Loydie Burmah is a graduate student in the Communication Studies program who serves as a Graduate Teaching Associate while also interning for CSUSB’s Virtual and Expanded Technologies Initiative (VETI) program. Loydie’s internship with the VETI program has allowed her to establish a deeper knowledge of applying technology to both student learning and faculty teaching. As a GTA with experience in teaching during a viral pandemic, Loydie takes pride in the knowledge she has gained through the VETI program as she learns to adapt and develop course work models for herself, and other faculty, to use in the classroom. As a graduate student, Loydie focuses her research efforts in media studies and journalism. She credits her mentor, Dr. Liliana Conlisk-Gallegos, for her guidance contributing to her academic successes. Presently, Loydie hopes to continue developing new and exciting virtual teaching methods for professors to use within their classroom as we continue to explore and adapt to the new, virtual environments in higher education instruction.

Andre Adame, a CSUSB Communication Studies alum, educator, and seasoned gamer, focused his research in virtual reality presence and immersion. His thesis “Fully Immersed, Fully Present: Examining the User Experience Through the Multimodal Presence Scale and Virtual Reality Gaming Variables” earned him a fully funded scholarship to the prestigious School of Informatics Ph.D. program at the University of California, Irvine. Andre will study the human/computer relationship as it promotes engagement and how this relationship can create learning opportunities for education. His experiences in ATI’s VR lab, both as an intern and researcher, allowed him to mix his hobbies with academics as he dove into the realm of VR. Andre’s academic successes were possible due to his diligent work ethic and guidance from his mentors, Dr.’s Ahlam Muhtaseb and Mihaela Popescu.

Posted by: Jessica NerrenMay 27, 2020

The xREAL Lab received a $64,316 VETI grant for assisting faculty with virtual labs. xREAL transforms teaching with extended reality by being an innovation hub, a recognized student-industry pipeline, and a regional source of pedagogical and technical expertise. Stay tuned for more information soon!

Teaching During the COVID-19 Pandemic

by Amanda Mattox

Pandemic or no pandemic, Cal State San Bernardino assistant professor of kinesiology Wagner Prado was determined to bring course material to life for his students in an online setting, even if it meant reinventing every lab and lecture of a usually hands-on course load.

Back in March 2020, Prado — like many of his colleagues across campus — admits he briefly felt overwhelmed. That was in the early hours and days of finding out most CSUSB learning, teaching and support services would be moving off campus into remote mode.
“At that point, recognizing the upcoming challenges – but also opportunities to increase my online teaching skills – I was looking for ways to provide the best learning experience possible for the students,” he said.

Enter the Academic Technologies & Innovation (ATI) team at CSUSB, as well as the Faculty Center for Excellence (FCE) and the Faculty Learning Communities (FLC), to help guide faculty like Prado in this sudden transformation by offering various workshops and training sessions. Some faculty found creative ways to make virtual learning feel like “real life,” others introduced greater flexibility in when and how they scheduled class time, and nearly all picked up new video skills. Our physical campus may have been temporarily closed, but the CSUSB community’s resilience and ingenuity threw our virtual classroom doors wide open. Adjustments had to be made quickly in order to deliver what CSUSB promises its students: affordable excellence. Thanks to CSUSB training workshops, and the dedication and creativity of faculty and staff members, during the past year, Prado and other faculty have continued delivering the quality education that students expect — but with some new, often high-tech twists.

For Prado that meant stepping up his online teaching game in a hurry. He was assisted by a summer 2020 workshop “Immersive Reality Applications for Virtual Courses,” put together by ATI and the FCE.

BETTER ONLINE LEARNING

The course partnered him with CSUSB’s Extended Reality for Learning (xREAL) Lab, housed in ATI, which helped him develop a virtual tour of the university’s Human Performance Lab. The virtual tour offers a 360-degree view of the lab, through an interactive video that invites visitors to wander around the space, exploring tools and equipment and the tests they’re used for — from a hand grip dynamometer to a YMCA bench press test — by clicking on an image. Each machine or test is accompanied by descriptive videos and PDFs offering more detail. According to Prado, in less than a month, with the support of the Department of Kinesiology, associate professor Jason Ng, lecturer Matthew Jackson and a couple of students, they had recorded several instructional videos to be used in the lab components of several kinesiology courses. “The main goal of the Human Performance Lab’s Virtual Tours is to offer to the students better online learning opportunities to engage with the material, increasing motivation and the odds of success,” he said. Kinesiology major William Prince appreciates the virtual lab, describing it as “really creatively done.”
“As future exercise science professionals, being exposed in this way allows us the best chance at success, without actually having the hands-on component,” Prince said. “As someone who was fortunate enough to perform an internship in the Human Performance Lab, this virtual experience was the next best thing to actually being back on campus.”

