Awarded Grant: $9,704 Principal Investigator: Francesca Cichello, Empire State College Our 2013 Synergy & Systemness Project was more successful than we had anticipated. Although the construction of the online course presented challenges, especially as related to interdisciplinarity of the course development team, we were ultimately able to develop a highly interactive course. As planned, students were able to work online, synchronously and asynchronously, across campuses and across the world. Small, collaborative workgroups used wiki technology to develop final projects that drew upon learning that took place in Turkey during our field study. In addition to developing subject expertise and more sophisticated insights about global business and economics, for the first time, most students were able to forge personal and professional friendships that give every indication of being long-lasting. Similarly, participating administrators and faculty, developed strong professional connections that have led to the planning of another field study this coming March. Co-PI’s and Key Partners Dr. Richard Bonnabeau, Visiting Professor, SUNY Empire State College Dr. Ender Suvaçi Vice Rector, Research and International Affairs, Anadolu University, Turkey Dr. Bilge Kagan Ozdemir, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Anadolu University, Turkey Dr. Phyllis Herdendorf, Professor of Business – MBA program, SUNY Empire State College Dr. German Zarate-Hoyos, Chair and Associate Professor of Economics, SUNY Cortland Dr. Özgür Yildirim, Coordinator for International Academic Programs, Faculty of Education, Anadolu University, Turkey Mary Schlarb, M.P.S., Director of International Programs, SUNY Cortland Betsy Braun, Curriculum Design Specialist, SUNY Empire State College Jon Rubin, Director, SUNY COIL Center Reports and Resources: Project website Final project report Project outcomes report SUNY Global Newsletter – May 2013: SUNY-Global-Newsletter-May-2013.JPG Empire State College article – Field Study: Article-for-the-Exchange.docx Creative Commons License:

This action research study is designed to develop an informed community of people who are interested in advancing 3D Virtual World instructional tools. This study will involve 1) the design of a two hour Creativity Workshop to be held in a 3D virtual world called Qube. Faculty members from a variety of disciplines from across SUNY Campuses will be invited to participate in the workshop; 2) this workshop would be delivered three times over the course of the fall semester; 3) conduct a qualitative study to identify participant learning experiences and best practice patterns among the disciplines; and 4) to create best practice training resources to inform the SUNY community.

Our innovative IITG-funded program engages undergraduates in authentic science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Motivated by the mission to build, operate and analyze data of an experiment to investigate cosmic ray science, we offer projects and seminars for students who partake on building the necessary tools for experimentation and a web-portal for offering activities everywhere, at anytime and to everyone. There have been three important objectives as part of this project: – To offer undergraduate research projects on the topics of apps development and data acquisition systems. – To offer educational seminars and courses. In particular, a course for the Women in Science and Engineering program on “What are atoms made of?.” The curriculum was built based on the undergraduate projects. We also offered a Physics camp for high school students to motivate them to aspects of physics through a variety of hands-on activities. – To build a new web-portal based on cutting edge technology and an open-source content management framework to host the materials of the educational activities. Graduate and undergraduate students were involved in this endeavor.

Awarded Grant: $10,000 Principal Investigator: Edward Bever, Old Westbury This project prototyped a solitaire computer game for use in Western Civilization and European history courses. In it, students guide the development of France over historically significant periods of time: in one scenario 60 years (480-540 CE); in the other, 300 years (975-1275 CE). The game models the historical processes involved — from population growth through cultural change — with students making decisions reflective of the government’s expanding purpose and power. The game is designed to foster students’ historical understanding both implicitly, through the gameplay itself, and explicitly, through instructional exercises integrated into the course of play. The game was tested in two survey classes, and the results indicate that it has significant potential to motivate students and foster their understanding of history. However, the tests also suggest that the concept and execution require further refinement before it can be expanded to the full simulation of French history originally envisioned. Reports and Resources: Project overview Overview demo and assessment data Clovis Scenario – This is a short (60 year) scenario. It has a few historical glitches, like a tendency for the Eastern Roman Empire to take over Russia, but they are peripheral to the player’s experience, which centers on Western Europe. On the whole the scenario is well balanced and simulates the Frank’s historical situation reasonably well. However, it does not include all the player activities of the full game or the didactic exercises integrated with it, and it requires an immediate aggressive military effort for the player to be successful that limits its usefulness as a teaching tool. High Medieval Scenario – This is a longer (300 year) scenario. It include the full range of player activities and didactic exercises intended for the final, full-length version of the game, and the slow-moving historical development of the French monarchy in the first century it covers creates a relatively forgiving initial situation that makes the scenario more suitable for use with a class. However, it has a significant number of historical glitches that impact not only peripheral phenomena, but also core player activities, so its employment in its current state as a course material is not recommended. Project source code Project outcomes report Creative Commons License: