1. Electronic Mentoring Recruitment, Retention, and Success in…

2. 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 and BreakThru is a collaboration between the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Georgia.
GT, GPC, UGA, Clarke, Greene, Gwinnett

3. GSAA Collaborative Leaders
University of Georgia Noel Gregg Gerri Wolfe Georgia Institute of Technology Robert Todd Chris Langston Nathan Moon

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

5. 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

6. What is BreakThru?

7. What Else is BreakThru?

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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)

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

12. 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

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

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

15. 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.

16. 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:
Students:

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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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:
Universal Design for Instruction:

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. Technology Considerations
Virtual worlds are a key focus, but must be supported by other tools.
89% of Americans age 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.

28. 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

29. Questions?