Principal Investigator: Beth Burns, Buffalo State College Badging is an emerging trend in education that poses a new method of representing skills and achievements that may be difficult to document.  The exploration of badging has the potential to open up new ways of visually representing an individual’s skills and knowledge. The Learner eXperience Designers (LXD), a collaborative group at Buffalo State, will spearhead the exploration of integrating badging on campus and in higher education. Specifically, the LXD are committed to evaluating the logistics and effectiveness of badging in three specific areas: within a course, within a student training program, and within professional development. Co-PI’s and Key Partners: Mark McBride, Buffalo State (Co-PI) Ken Fujiuchi, Buffalo State (Co-PI) Meghan Pereira, Buffalo State (Co-PI) Jason Welborn, Buffalo State (Co-PI) Reports and Resources: Outcome description including links to relevant materials and presentations Presentation – Educause 2013 Open SUNY CourseSites – Locating, Creating, Licensing and Utilizing OERs On Teaching and Learning Blog 3T’s 2013 presentation (video captured information) Feedback from a Badge Earner (and course completer) Publications: Blackboard Blog – Buffalo State’s Journey Developing A MOOC On CourseSites Creative Commons License:

Healthcare decision-making about the end of life has evolved resulting from technological advances that both save and prolong life. Public and private discourse about the benefits and burdens of life-sustaining treatments have underscored the importance of identifying preferences, but there is a discrepancy between patients’ wishes and their actual experiences at the end of life. We will develop the Advanced Illness Decision Support Environment (AIDSE) and utilize simulation technology to create an environment to engage students in active, real-time learning about how to initiate and facilitate decision-making conversations with patients about their goals for care and desired outcomes.

There is a well documented need for, and national resources to support, innovative instruction to prepare the youth of our country for careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. There is also a growing recognition that games and other immersive environments hold great promise for engaging students, eliciting sustained interaction, and supporting deep learning. This project seeks to explore the opportunities for leveraging the Power of SUNY to create an innovative academic program through which students and faculty across a range of disciplines and SUNY colleges collaborate to create engaging and pedagogically sound video games that enhance k-12 student interest and learning of STEM content.

The trouble with introductory science and engineering courses is that students often don’t see how what they are learning is relevant to their lives. The proposed project addresses this by leveraging the team’s past efforts to develop an innovative web-based game situated within an online science learning community. This system, Enviropedia, will emphasize the connections between science and society by focusing on a simple decision that people make every day: what beverage containers to use. For this effort, Enviropedia will be developed and pilot tested in two freshman seminar courses at Stony Brook, demonstrating applicability to other campuses.