NWeLearn 2024

Bellevue College's XR Lab has been awarded a 3-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to help community building, support teaching and learning on campus, and produce meaningful XR-related open educational resources (OER) for all.
BCXR Lab Faculty Lead Bruce Wolcott talks about his role as the administrator of this grant and shares the exciting opportunities and challenges while sharing his passion for the power (and pitfalls) of introducing eXtended Reality (XR) and other immersive technology opportunities to the broader domain of public education.

In this session, we will share how we’ve used ChatGPT for educational research and assessment. We will discuss two projects that utilized ChatGPT as a co-investigator in qualitative research and as co-faculty in learner assessment. In one study, we performed a thematic analysis of student reflections on the use of AI in nursing education, assessing the utility of ChatGPT as a fourth coder. In the second study, we examined the feasibility using AI for evaluating student assignments. Join us to hear the findings of these two studies and discuss the potential of using generative AI to reduce human biases, improve productivity, and maintain objectivity in both research and assessment.

While most of the world was captivated by the educational potential of AI tools like ChatGPT, educators in America by contrast seemed transfixed only by its ability to allow students to “cheat”. Our presentation, inspired by our experiences in AI faculty development, proposes that "cheating" as a concept, and our psychological framing of it, are inherently harmful to learning communities. We argue that all instances of cheating are instead more fundamentally instances of psychological substitution. In light of the adoption of AI, rather than focusing on punitive measures, educators should recognize and address psychological substitution both in students and in themselves. This, in turn, would empower educators to maximize the pedagogical potential of AI.
Our session will aim specifically to answer the question: If not “cheating,” then what is an efficacious and empathetic way to frame academic dishonesty? We will begin our session by stating and defending our core thesis: cheating does not exist. We will deepen our exploration by unpacking the interplay between policing, surveillance, hyper-individualism, as well as ableism, and how these factors shape our understanding of authenticity and rigor in education. Finally, we will invite participants to share their experiences and perspectives on implementing this revitalized framework in real-life educational settings. Participants can expect to leave with a more sophisticated approach to academic integrity in a world with Artificial Intelligence.

Join us for an interactive workshop designed for higher education faculty to explore how generative AI can enhance adult education. Incorporating AI can make visible to students the often-hidden curriculum and help them understand both the content and purpose of their studies. Live demonstrations will showcase techniques to create a supportive and engaging learning environment with AI.
Part of the workshop will explore the flipped classroom model, emphasizing its benefits and practical integration with AI tools. By using AI-generated conversations, educators can help students focus on acquiring knowledge via pre-work assignments and assessments asynchronously. This process preserves classroom time for engagement and collaboration where students can apply knowledge and skills gained throughout the course.
This workshop will also focus on integrating generative AI as a novel tool to engage in dialogue with learners to develop learning experiences involving metacognition. Faculty will learn how to use AI to develop strong reflection prompts as well as ways to assist students with discovering meaningful observations through their reflections. It will demonstrate how students can use AI as a conversation tool that provides them with immediate feedback on their learning process, which can help them self-identify both their challenges and successes.
By incorporating AI as a discussion partner in our classes, we will explore how this approach provides a resource learners can use to gain more insight about their learning process and identify gaps in knowledge as well as how it can assist in promoting deliberative practice and lifelong learning.

Why should visual design matter to me if I'm not a graphic designer? Because while everyone can recognize bad design, not everyone can articulate why. In this session, gain insight into design language and principles to comprehend how and why effective graphics improve learning engagement, comprehension, and crucially, retention of key concepts. In just six minutes, witness six vital visual design principles in action through before and after examples: hierarchy, contrast, proximity, color, white space, and repetition. And as Steve Jobs famously said, “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like, design is how it works.”

Engage in conversations about inclusive instructional design strategies and learn how the team of instructional designers at Western Washington University implemented their Heuristic for Inclusive Instructional Design (HIID) into professional development, publications, and consultations to support the design of more inclusive learning experiences. We will share our iterative design process for reflecting on our programming by centering our design on inclusive teaching and learning practices and focusing on key topics in the HIID for deeper exploration.
Session Outcomes
In this session, participants will…

• Engage in conversations about inclusive instructional design practices.
• Explore strategies and resources related to inclusive instructional design.
• Reflect on experiences designing, delivering, and/or participating in equity- and justice-centered professional development programming.

Session Materials (Google Folder)

Unlock the full potential of your instruction with our dynamic session, "Transforming Education: Designing and Integrating Multimodal Content through Universal Design for Learning (UDL) for Neurodivergent Learners." This session will guide educators to understand what multimodal content is and how it can be integrated to enhance learning experiences for all students, including those who are neurodivergent. Educators will be able to apply the UDL framework to engage diverse learners and understand strategies for inclusion. Available digital tools and resources will be introduced with tangible examples that will facilitate designing and integrating multimodal content. Join us to explore practical tools and resources that will transform your teaching practice and elevate student outcomes.