Prado credits Mihaela Popescu, co-founder and faculty director of the xREAL Lab, and her team, namely ATI videographer Yutong Liu and ATI assistant director James Trotter, who were always there to support “the new and crazy ideas in a professional way.”
“The ATI members and the xREAL Lab team did a great job translating our ideas into a powerful online learning tool,” Prado said. He also recognizes the team efforts of the kinesiology department for making it possible, including Ng, Jackson, associate professor Guillermo Escalante, and lecturer Justin Swanson for all the hard work to record the instructional videos during a pandemic period.
Like Prado, Megan Carroll, assistant professor of sociology, took advantage of CSUSB training opportunities, as well as external teaching webinars, to improve her approach to online teaching. She participated in learning opportunities offered by ATI, the FCE and the FLC.“The workshop on video/audio methods led by Montgomery Van Wart (professor of public administration/Quality Matters certified for online teaching) was especially helpful in learning about different methods of delivering course content online,” she said, noting that the workshop introduced her to PlayPosit, an online learning environment to create and share interactive video lessons; Camtasia, a software suite for creating video tutorials and presentations; and VoiceThread, a collaborative, multimedia slideshow that holds images, documents and videos. “Monty also offered excellent tips for recording lecture videos,” she said. “For example, I learned that the quality of sound is more important than the quality of the image.”

PRIORITIZING MARGINALIZED STUDENTS

Carroll, who also participated in the FLC’s “Teaching Diversity in a Virtual Environment” course, decided it was best to have her classes fully asynchronous. “I took advantage of some outside training opportunities, and I’ve used that knowledge to make sure my class policies prioritize our most marginalized students’ needs,” she said. “My classes are designed this way so that our students who are parenting or working full-time during the day will have the same experience as those who have more flexibility.” Carroll records lecture videos to help walk students through the slides and explain course concepts. She records her lectures in 5-15 minute segments and intersperses them with YouTube videos and activities that have been lightly adapted for online learning.“The response I’ve had from students is that my classes still feel like an in-person experience, which I appreciate,” she said.
Prado and Carroll are not alone in bumping up the visuals when it comes to online teaching. Faculty members across all colleges have produced pre-recorded instructional videos to guide students in their education, and many have turned to CSUSB’s ATI department for assistance. To date, ATI has helped produce more than 270 videos for the university and faculty since moving to a virtual platform.

VIDEO VIRTUOSITY

LIFE-LIKE LAB EXPERIMENTS

As lab coordinator for the General Chemistry I Laboratory course, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry Andreas Beyersdorf took a similar approach and decided against at-home lab kits and other simulations that did not show students a real-life lab experience. Instead, backed by two lab instructors and ATI, Beyersdorf helped create 27 videos that were made during spring and summer 2020, so instructors who taught general chemestry showed them to students during the virtual fall 2020 and spring 2021 semester. The videos, which range from a few minutes to 20, reveal a variety of lab experiments, such as the reactivity of copper, the solubility of compounds, and gas measurements. “The videos were the best option to show students the techniques, so they learn the methods and concepts behind it. Then once they get back to in-person labs, they can learn these techniques hands-on,” said Beyersdorf. “The nice thing about the videos is after we get back to face-to-face, we can use some of the videos as pre-labs and instructional videos to improve our Chem 2100 lab." Like Beyersdorf, kinesiology lecturer James Clover plans to continue using his video series once in-person instruction resumes, because “telemedicine will not go away.” With the help of ATI, Clover developed a series of videos for his Prevention and Treatment of Athletic Injuries course, used to conduct a virtual physical assessment via telemedicine. “I called it Evaluation Through the Glass,” Clover said. “It’s pretty cool and the students are getting it.” In one of his videos, Clover described Evaluation Through the Glass as “a method of evaluation for orthopedic injuries via computer, laptop or your phone.”

PRODUCING ‘POSITIVE OUTCOMES’

