgiabreakthru.org/students

  17. Accessibility Challenges www.georgiabreakthru.org Vision Hearing Mobility Dexterity Learning Disabilities and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Autism Spectrum, including Asperger Syndrome

  18. Example: Learning Disabilities www.georgiabreakthru.org LD barriers typically the result of software complexity and difficulty learning virtual world skills The learning curve for Second Life is already significant for users without disabilities, creating an even larger barrier for those with LD But experience has shown that these users can and do compensate for these issues, and given time they can become proficient. In-world tutorials can assist LD users

  19. Account and Login Challenges www.georgiabreakthru.org Creation of Second Life accounts and initial login procedures can be confusing to any new user, regardless of disability BreakThru created a Registration API that allows us to create and monitor all user accounts

  20. Universal Design www.georgiabreakthru.org Approaches based in Universal Design: Set of principles for curriculum development that give all individuals equal opportunities to learn Where possible, adherence to UD for the BreakThru environment and materials Universal Design for Learning: http://www.cast.org/udl/ Universal Design for Instruction: http://www.washington.edu/doit/Brochures/Academics/instruction.html

  21. Universal Design Application Original Module Module with Multimedia

  22. Recruitment & Retention www.georgiabreakthru.org • Emphasize what makes us unique • Virtual world • Long-distance mentoring • Attract secondary audiences who encourage participation of primary audience members. • Parents • Teachers • Friends

  23. Recruitment & Retention www.georgiabreakthru.org Imperative that students and mentors form a lasting mentoring relationship. Retention starts early by choosing the right participants. Mentor and mentee applicants are screened and matched through an active process

  24. Recruitment & Retention www.georgiabreakthru.org • Churn is inevitable! • Prepare a plan for the inevitable • Maintain contact with prior applicants • Targeted recruitment materials for each of our audiences. • Mentors • Secondary students with disabilities • Postsecondary student with disabilities

  25. Technology Considerations www.georgiabreakthru.org Platforms evolve faster than research projects Hardware requirements sometimes cause a barrier Participants increasingly rely on mobile technology Most readily available platform is typically chosen Convenience and costs as drivers

  26. Technology Considerations www.georgiabreakthru.org • Virtual worlds are a key focus, but must be supported by other tools. • 89% of Americans age 18-29 use social media. • Students are best reached through tools they already know. • Second Life is the best fit for some mentoring activities, but not all. • Students are increasingly studying from locations where they do not have administrative rights to install the Second Life client.

  27. www.georgiabreakthru.org

  28. Conclusions www.georgiabreakthru.org Mentoring in Second Life and other virtual worlds holds great promise Careful development of environment with disability-related tools is essential Concentrate on Universal Design of VW spaces Supplement with additional communication methods

  29. Questions? www.georgiabreakthru.org

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