Understanding the Student Experience with Blockcerts (Blockchain-Powered Academic Credentials) Through Usability Testing

During the Summer of 2018, the Center for 21st Century Universities (C21U) embarked on a journey to introduce Blockcerts at Georgia Tech. Blockcerts are blockchain-powered academic credentials, housed on a mobile application, that are decentralized, secure, and verified.  

However, in order to realize the full potential of Blockcerts, it is essential that the user groups are actively considered in the creation of the application. That is why, this year, we sought to reach out to the Blockcerts application user groups and conduct research to better understand their experiences using the application, as well as the students’ surrounding contexts of use for the application.

Building Camaraderie at Scale: Exploring Virtual Reality (VR) for Georgia Tech’s OMSCS Program

A funny thing happens as online learning scales. At first, learning scales by breaking the requirement for collocated meetings, allowing students to attend live lectures via telepresence from anywhere in the world. Then, learning scales by breaking the requirement for synchronous meetings altogether: with prepared lecture material and textbooks, asynchronous class forums, and modern learning management systems -- there is little need to get together at the same time in the same place… or at least, little strong need for the fundamental requirements of a classroom.

Georgia Tech Leads Innovation of Humanities for 21st Century Education with New Degree Programs in Global Media, Language, and Cultural Studies: Interview with Jenny Strakovsky, School of Modern Languages

Jenny Strakovsky, Assistant Director of Career Education and Graduate Programs for the School of Modern Languages, is a co-recipient, along with Aaron Santesso, a professor of literature in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, of the GT-FIRE grant directed towards the development of new programs that apply the humanities to training students in 21st century skills and whole person education. These include the Institute's new M.S. in Applied Language and Intercultural Studies (MS-ALIS) and M.S. in Global Media and Culture (MS-GMC), a suite of graduate certificates for professionals, and a new curriculum design lab, 21st century Humanities, which is researching humanities practices in traditionally non-humanistic spaces.

MOOC Data Analysis and Mathematical Modeling in VIP Research

This year our VIP team’s research focus is on data that we've collected through Georgia Tech's online platforms. This includes mass-market courses hosted on Coursera, our online masters programs on edX and data from Canvas, the learning management system that services both our online and on-campus courses. To introduce the students to learning analytics using data from online platforms, we hosted Dan Davis, a PhD student from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

A Conversation About Precision Academics with Myk Garn of USG

Over the past few weeks, several of us in C21U have been working with others at Georgia Tech Professional Education (GTPE), Georgia State University (GSU), the University System of Georgia (USG), and USG eCampus to plan a series of events on “precision academics.” Precision academics is a relatively new term – we’re using it to describe technology-enabled, data-informed, and empirically-evidenced instruction.

Canvas Spotlight: A Georgia Tech Instructor Grades Canvas

This summer I moved my course to Canvas and the jury is in – I can work with it! I approached Canvas with the same skepticism with which I’ve approached many other learning management systems (LMS) in the past. Part of the challenge that I have had with the design of various LMSs is that they are quite often not suited to the type of work that we do in humanities, specifically writing and communication classes. I have to say that Canvas excels as a management tool, providing both instructor and student with an opportunity to manage class and individual activities as the course develops throughout the semester.

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