Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

College of Education opens new digital learning research laboratory

The College of Education will host an event Sept. 30 to debut a new research laboratory that enables scholars to study learner interactions with digital technologies in real time while collecting massive amounts of varied data.

The Illinois Digital Ecologies and Learning Laboratory (IDEALL), located on the first floor of the Education building, enables researchers to create technology-enhanced learning environments and study their impact on student learning. The lab is slated for use by researchers in education as well as other disciplines across campus.

IDEALL’s state-of-the-art technologies include 360-degree audio and video recording systems, including ceiling-mounted cameras and wireless microphones that are hard-wired to temporary local data storage devices.

IDEALL currently features 80-inch flat-screen TVs, which can be positioned vertically or horizontally and raised or lowered to accommodate student users of various ages. Using multiple Kinect devices with these TVs, researchers can study gesture and movement in learning.

The lab also features four 55-inch multitouch tabletop screens that facilitate collaborative learning.

Three of the laboratory walls either have flat white surfaces or screens mounted on them, and the floor is a flat white projectable surface. Coupled with an array of ceiling-mounted portable projectors, these features enable researchers to create wraparound or immersive virtual environments for participants in their studies, said Robb Lindgren, a faculty member in the college who studies the use of physical movement and people’s interactions with digital technologies, particularly in learning science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

“The whole lab is a data-collection device, and is set up such that when learners are interacting with the technology, we can capture all their movements and discussions, and store it so it becomes data that can be analyzed,” said Fouad Abd El Khalick, associate dean for research in the college. “It’s a blank slate that allows faculty to create and recreate different learning environments and different setups for doing this kind of work.”

IDEALL provides the infrastructure for fine-grained research on learning technologies through partnerships with faculty across campus whose research grants fund the technology they are studying, but not the infrastructure associated with it, Abd El Khalick said.

The technology in the lab was underwritten through college and campus funds, while current projects hosted by the lab are funded by NSF grants that support research by curriculum and instruction professors Emma Mercier and Lindgren and their collaborators.

“The lab provides large-scale digital environments for high-quality learning research that’s incredibly hard to do without these data-collection resources,” said Mercier, who has a $550,000 NSF grant in conjunction with the College of Engineering to develop technology and curricula that promote collaborative problem-solving skills. “You can create learning environments, but if you can’t study them, you don’t know what parts influence the learning experience and why. IDEALL enables faculty members to pursue research agendas that help us understand how technology can support learning in classrooms, museums and other environments.”

During the grand opening, faculty members and students will demonstrate some of the lab’s technology, including a nature simulation that enables participants to grab a digital butterfly in their hand and move it from one wall to another.

Educational psychology professor H. Chad Lane, now at Illinois, will demonstrate the Web-based gardening game “Virtual Sprouts,” which he co-developed with faculty colleagues at the University of Southern California and the University of Texas at Austin.

An opening ceremony with remarks by college and campus leaders will begin at 2 p.m., and tours will be conducted from 3 to 5 p.m.

The events will be in rooms 166, 170 and 176 Education building, 1310 S. Sixth St., Champaign.

People who plan to attend should RSVP by Sept. 24 to Beth Niswander, director of strategic initiatives in the college, by emailing eniswan1@illinois.edu or calling 300-2460.

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