In response to Bennett, Agostinho, & Lockyer's (Educational Technology Research and Development, 65(1), 125–145: 2017) article, The process of designing for learning: understanding university teacher’s design work , we describe a way forward targeting an identified crucial gap in supporting teacher design practice. We argue that society is in a period of liminality (Turner, Betwixt and between: Patterns of masculine and feminine initiation, 3–19: 1987) caused by the current shift to digital. Limited resources, tight timelines, and belief systems questioned require that we revisit conventional approaches to supporting teachers designing in liminality. While teachers in Bennett et al.’s study were from a teaching-related professional organization, the shift-to-digital was not the focus of their research (it was teachers’ design processes), and data came from interviews rather than observations. However, there is strong opportunities for impact and application of their work. The main impact of Bennett et al.’s work is they highlighted the gap between what teachers have and what they need : teachers need a relevant, useful, simple, meaningful, and conceptual approach to guide their design work. This can help designers to rethink how to support teachers through the liminal space of shifting to digital by creating a strategy that teachers can use to guide their work. We argue that we should apply approaches sensitive to the teacher’s state of mind and circumstances of the teacher designing in liminality. We provide a way forward with a guiding questions framework from the lenses of social constructivism, agile mindsets, productive failure, and designing in liminality.

This case study describes the verbal and nonverbal social interaction of 11 youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders in a 3D Collaborative Virtual Learning Environment—iSocial. The youth were developing social competence through participation in a social competence intervention curriculum implemented online so as to provide access to high quality instruction for youth in small and rural communities. The data show the ability and variability of verbal and nonverbal reciprocal social interactions while online. In addition, the results of this case study revealed associations between pedagogical design features of the iSocial 3D CVLE, such as, goal-oriented, narrative embedded, game/role play enriched and peer-supported 3D CVLE activity design and higher frequencies and better quality of reciprocal social interaction. Therefore, these findings have potential to inform future design of 3D social learning spaces.

This exploratory study focuses on the design and evaluation of teaching analytics that relate social learning structure with performance measures in a massive open online course MOOC prototype environment. Using reflexive analysis of online learning trace data and qualitative performance measures we present an exploratory empirical study that: a rigorously evaluates a novel, multi-dimensional performance construct; b describes differences in small group dynamics and structure; and c draws a connection between learning performance and group structure. Performance is operationalized using a combination of knowledge construction measurement from discussion boards, rigorous analysis of student work products and several indicators of small group identity in the course examined. Interview and observational data are used to develop an approach for deriving and validating a model of the social structure of students in the course using traces of interaction data. The connection between performance and structure is developed at the small group unit of analysis. Implications for MOOC design, scaling MOOC analytics and a vision for developing social sensors in MOOC environments are presented in the discussion and conclusion.

Design-based research (DBR) and open source software are both acknowledged as potentially productive ways for advancing learning technologies. These approaches have practical benefits for the design and development process and for building and leveraging community to augment and sustain design and development. This report presents a case study of a software project using a design-based research approach and Free/Open Source Software (FOSS). The project is developing a 3D virtual learning environment (3D VLE) for youth with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to develop social competence. The potential of FOSS when implemented within a DBR framework is highlighted using examples from our process of designing and developing the 3D VLE, and the design principles resulting from our processes for fostering social interaction in the medium are presented. Using findings from five studies performed over the course of our DBR process, this article illustrates how the flexibility and community features of FOSS fit with the iterative nature of design-based research to benefit the development of our project and to forward understanding of how to support social interaction in the 3D VLE for individuals with ASD. Limitations of the approach are discussed.

iSocial is a 3D Virtual Learning Environment (3D VLE) to develop social competency for students who have been identified with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders. The motivation for developing a 3D VLE is to improve access to special needs curriculum for students who live in rural or small school districts. The paper first describes a number of innovative features developed to translate a targeted curriculum and to undertake teaching and learning to meet special needs in a 3D Virtual Environment. Secondly the paper describes results from a field test of iSocial at 3 sites with 11 students. The results show promise for improvements in social competence, but also challenges for distance learning delivery of 3D VLE.

One consistent area of need for students with autism spectrum disorders is in the area of social competence. However, the increasing need to provide qualified teachers to deliver evidence-based practices in areas like social competence leave schools, such as those found in rural areas, in need of support. Distance education and in particular, 3D Virtual Learning, holds great promise for supporting schools and youth to gain social competence through knowledge and social practice in context. iSocial, a distance education, 3D virtual learning environment implemented the 31-lesson social competence intervention for adolescents across three small cohorts totaling 11 students over a period of 4 months. Results demonstrated that the social competence curriculum was delivered with fidelity in the 3D virtual learning environment. Moreover, learning outcomes suggest that the iSocial approach shows promise for social competence benefits for youth.

: iSocial is an innovative 3D Collaborative Virtual Learning Environment (3D CVLE) to provide access to educational programming for students with special needs who live in small and rural school districts. The research reported here is part of a design research process for developing virtual learning systems to improve learning for students with special needs who live in rural/small districts. A field test of iSocial with 11 students shows promise, but also identifies challenges for distance education with 3D collaborative virtual learning.

: iSocial is an innovative 3D Collaborative Virtual Learning Environment (3D CVLE) to provide access to educational programming for special needs students who live in small and rural school districts. The demonstration will show an implementation of iSocial to develop social competency for students who have been identified with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The demonstration will focus on aspects of iSocial designed to support social interaction, encourage pro-social behavior, and foster social learning.

