Stanford students showcase cutting-edge education products at tech expo

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 17, 2007
School of Education News

CONTACT: Amy Yuen, Communications Manager, Stanford University School of Education, (650) 724-9440, amy.yuen@stanford.edu

COMMENT: Kihyun Ryoo, Learning, Design & Technology Program Advisor, (650) 380-3408, khryoo@stanford.edu

RELEVANT URLS: Learning, Design and Technology Program: http://ldt.stanford.edu

Stanford University School of Education's Learning, Design and Technology (LDT) program will host its annual Master's Project Exposition on Friday, July 27 from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. in Wallenberg Hall, Building 160 on the Main Quad at Stanford. The public is invited to engage in live discussions with thirteen master's students about their projects that demonstrate designs of technology-based learning products and environments.

The projects are wide-ranging, including Debbie Heimowitz's "Adina's Deck: Solving Cyber Bullying Mysteries," a 30-minute interactive film, website, and curriculum designed to educate young people about the phenomenon of cyber-bullying -- bullying and harassment through electronic means such as email, instant messaging, text messages, and blogs. Victor Vuchic and Greg Warman have designed "Financial Smackdown!"-- a game that helps students entering the workforce develop good personal financial habits. Yeong Haur Kok and Aneto Okonkwo have created "One Laptop Per Child Typewriter," an application that teaches young English language learners phonics, vocabulary, and typing skills. These and six other master's projects will be featured at this year's Expo.

"The LDT Expo is the culmination of a full year of study in learning, design, and technology," explained Professor Shelley Goldman, director of the LDT program. "The master's project is the opportunity for students to design a solution to a learning problem that they find compelling, and students have spent between 200 and 300 hours on their projects. The topics and technologies are cutting-edge, amazing in their approaches and scope, and show a depth of knowledge, skill and creativity."

Industry professionals have been invited to the LDT Master's Project Exposition to evaluate the students' projects in the closed, presentation portion of the event. Panelists include representatives from IDEO, LeapFrog, SRI International, Hewlett-Packard, Museum of Science and Industry, Association of Science-Technology Centers, Volunteers in Asia Program, and Waterford Research Institute. Professors from departments across Stanford University will also serve as panelists.

Other LDT projects featured at the Expo will include Sherwin Cheng and Brandon Suzuki’s "Entering the Lair of the Dragon," an online community designed to help American expatriates comprehend real-world, intercultural interactions in China through understanding fundamental cultural beliefs and developing cognitive strategies; Nicole Sanderson’s "ESL for Health: Dile al Doctor," a website aimed at improving the ability of Spanish speakers to converse in English with healthcare professionals; Rolf Steier’s "Discovery Pathways," a virtual museum experience that encourages scientific thinking among children by letting them map connections between exhibits; Mark Basnage’s "Tools for Teachers Growing as Adaptive Experts," an online tool that helps teachers hone their expertise as they engage with curriculum; Laura Bofferding's "Understanding Division," a goal-based scenario that helps pre-service teachers deepen their pedagogical content knowledge of division and effectively support their students’ long division learning; and, Cory Lee and Sava Saheli Singh's "WasteCycle," an e-learning application that educates users about the creation, disposal, and environmental costs of one-time-use products.

LDT master’s students conceive and develop the projects of their own initiative, and conduct background research, user testing, and learner assessments to help formulate their work. The content and design of each project are substantiated by educational theory.

Established in 1997, the goal of the LDT master’s program is to prepare professionals to design and evaluate educationally informed and empirically grounded learning environments in a variety of settings, products, and programs that effectively leverage new and emerging technologies. The program provides students with an intensive year of study in the basics of learning, design and technology, including a yearlong internship and course work. Students who complete the one-year program earn the degree of Master of Arts in Education.

For more information about the LDT program, visit http://ldt.stanford.edu. For directions to the expo, see http://wallenberg.stanford.edu/top/location.html.

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