simSchool May 2012 News

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Dear Colleagues:

Summer is coming! and simSchool will be busy preparing to visit and help friends around the world. As you think about next year, I hope you’ll include a simSchool Module in one or more of your courses and will step up your efforts to conduct research using the platform for data collection, analysis and reflection on teaching.

This May news update has a summary of our 4th quarter of the EDUCAUSE Wave 1 activities (Jan-Mar 2012). Your data updates from work with students will help us make a case for continued support to take the work to scale in the year ahead. We want to top 40,000 users within the next 12 to 18 months to show the power and utility of the platform for teacher education worldwide.

Benchmarks from January to March

Logins: Total number of logins during the quarter 5096 by 1025 unique users. This metric is a picture of our “in-depth” user base, people who visit frequently, use simSchool in courses, and stay in touch with us.

Project Participants: As reported last month, we topped 10,000 users in March! We now report out daily on our simPartners page: currently simSchool is in 102 institutions serving 10506 users in 137 countries. If you see your institution here, you can track its development toward Level 3 status (when professors are using simSchool to create research data for themselves).

Courses: Number of courses created during the quarter totaled 46 (created by 36 unique users) bringing our total since the start of the project to 93 (by 60 unique users).

Course participation: 448 registrations (by 416 unique users – primarily students).

simSchool Content:

Modules: 34 (by 13 unique users)

Simulations: 1536 (by 597 unique users)

Custom students: 383 (by 134 unique users)

Custom tasks: 110 (by 62 unique users)

simSchool Publications

Christensen, R., Tyler-Wood, T., Knezek, G., & Gibson, D. (2011). SimSchool: An online dynamic simulator for enhancing teacher preparation. International Journal of Learning Technology, 6(2), 201-220.

Ellison, A. M., Tyler-Wood, T.L., Periathiruvadi, S., Sayler, M., Barrio, B., & Lim, O. (2011). Preservice teacher experiences with a computerized classroom simulation: A content analysis of discussion postings. New Orleans, LA: AERA.

Gibson, D. (2011). Modeling Emotions in Simulated Learning. Standards in Emotion Modeling. Lorentz Center International Center for workshops in the Sciences.

Gibson, D. (2012). Teacher education with simSchool. In R. Hartshorne (Ed.), Teacher Education Programs and Online Learning Tools: Innovations in Teacher Preparation. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

Gibson, D., & Kruse, S. (2011). Next generation learning challenge: Simulating teaching. Educause Quarterly, 34(4).

Knezek, G., Christensen, R., Tyler-Wood, T., Fisser, P., & Gibson, D. (2012). SimSchool: Research Outcomes from Simulated Classrooms. Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2012.

McPherson, R., Tyler-wood, T., Ellison, A., & Peak, P. (2011). Using a Computerized Classroom Simulation to Prepare Pre-Service Teachers. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education (JTATE), 19(1), 93-110.

Our continued thanks to EDUCAUSE and the Next Generation Learning Challenge grant program for their support and colleagueship. David Gibson
simSchool

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