Innovation Showcases
Asynchronous Session
How Can Participatory Action Research in an Australian Middle-year Female STEM Classroom Revolutionise and Characterise Engagement in Democratic AI Pedagogy?: Juxtaposing Applications of AI and Gaming Technology in Schools in Australia and China View Digital Media
Innovation Showcase Alison Mc Gregor
Teachers are critical to a successful democratic AI curriculum. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become so powerful it is feared. Over 2022 - 2023, teacher-researcher work facilitated AI education in a secondary female-only STEM classroom. Three Participatory Action Research (PAR) cycles of plan-act-observe-reflect uncover classroom dynamics and factors affecting student learning and engagement. Ten secondary students (13 – 17 yo), three STEM teachers, an AI teacher-researcher and five Victoria University (VU) Cyber Security experts produced guidelines for innovative AI pedagogy and coin the pedagogy 'AI OUR WAY'. Interpretivist thematic qualitative analysis of student work artefacts, student drawings, focus group discussions, teacher interviews and researcher diary notes reveal value in (i) using AI robotics, (ii) excursions to technical settings and science and technology fairs, (iii) female only classes, (iv) female STEM professional role-model guest speakers, (v) student-centred democratic classroom practice, (vi) constructionism ideology and (vii) trusting relationships between students and teachers and between teachers, free from the pressure of competitive assessment grades. We also bring juxtaposing data from research into the use of gamification and gaming technology in secondary and tertiary school settings in China to broaden the canvas of effective traits and characteristics of the merged research in new technologies, social and cultural transformation, doctoral methodology and AI education.
Effective Cinematic VR Production Techniques for Law Enforcement Training: Empirical Observations of an Effective Creative Process for Educating with a New Technology View Digital Media
Innovation Showcase Eric R Williams
Eric R. Williams, co-recipient of the FBI Academy's 2023 Science and Innovation Award for Law Enforcement Training, shares his processes, insights, and creative reasons for utilizing cinematic virtual reality (cine-VR) for effective scenario-based exercises. With a professional background in screenwriting and film production, professor Williams has been working with law enforcement experts for the last five years to perfect a blending of high-impact training/education with emerging technologies. In this session, he discusses and demonstrates his research and invites discussion of future directions for these technologies and their possible social impact.
GUI4Sher an Interactive Teaching Tool for Teaching GUI Graphics to Introduce Them to Computing: Visual Computing in Python View Digital Media
Innovation Showcase David Sher
GUI4Sher allows beginning students to discover the joy of computing by building simple graphics and GUI projects in Python. GUI4Sher is a free download Python file that when run creates a GUI and Graphics Project (also a single file). The project simplifies creating Interactive graphics that allow freshman-level college students and advanced high-school students to easily create interactive graphics and easily see the results. In the process they are introduced to basic computing concepts like event based programming, object oriented programming and list data types.
