Stanford tech expo to showcase cutting-edge learning products

Stanford, CA – Stanford University School of Education's Learning, Design and Technology (LDT) program will host its annual Master’s Project Exposition on Friday, August 7 from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Center for Educational Research at Stanford. The public is invited to meet with students about their projects that demonstrate the latest designs of technology-based learning products and environments.

The projects address an array of topics, including Andrew Russell's "ToonTastic: A Global Storytelling Network for Kids, By Kids," a digital storytelling and animation tool for children to create their own cartoons and share them online to the world; Rodolphe Courtier's "Grasping Programming: A Mechanical Programming Language," designed for novices to learn how to program and establish better mental models for programming; and Erika Dauber and Jaki Clark's "BitWisdom: A Microjournaling Website for Self-Reflection and Learning," which prompts users to reflect on their experiences to gain personal insight. Projects also incorporate a variety of technologies, such as "WikiWorld: An Augmented Reality Approach to Inquiry" a mobile application designed by Dennis Paiz-Ramirez that encourages users to ask questions about the world around them; April Alexander and Larissa Co's "BloX: A Tangible Media Tool for Learning Place Value," which helps young students understand and connect physical and symbolic representations of place value; and Prowpannarai M. Tongliemnak's "No Sweet Talk: See. Shift. Share," which combines persuasive online video technology with social networking to heighten awareness and correct misconceptions about Type 2 Diabetes in the Thai community. These and seven 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, an LDT faculty member. "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, LDT alumni and advisory board members, and faculty from departments across Stanford will evaluate the students' projects in the closed presentation portion of the event. Reviewers include representatives from IDEO, LeapFrog, Togetherville, Luidia, FrogDesign, Apple, NASA, Exploratorium, Zeum, Nokia, SRI International, and Santa Clara University, as well as Stanford's School of Education, Institute of Design, Medical School, and the Computer Science department.

Other LDT projects featured at the Expo include Amy Wong and Chen Kee Ng's "Socially Situated Science for Authentic Inquiry Learning (S3AIL)," a technology platform that supports an inquiry-based ecology curriculum by facilitating data collection, visualization, and scientific discourse; "Show Me The Money: Empowering Youth with Financial Knowledge," by Ann Charng, Irina Gonzalez, Mela Sogono, and Vridhi Tuli, an interactive simulation and board game that teaches high school kids financial concepts; and Rachel Yong and Brian Young's "CUDO: Career Exploration without Boundaries," which allows high school students to explore careers through online video and social networking tools. The Expo will also showcase Eric Coates' "AC Theory, Step By Step," which helps users understand the essential role of AC theory in real-world electronics; Joanna Law's "Endovascular Skills," an online resource for trainees to learn about the emerging field of endovascular surgery; "WordSift PLUS" by Keiko Funahashi and Mitra FathollahPour, a web-based, media-rich tool that helps English Language Learners develop and demonstrate comprehension of academic content; and Haggai Mark's "WebLenses,” an extensible environment for applying learning resources to online content in context and in real-time.

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, Stanford's LDT master's program prepares professionals who will bring powerful contemporary ideas about learning to the design of technology-based products, settings, and social arrangements for learning. 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://campus-map.stanford.edu/index.cfm?ID=02-020.