SMALLab Learning LLC

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Flow brings embodied learning to any existing Interactive Whiteboard or projection surface. Using motion-capture technology - similar to the Xbox Kinect™ - students’ bodies are the interface in Flow. Students use their hands in real 3D space to manipulate images, sounds, text, and graphics. This kinesthetic engagement opens new pathways to learning.

For example, in the Color Mixer Scenario, groups of three students collaborate control the amount of red, green, and blue light that is mixed in a virtual spotlight. By raising and lowering their arms, they can see a dynamic mix of colors, hear the impact of their actions, and feel the relationship between gesture and how a variable changes.

Professional Development By Design [PDxDesign] partners our expert designers with your teachers to co-create a new embodied learning scenario. Over the course of 6 – 8 weeks, the group meets weekly via videoconference. By the end of the program, we deliver a newly created scenario that is ready for deployment in your classrooms.

Why PDxDesign?

Today’s classroom integrates a wide variety of technologies that are evolving at a rapid pace. To use the tools of both today and tomorrow, teachers must possess a critical eye for the affordances of any instructional technology. They must develop an understanding of how interactive technology is designed and developed. To truly thrive in this context, they need a new set of skills that can only be developed through a hands-on approach. PDxDesign participants will work from concept to a final product over the course of 6 to 8 weeks. Along the way they will define student-learning goals, critique existing tools, examine prototype designs, and develop evaluation metrics for the final scenario. PDxDesign is a highly interactive, hands-on program that will have a positive impact on teaching and learning across your campus by exploring the tenets of embodied learning.

Program Structure

PDxDesign participants meet via videoconference, for one hour, once a week. Additional design and development work occurs between group meetings and is coordinated via email and video conferencing. One instructional designer and one programmer will join the group from SMALLab Learning. At least 2 teachers participate from your school. There are 7 stages to the program:

1. Brainstorming – Discuss student learning goals and challenges to identify concepts for a new scenario
2. Identify Student Learning Goals – Building from ideas in stage 1 narrow the list to arrive a set of learning goals
3. Existing Tools and New Ideas – Identify existing technologies that address the learning goals; identify opportunities for embodied learning
4. Scenario Concept and Prototyping – Sketch the outlines of a new embodied learning scenario and begin prototype implementation
5. Prototype Testing and Revision – We send your teachers a prototype version of the new scenario for testing and feedback
6. Evaluation Design – We work with your teachers to develop evaluation metrics and instruments to assess the efficacy of the new scenario
7. Deployment – We deliver a final scenario, ready for implementation in your classrooms

Our flagship product is SMALLab, the Situated Multimedia Arts Learning Lab. SMALLab is an embodied learning environment. Motion-capture technology tracks students’ 3D movements as they learn in immersive in an interactive space. For example, as students are learning about a physics concept like velocity, they can hear the sound of their actions getting faster. They can see graphs and equations that represent their motions in real time. They can feel the weight of an object in their hand as they interact in real physical space.

Why SMALLab?

SMALLab can transform any conventional room into an immersive, interactive learning environment where students are up out of their seats, moving as they learn. The SMALLab learning experience is unlike any other, and students are engaged in new and dynamic ways. We have a track record of research, demonstrating that embodied learning has a positive impact on student achievement. This research was conducted in real world classrooms with support from the National Science Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and the Gates Foundation. Our innovative professional development programs ensure that your teachers are properly trained to effectively implement embodied learning with SMALLab.