With increases in access to powerful computing and high-speed networks, 3D virtual learning environments are being envisioned and developed as places for collaborative learning. These new environments for collaborative learning have promise for great authenticity in experience, great presence with others, and the monitoring/sensing of broad ranges of human cognition and behavior inferred from the actions of avatars. In the process of designing and building such an environment, iSocial, to develop social competency for youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder the authors have explored the potential for developing a smart system. The paper provides a framework for conceptualizing and implementing a smart 3D collaborative virtual learning environments based on 3 key constructs: environmental scaffolds, social affordances and coaching. The framework and constructs are illustrated using experiences and functionality developed for the iSocial system.

本研究利用多元方差分析方法,对在线学习课程中的83名学生的学习满意度和社会能力因素之间的关系进行了探索.研究结果表明,那些拥有较高的学习满意度水平的学生,其社会能力水平也较高,特别是在与同辈的社会存在、与教师的社会存在,以及社会导航等方面.文章最后还讨论了对在线学习教学设计和工具的影响.

Assisting doctoral students with developing teaching skills along with providing effective instruction is a common dilemma in academia. We propose a model for developing skill sets of two audiences, doctoral teaching assistants and students. For the teaching assistants, or ZONE mentors, they gain valuable and meaningful skills in course design, online feedback and evaluation, and demonstration of course concepts. For students, the ZONE model encourages self–direction, development of evaluation skills, and the ability to problem solve when assisting peers. Each audience gains experience through scaffolding and mentoring.

This study aims to build new knowledge about social interaction during online learning using perspectives of activity theory and social ability. Based upon a joint framework of activity theory and social ability, a set of serial interviews and final interviews were conducted with participants in online learning and the interview transcripts were analyzed via content analysis. The results include four themes: 1) Course design and task requirements interact with student biography and non-course needs to shape means and motives for course activity; 2) The social nature of online learning is important for accessing help and building motivation, and is partially shaped by available tools; 3) Awareness of social information influences learning behavior; and 4) Making work visible promotes social learning and satisfaction.

This paper is a report on the longitudinal design, development and systematic evaluation of a software tool, personal pods, to support individuals with autism spectrum disorders’ grouping behavior in a collaborative three-dimensional virtual learning environment. Design-based research methods were used for the iterative design and development of personal pods. Following three design, development and usage testing iterations, a single-subject, alternating treatments design was performed to examine the impact of personal pods on participants’ avatar movement behavior. Findings indicate that the personal pods did impact participants’ avatar movement behavior, but the magnitude of this impact is unclear. Possible reasons for this lack of clarity in the research results are discussed. Potential improvements to the research design are presented, and directions for future research are provided.

It is not uncommon that researchers face difficulties when performing meaningful cross-study comparisons for research. Research associated with the distance learning realm can be even more difficult to use as there are different environments with a variety of characteristics. We implemented a mixed-method analysis of research articles to find out how they define the learning environment. In addition, we surveyed 43 persons and discovered that there was inconsistent use of terminology for different types of delivery modes. The results reveal that there are different expectations and perceptions of learning environment labels: distance learning, e-Learning, and online learning.

The iSocial project is an instance of a collaborative three-dimensional virtual learning environment which attempts to integrate social and experiential educational processes to engage individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders in the acquisition of social competencies. The technological infrastructure was built using Open Wonderland (http://openwonderland.org/), an open source toolkit licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) v2. The virtual learning environment implementation is an adaptation of a five-unit curriculum designed for face-to-face, clinic-based instruction that has been shown to be effective. The goal of iSocial is to make this promising intervention and others like it more broadly available through the Internet to rural families and schools as well as others without access to the highly qualified personnel and specific strategies needed for success. In this paper we report (1) the method of development and how the research and development team has approached design and development, (2) the iSocial experience and how the youth experience the curriculum and technology, and (3) key lessons we have learned from the development and testing of the first three units of the curriculum to help advance our development efforts and to improve our understanding of the human-computer interaction and human to human mediated by computer interaction of three-dimensional virtual learning environments.

iSocial is an internet-based 3D-Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) to support social and behavioral outcomes for youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The purpose of developing this system is to expand access to specialized training for developing social competence. iSocial seeks to adapt and implement in a 3D-VLE a clinic-based curriculum with demonstrated impact for improving social competence. It is being developed using the Open Wonderland virtual world toolkit (http://openwonderland.org/). Wonderland provides tools for building multiuser virtual environments (MUVEs). has followed a design research approach through 2 years of pilot projects and continuing with funding support from AutismSpeaks and a $1.5 million award from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The IES award illustrates the design research approach as we iterate through the design and development of 5 units of the curriculum with usage tests for each unit and then 2 levels of field tests. Each test is an opportunity to advance our theory of social competence for youth with ASD and to advance the iSocial system so as to implement the curriculum and support social competence in a 3D-VLE. For example, in the first unit to be developed we conceptualized what was needed and important for the youth to interact effectively and learn from their social and cognitive experiences. This is especially challenging because the reason these youth need the training is that they are typically ineffective in social interaction. Following lessons learned in the first unit we advanced our conception of

Design based research (DBR) has been acknowledged as a productive approach for advancing educational technology. Coincidentally, open source software has been found to be a good fit for implementing design based research. This report presents a case study of a software project using a design-based research approach and free/open source software. The project, iSocial, is developing a 3D virtual environment for youth with autism spectrum disorders to develop social competence. The study illustrates how the flexibility and community features of FOSS fit with the iterative nature of design-based research to benefit the development of iSocial, and the report also discusses challenges of implementing FOSS and DBR.