IDIAS creating learning modules
From emergency response training modules to math-education applications, the Interactive Design for Instructional Applications and Simulations (IDIAS) Institute gives back to students and the university, according to project director Brett Shelton.
Shelton, also an assistant professor in the department of Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences (ITLS), said the project evolved from his work with Alan Hashimoto, the project’s co-director.
“IDIAS formalized that collaboration,” he said.
The institute brings together the department of ITLS and the department of art.
“It’s a nice blend of complimentary disciplines,” he said. “Hopefully the students get a chance to benefit from that.”
The IDIAS Institute homepage says IDIAS “builds on USU’s strengths in instructional design, interactive simulations, and interface design to inform technology research and develop commercially viable and innovative products.”
The website says the IDIAS Institute is focused on efforts that involve interactive multi-player simulations and games and mobile applications to teach a variety of content areas to a wide audience. These include training and education of emergency response personnel, measuring and evaluating environmental changes through simulation, increasing the effectiveness for virtual and distance education, and creating instructional materials for children in kindergarten through 12th grade with special needs.
One of the institute’s current projects is what Shelton described as “GPS based mobile learning.” The project, called GeePerS*Math, is meant to assist with math education for the deaf and hard of hearing. Jon Scoresby, a doctoral candidate in ITLS and research assistant with IDIAS, acts as the project coordinator for GeePerS. He said the program will be targeted at fourth and fifth graders. One of the biggest challenges is the over-all lower reading levels of deaf and hard of hearing students, he said, which affects their math abilities, specifically with word problems.
Scoresby said, “We’re teaching them math but have to deal with language also.”
One of his favorite parts about working with the institute, he said, is learning about many different things from many different areas. One of these areas is firefighting training. Another long-term project the team is working on is the Hazard, Emergency and Accident Training (HEAT) engine.
HEAT, developed in 2007, is a “3D networked multi-player game-like environment in which players have the opportunity to not only learn and practice tactical response skills in a controlled, operations-based, real-time instructional environment, but to practice and improve skills dealing with incident command or an incident commander,” according to the IDIAS page. The HEAT engine was first used as a training module for emergency response teams, such as firefighters.
Shelton, explained that, when using the system, an instructor or facilitator can create different scenarios, which are then used to train students or trainees.
One of the unique aspects of HEAT is its assessment function, Shelton said, because it gives immediate feedback to players as to whether or not they have made the right decision for the given scenario. This feedback can be sent to the facilitator to be graded or used for instruction.
Another distinct function of the HEAT program is its patent-pending regeneration feature. Once a situation has been handled, successfully or not, the facilitator can play back the scenario with all feedback and all communication between the players. At any point in the playback, the facilitator can start the team from that moment and give them another chance to make corrections in their decisions. Scoresby, who is writing his dissertation on the HEAT program, said the regeneration feature is one of the most useful parts of the engine.
“This way you can have an unlimited number of situational training without the risk of danger or cost of rebuilding things,” he said.
Within the HEAT engine, the institute has developed the Forensic Investigation Training (FIT) project, which allows a team to enter a space after the first responders and learn how to diagnose damage and assess the causes of emergencies. IDIAS is also working with Hill Air Force Base on a suicide prevention training module, which will be used to train those on the base on how to handle a situation in which a person is at risk of hurting themselves. Shelton said that aside from making new things, the team is seeing if the things they’re making “can help people learn better.”
IDIAS is also building the official USU application, which will tentatively be released in the spring of 2011. The team is working with USU Public Relations to create an individualized application for iPhone and Android phone users. Shelton said other schools often use the same outside contractor, making all their applications similar. Because they are contracting a team on campus, the USU application will be unique to the university and gives money back to the student employees.
The application will be free, Shelton said, and widgets and funding are coming from many different areas of campus, from departments and colleges to athletics and ASUSU. All needed information will be in one place and easy to access, Shelton said.
– k.vandyke@aggiemail.usu.edu