Electronic Mentoring Recruitment, Retention, and Success in… www.georgiabreakthru.org

What is the Georgia STEM Accessibility Alliance (GSAA)? Funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Research in Disabilities Education (RDE), Grant Nos. 1027635 and 1027655. BreakThru is a collaboration between the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Georgia. GT, GPC, UGA, Clarke, Greene, Gwinnett www.georgiabreakthru.org

GSAA Collaborative Leaders University of Georgia Noel Gregg (ngregg@uga.edu) Gerri Wolfe (gwolfe@uga.edu) Georgia Institute of Technology Robert Todd (robert.todd@coa.gatech.edu) Chris Langston (chris.Langston@coa.gatech.edu) Nathan Moon (nathan.moon@cacp.gatech.edu) www.georgiabreakthru.org

NSF-RDE Alliances www.georgiabreakthru.org Source: AccessSTEM and DO-IT, University of Washington www.georgiabreakthru.org

What is BreakThru? Online learning and mentoring community Connects students and mentors virtually Promotes accessibility and achievement in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) courses www.georgiabreakthru.org

What is BreakThru? www.georgiabreakthru.org

What Else is BreakThru? www.georgiabreakthru.org

Stated Goals Increase the number of secondary students with disabilities enrolling in STEM postsecondary classes and majors Increase the retention and graduation of postsecondary students with disabilities in STEM majors Increase the successful entry of postsecondary students with disabilities into STEM graduate programs or the STEM workforce www.georgiabreakthru.org

Changing Focus Deeper research on efficacy of e-mentoring Increased focus on duration and modes of communication and quality of mentoring relationship Wider range of communications technologies, especially mobile technologies Focus on understanding qualitative factors rather than just increasing enrollment, retention, and graduation www.georgiabreakthru.org

BreakThru Foci Access and support through social networking and virtual environments E-mentoring as primary project activity to support retention and progression Learning modules to address disability, STEM, and overall student success Development according to principles of universal design for learning (UDL) www.georgiabreakthru.org

In Brief: Benefits of Virtual Worlds Mediated consequences Individualization Creative Solutions Immersion Collaborative Learning Control over Personal Representation Access to Mentors www.georgiabreakthru.org

BreakThru Mentor Islands A primary platform for the project on Second Life Mentors and students meet virtually on BreakThru Islands to seek assistance, share knowledge, and assist each other to overcome barriers www.georgiabreakthru.org

Why Second Life? Well-documented, active support community Extremely rapid prototyping Significant third-party development TextSL Radegast, Metabolt, etc. Extensive user customization Marketplace www.georgiabreakthru.org

Two Mentor Islands www.georgiabreakthru.org 2013 increased interactivity. Fishing, exploration, collection, challenge games. www.georgiabreakthru.org

Updated Tools www.georgiabreakthru.org Interactivity and interconnectedness are the highlights here. Activities (experiments, games, fishing, etc.) and blending of island populations for special events. www.georgiabreakthru.org

Mentoring Challenges Guidance on mentoring process, for both mentors and students. What does each need to know? How to get started? Learning modules to help mentors and students communicate and share meaningfully Address important topics (time management, self advocacy) and everyday concerns Mentors: http://georgiabreakthru.org/mentors Students: http://georgiabreakthru.org/students www.georgiabreakthru.org

Accessibility Challenges Vision Hearing Mobility Dexterity Learning Disabilities and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Autism Spectrum, including Asperger Syndrome www.georgiabreakthru.org

Example: Learning Disabilities LD barriers typically the result of software complexity and difficulty learning virtual world skills The learning curve for Second Life is already significant for users without disabilities, creating an even larger barrier for those with LD But experience has shown that these users can and do compensate for these issues, and given time they can become proficient. In-world tutorials can assist LD users www.georgiabreakthru.org

Account and Login Challenges Creation of Second Life accounts and initial login procedures can be confusing to any new user, regardless of disability BreakThru created a Registration API that allows us to create and monitor all user accounts www.georgiabreakthru.org

Universal Design Approaches based in Universal Design: Set of principles for curriculum development that give all individuals equal opportunities to learn Where possible, adherence to UD for the BreakThru environment and materials Universal Design for Learning: http://www.cast.org/udl/ Universal Design for Instruction: http://www.washington.edu/doit/Brochures/Academics/instruction.html www.georgiabreakthru.org

Universal Design Application Original Module UD Principles * Equitable use Community of learners Perceptible information Simple and intuitive Flexibility in use Instructional climate Tolerance for error Module with Multimedia Video examples with real-life situations and characters Voice narration Using plain and simple talk Use of navigation bar

Recruitment & Retention Emphasize what makes us unique Virtual world Long-distance mentoring Attract secondary audiences who encourage participation of primary audience members. Parents Teachers Friends www.georgiabreakthru.org

Recruitment & Retention Imperative that students and mentors form a lasting mentoring relationship. Retention starts early by choosing the right participants. Mentor and mentee applicants are screened and matched through an active process www.georgiabreakthru.org

Recruitment & Retention Churn is inevitable! Prepare a plan for the inevitable Maintain contact with prior applicants Targeted recruitment materials for each of our audiences. Mentors Secondary students with disabilities Postsecondary student with disabilities www.georgiabreakthru.org

Technology Considerations Platforms evolve faster than research projects Hardware requirements sometimes cause a barrier Participants increasingly rely on mobile technology Most readily available platform is typically chosen Convenience and costs as drivers www.georgiabreakthru.org

Technology Considerations Virtual worlds are a key focus, but must be supported by other tools. 89% of Americans age 18-29 use social media. Students are best reached through tools they already know. Second Life is the best fit for some mentoring activities, but not all. Students are increasingly studying from locations where they do not have administrative rights to install the Second Life client. www.georgiabreakthru.org

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Conclusions Mentoring in Second Life and other virtual worlds holds great promise Careful development of environment with disability-related tools is essential Concentrate on Universal Design of VW spaces Supplement with additional communication methods www.georgiabreakthru.org

Questions? www.georgiabreakthru.org