Mary Lebens

Aim/Purpose: Two popular methods for encouraging active learning are Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Field Trips (VFTs). This exploratory case study examines college students’ perceptions of a prototype AR and VFT app as an active learning strategy. Background: AR allows students to learn as they physically explore a destination, while VFTs give students the opportunity to visit exciting destinations without leaving their homes. AR and VFTs promote active learning, which has been shown to increase college student success in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) courses. The aim of the VFT app in this study is to provide college students in a STEM course with an interactive lesson on modeling information systems using diagrams. Methodology: This exploratory case study is intended to serve as a condensed case study performed with the prototype version of a VFT app before implementing a large-scale investigation of students’ perceptions of a more refined version of the a...

The pandemic hindered students’ access to technology by exacerbating the digital divide, particularly for those from underserved populations, such as students of color and low-income students. This case study focuses on the unique experiences of information systems students drawn from a population of underserved students, one year after the pandemic’s onset. The study examines whether the students’ perceptions of their access to technology and progress in technology courses is consistent with early literature on the pandemic. Pedagogical suggestions are provided to help faculty mitigate the negative factors that students described as hurting their progress in technology courses. Contrary to the initial literature on the pandemic, the majority of students reported no difficulty accessing technology. Surprisingly, the slight majority of students felt the pandemic had no impact or a positive impact on their technology course progress. The broad implication for the field of technology e...

A worldwide shortage of developers has made low- and no-code platforms important and necessary. This paper investigates the use of these platforms in organizations, along with the role of workforce automation tools. A survey was conducted to find out how prevalent low- and no-code platforms and workforce automation tools are within companies. These platforms are used by citizen developers, employees who are working outside of the Information Technology (IT) department and are not professional programmers. With low- and no-code platforms citizen developers can create the applications that are needed by their work units or even their entire organizations. These platforms are seen as key to the demands of digital transformation. The results of this study are that companies both large and small are making use of low- and no-code platforms, as well as workforce automation tools. In addition, the majority of organizations have employees outside of the IT department who are creating techno...

The Agile development methodology is soaring in popularity in the business world. Companies are turning to Agile to develop products quickly and to achieve digital transformation of their organization. Because of this push, companies need employees who understand Agile. Therefore, higher education is obligated to provide an understanding of Agile to students as they enter the workplace. Providing Agile experience to students who are new to programming is difficult because they are so worried about the coding aspects of the assignment, they cannot take time to think about the methodology they are using. The coding crowds out the time needed to get an understanding of how Agile actually works. One remedy for this is to use a low or no-code development platform. With this type of platform students spend less time learning to create apps, freeing them to experience the rituals and roles of Agile. This study examines using the Agile methodology along with the Microsoft Power Apps platfor...

Companies who use design thinking increase revenues and shareholder returns at almost double the rate of their industry peers, yet over 90% of companies do not employ design thinking, due to a lack of design skills in the workforce. Educators can address this skills gap by adding design thinking to the curriculum. Design thinking is a process where developers and users physically collaborate together to develop new products, so discovering whether online students who are never physically present together can successfully learn design thinking is critical to developing curriculum. This study examines whether students in “asynchronous online” courses can successfully apply design thinking to develop a prototype, as well as provide substantial feedback on classmates’ prototypes during an iterative review process. The study employed an iterative model for the prototype design, review, and assessment. The results demonstrate that over two semesters an average of 77% of students successfu...

Do your group projects suffer from the dreaded “free-riders”, students who receive a grade but don’t participate? This presentation explains how higher education instructors can use lightweight teams to get rid of the “free-rider” problem. The lightweight team methodology uses freely available educational technology to develop engaging team projects and to encourage positive collaboration between students. Using lightweight teams helps instructors assess outcomes more accurately than traditional group projects. This methodology can be used in face-to-face, hybrid, or online courses. A brief demonstration of relevant educational technologies is included in the presentation. Comments Tech Resources covered in presentation: Prezi for Presentations: www.prezi.com Jing by Techsmith: https://www.techsmith.com/jing.html iMovie (free for Macs and iPads purchased in 2013 or later): Free download in the App Store Screencast-O-Matic: https://screencast-o-matic.com/home WeVideo: https://www.wev...