And what about art programs such as the music department? How has a sound-based, inherently collaborative discipline been able to cope and provide quality education? Luckily, some of the ensembles were approved for hybrid instruction and, with several strict restrictions in place, small groups have been able to meet once per week; while still not ideal, it has provided some surprisingly good results. According to Robert “Bob” Knop, professor of music and director of the jazz ensembles, the hybrid model led to changes in normal rehearsing that produced “unexpected positive outcomes.” “The ensemble recorded various parts in the hybrid rehearsal to be mixed and presented as a final project,” he said of his fall 2020 jazz ensemble. “Each student was recorded in one authorized section of the room outfitted with plexiglass protection while the others observed. The recording process actually became a significant aspect of the semester increasing the students’ awareness of their own playing.” Throughout the fall semester, students also Zoomed once per week for one-hour online private lessons that addressed challenges and positive aspects of the rehearsals and the students’ individual progress.“This seemed to work extremely well for everyone as it addressed issues of the lack of personal attention, isolation and motivation that the students were experiencing in all of their classes as the semester wore on,” Knop said. “The once-per-week live rehearsals also significantly boosted their morale and ability to cope.” For his fully online classes, Knop partnered for live Zoom sessions with the department technician who recorded him teaching live in a classroom, which allowed him to communicate in a natural manner that students were familiar with. “We worked out the technological glitches and the system worked especially well in allowing students to once again ‘attend an actual class,’” he said. “This seemed to help them cope with the repetitive isolation of Zoom.” And just like the labs and other similar courses, for his fully online classes, Knop produced instructional videos that introduced and explained all of the ongoing materials, including how to approach the assignments while remaining centered and avoiding stress.
“I did this because it was the first semester experience and I felt students might feel overworked especially with the online situation,” he said, referring to CSUSB’s transition from a quarter to a semester system in fall 2020. “The approach was successful in both the learning and the adjusting to the pandemic situation.”

ACCOMMODATING STUDENTS — AND EXPECTATIONS

Armando Barragán Jr., assistant professor and chair of the School of Social Work Research Methods sequence, agrees that modifications have been imperative throughout the process in order for students to thrive. “To have students be successful, especially last year when this all started, it was very crucial for me to accommodate them and adjust my expectations,” he said. CSUSB’s Meeting of the Minds Research Symposium, for example, which is usually held in person in the spring, had to transition quickly into an online format last year, a shift that Barragán described as “immensely difficult.” In order to alleviate the pressure on his student-participants, he gave them, as well as the research supervisors, very clear instructions, offered examples of what a poster should look like online, and met with each of them individually. “It’s incredibly labor intensive. It’s a lot more work. It’s a lot of sacrifice on my part so that the students are able to get the necessary support they need,” he said. With the help of hard working, committed faculty like Barragán, the 9th annual – but first virtual – Research Symposium on May 14, 2020, brought nearly 215 student presenters representing almost every discipline, 95 faculty mentors and 54 faculty members who served as judges. In addition, as chair of the School of Social Work Research Methods sequence, Barragán coordinates the instruction of a four-course sequence, where students learn the research methods process, complete a research proposal and Institutional Review Board (IRB) application, and are then supervised by faculty to see that project come to fruition. As many dedicated faculty have done, Barragán, too, made instructional videos on how to complete the project, specifically the IRB application.

‘WORTH THE INVESTMENT’

“That is an intimidating process, so what I do is I provide a tutorial on YouTube in terms of how to navigate that process,” he said. “It’s definitely addressed many of the challenges that students have with completing the IRB application … I wanted to remove that element on how to navigate it out of the equation, so that students can have an easier time focusing on writing their content for their research project.” Barragán also made a video for his colleagues who serve as the students’ research supervisors, something he says was “worth the investment.”“I did everything that I could do with the time that I had to make this process not as difficult as it could be,” he said, noting that communication has been the key in delivering educational excellence amidst a global pandemic. “They start very intimidated by the subject and feel that it’s going to be made worse if they have to learn from home, but then they end up feeling like they really understand the subject,” Barragán said. “That is thanks to my ability to fully communicate to them and to pre-record and to take time outside of class to meet with them to help them. That was something really great to see.”

Posted by: Jessica NerrenMay 27, 2020

The xREAL Lab received a $64,316 VETI grant for assisting faculty with virtual labs. xREAL transforms teaching with extended reality by being an innovation hub, a recognized student-industry pipeline, and a regional source of pedagogical and technical expertise. Stay tuned for more information soon!

Shane Burrell got into his dream Ph.D. program for this coming fall: the gaming studies program at the University of Oregon.

With the guidance of the Extended Reality and Learning (xREAL) Lab and the communication studies department at Cal State San Bernardino, current CSUSB graduate student Shane Burrell got into his dream Ph.D. program for this coming fall: the gaming studies program at the University of Oregon.

“I was super nervous about not getting accepted even into one school, let alone the school that has all the virtual reality and gaming things I dreamed to study,” said Burrell, a Victorville resident who received full tuition and scholarship to the university.

Burrell, whose ultimate professional goal is to develop theory in virtual reality (VR), credits CSUSB’s xREAL Lab for piquing his interest in the subject. When he first entered the CSUSB graduate program in communication studies, he decided to take an internship with the lab.

