About me

1. Designing Blended Learning Environments within Automotive Technology for Secondary Education Students By Daryl Pieta College of Internet Distance Education Assumption University Bangkok, Thailand daryl@hawaii.edu

2. About me • Certified Career and Technology Education Teacher , Hawaii Department of Education , U.S.A. • Master’s in Educational Technology • Master’s in China- US Relations

3. New Design Challenges and Opportunities for Career and Technical Education (CTE) • People with a four-year degree are returning to community colleges to develop marketable trade skills for jobs that are rewarding and not easily offshorable • High schools are re-establishing CTE programs, however…. • “We have a generation of students that can answer questions on standardized tests, know factoids, but they can’t do anything.”

4. How Do We Meet the Challenges within Instructional Design For Next Generation Learners in CTE? • Create highly interactive blended learning environments • Employ advance computer technologies • Apply theoretical framework guides: Constructivist (learner centered), Rigor/Relevance (apply knowledge to real-world situations), learn by doing practices • Mixed Reality, Video Games, and Simulations

5. Why Study Instructional Design Methodology within Blended Learning Environments? • Next Generation learners need more inclusive learning environments to compete in today’s ever changing global economy • In parallel content areas, blended learning environments can utilize similar frameworks • Discover best practices for learners to interact with and manipulate real world problems and contexts • More impact studies needed on next generation blended learning environments

6. Study Overview • Create a blended learning environment to facilitate an increase in student confidence in targeted skills by using Argo eLearning automotive technology training modules • Learn basic automotive technology content and skills to increase both automotive and eLearning technologies

7. Study Objective • Introduce interactive eLearning modules, and initiate a comparative analysis of Argo and CDX, leading automotive elearning training programs • Use a pre/post skill test sets to assess the development of student confidence in confidence, engagement, and learning in technical understanding and psychomotor skills both in automotive and eLearning technologies • To provide the opportunity to examine alternative views and assess the effect of interactivity on student learning

8. Location : A Hawaii High School • Wide diverse population with an overall socioeconomic status below state averages • Twenty nine percent of families with children in this school are living in poverty • Digital divide not digital natives

9. Student Centered Learning • Students were provided lap tops with logins to access Argo’s eLearning course • Students worked individually but were allowed to collaborate with classmates when having difficulties • Teacher observed student activity and gave one-on-one instruction when needed

10. Methodology •  7 students between the ages of 15 and 17 participated in project and completed an anonymous skill self-assessment pre-tests designed to identify: • (1) personal knowledge of online learning; • (2) strengths and weaknesses in using Argo and CDX • (3) each student’s level of confidence in their ability to perform target skills on a scale of 1 to 3

11. Post Tests • Students retook the identical anonymous skill self-assessment tests to determine if student’s overall level of confidence increased • Students were asked to comment of their Argo experience

12. The Survey Results • Tabulated in each column scale using Microsoft Excel and the results presented in the form of graphs • Each graph (pre and post test) was compared and contrasted to provide numbers to indicate any change in confidence level in described skills

13. I can interact with Argo’s videos, jumped 50% in student confidence,

14. I like Argo better than CDX, jumped 90% in student confidence

15. Student Comments • “Argo is better! Because it is more interesting and interactive.” • “Argo is very interesting & learning a lot of good modules and visuals.” • “It’s a quick learning thing. You pick up things faster than book work” • “I like Argo because there are better exam­ples.”

16. Discussion • This brief study found that students prefer Argo over CDX primarily because of Argo’s rigorous interactive animations and simulations which helped them understand complex automotive theories more clearly and at the same time found,“It’s a quick learning thing. You pick up things faster than book work.”

17. Field Observations • Student engagement and collaboration increased with Argo over CDX • Classroom behavior problems lessen, leaving the instructor feeling less exhausted from the demands of lecturing in a K-12 environment • Students more responsive to Argo’s instant quiz format and immediate feedback loop

18. Recommendations • Design blended learning environments using interactive technologies in a way that supports learning objectives • Employ constructivist frameworks as a way to enhance student learning for today’s classroom; apply knowledge to real-world situations; learn by doing • Choose simulation over video when possible; students need interactivity with mixed realities, especially in learning applications that are complex unlike typical classroom training curriculum that is fractionalize

19. Gold Nuggets • Interactive simulations are superior over passive videos • Student confidence and engagement equals student success. It is not enough to provide technology in itself but to integrate it in such a way that motivates students to learn, as this blended environment study has revealed

20. Summary • This study concludes that student confidence and engagement in using eLearning training programs within a blended learning environments increased if the level of interactivity increased; this finding is supported by the literature

21. A Final Observation • An old Chinese proverb: “A Picture's Meaning Can Express Ten Thousand Words” • Perhaps a new next generation proverb: “An Interactive Picture Can Do Ten Thousand Words”