“I wanted to know all that I could about VR and the possible effects VR could have on the people that used it,” Burrell said. “The xREAL Lab gave me virtually everything I needed to investigate this potential effect of VR.”

The lab is where Burrell’s idea for his master’s thesis took shape. In his thesis “‘Did That Just Happen?’: Influence of Embodiment and Immersion on Character Identification in Virtual Reality Environments,” Burrell constructed a measurement for character identification and used the influence of embodiment and immersion. According to Burrell, character identification is when a user of virtual reality adapts to their character role within the simulation and how embodiment and immersion influence this adaption. 

“The xREAL Lab really provided all the help and support I could have needed,” he said.

While the xREAL Lab sparked his interest in virtual reality, the CSUSB communication studies department piqued his interest in research.

“Since I wanted to know everything I could know about VR and the possible effects it could have on users, the communication studies program gave me the tools and skills I needed to learn to develop this even further,” he said. “Because in research we constantly ask why or how, and the communication studies department really homed in on the aspects of research that could help answer those questions.”

Burrell thanks Mihaela Popescu, professor of communication studies, and co-founder and faculty director of the xREAL Lab; Liliana Conlisk-Gallegos, associate professor of communication studies; Jo Anna Grant, professor of communication studies; and Gretchen Berquist, assistant professor of communication studies, for helping him along the way.

“They helped me really look at my research in a different way and more specifically than I feel like I could have asked within a class,” he said. “I could have never accomplished everything that I have done without the faculty. They all have a very special place in my heart and having all of their support and faith in my abilities really gave me a lot of courage to go on within the program and strive to accomplish more.”

“As both the faculty director of the lab and Shane’s thesis advisor, I am very proud of his accomplishments, which speak so well of the quality education and opportunities for professional development we offer at CSUSB,” Popescu said.

At the University of Oregon, Burrell hopes to “take advantage of labs they have within the department” (the gaming studies department has three VR labs) and “conduct more research and experiments.”

In the future, Burrell, who is a 2020-21 Sally Casanova California Pre-Doctoral Scholar, hopes to establish new pedagogies and practical use of virtual reality in society and education. He would like to teach students how to use innovative technologies to implement change within their communities by showing new ways to approach specific problems that impact student communities.

“I find that with all of the studies that are out there on VR, there is no basis for them to truly have a solid theory to stand on,” Burrell said. “So that is something that I plan to achieve.”

Dr. Kathleen Phillips

Special Education, Rehabilitation and Counseling, College of Education
Period of residence with xREAL
AY 2020-21

Project title

Project overview and pedagogical challenges

My project focuses on enabling teacher candidates to develop an effective classroom environment, which includes addressing environment components that would reduce behavior issues, increase teaching impact, and provide a fully-immersed experience into organizing the classroom.

Teacher candidates in Special Education need to experience a variety of classroom environment setups in order to determine the best way to teach for children with disabilities. Teacher candidates need to be able to see the classrom from the perspective of each child in order to understand and appreciate how the configuration of the environment supports or, conversely, inhabits learning. However, regulatory restrictions on classroom access (e.g., fingerprinting) and school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic have made real-life classroom observation more difficult and, in some cases, impossible.

Additionally, teacher candidates stand to benefit from supplemental instruction prior to “live” classroom access so that they are prepared to observe and reflect on salient experiences and environmental configurations.

Technology used, project design parameters, and implementation

I used Mozilla Hubs to create realistic and immersive classroom scenarios. Teacher candidates were able to access several versions of 3D classroom arrangements, walk around and assume different points of view, rearrange the classroom configuration, and reflect on the connection between learning and space architecture.

Mozilla Hubs is a multi-user virtual space platform that can be experienced in a variety of modalities: on the web, on a mobile device, or, for a totally immersive experience, using a virtual reality or mixed reality device such as the Oculus Quest 2. Because this platform uses WebVR standards to deliver content, students can access the platform using whatever device they have available, including a desktop. When on the platform, users can join virtual “rooms” featuring a variety of multimedia content and they can interact with other users and with virtual objects.

In this learning experience, teacher candidates are provided with a virtual 3D classroom, a selection of classroom furniture (e.g., tables, desks, dividers) they can interact with, and documents and other media (e.g., class rules, posters, student work samples) they can use in their virtual classroom. Teacher candidates are able to enter the virtual room, manipulate furniture placement, post documents, organize the classroom environment, and provide rationales for their setup. They can also experience the virtual room from any vantage point, allowing them to navigate among multiple student perspectives. Classmates and instructors can also “enter” the virtual classroom to experience its setup and provide feedback to teacher candidates.

Need to include details about the implementation

Lessons learned

Faculty testimonial & project demo:

• Kathleen’s talk for Tech Talks