My artwork is about the impact of the digital revolution on every aspect of life, such as relationships, war, and self image. I explore this in the creation of sculptures that represent abstracted globes or video game worlds, digital animations concerning the virtual and simulated, and prints as allegories for embodied post-human experience. The visual themes of my work are bitmapped patterns, early computer graphics, and twenty-sided dice.

Simulation video games potentially offer students the opportunity to participate in activities designed to bring about higher order thinking. Gee (2005b, 2007) elucidates that without the guidance of instructors, humans involved in a simulation experience have a high probability of finding creative but spurious patterns and generalizations that send learners down miseducative paths. The focus of this study is an examination of the function of instructor guided reflection and prior participant interest and exposure to video games in promoting affective and cognitive learning during participant use of single and multiplayer simulation video games in the classroom. One hundred twenty- eight students enrolled in World History classes at a suburban high school located in the Southeastern United States participated in this research study. Participants completed a survey of their interest and prior exposure to video games, played a tutorial of the simulation video game, played a single player or multiplayer version of the game with or without instructor guided reflection, and completed a posttest of reasoning and knowledge ability. The researcher used independent samples t tests, analysis of variance, and descriptive statistical analysis in combination with qualitative methods outlined by Miles and Huberman (1994) to analyze the data. Thomas (2003) described the mixed methodology used to analyze and interpret the data in this research study. Quantitative analysis of the data revealed that participants who engaged in both reflection and multiplayer groups scored significantly higher on posttest of reasoning ability at the .05 level. Furthermore, qualitative analysis revealed that participants in the multiplayer and reflection treatment groups were more likely to be engaged in the lesson, participate in more cognitive discussions, and made more connections to the large context of the lesson. Participants with a high level of prior interest in video games scored significantly higher on a posttest of reasoning ability at the .05 level of significance and were more likely to participate actively during the lesson. The findings from this study suggest the need for teaching educators to utilize reflective and collaborative practices in the incorporation of digital technology in the classroom.

Thesis (M.A.R.)--Emmanuel School of Religion, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 58-59).

In spite of the increased emphasis since being designated by the United States National Security Language Initiative (NSLI) as one of the sixteen critical languages, the number of students studying Turkish at the university level is small (MLA, 2015). During implementation of this project, several problems unique to Turkish arose. According to the Defense Language Institute (DLI), the degree of difficulty for English language speakers to learn Turkish is greater than that of most European languages because of the vast cultural differences between the United States and Turkey. There is one commonly used textbook at the university level across the United States (Öztopçu) which succeeds in delivering the teaching materials suitable for a traditional classroom but fails to provide opportunities for students to develop cultural and communicative competence. Additionally, it fails to offer digital technology, such as online study materials, which many students would prefer to have included in their academic studies (ECAR, 2014). The Turkish Global Simulation (TGS) project offers a solution: the development of effective teaching materials that would provide students access to the Turkish language and culture using the latest technologies that students already use and enjoy. The TGS was based on the French Apartment Building (Dupuy, 2006a, 2006b), which exemplifies relevant task-based instruction. The French Apartment Building project helps students attain communicative competence and cultural literacy through books and web resources, and focuses on improving students' reading and writing skills. The TGS allows students to experience a virtual life as a tenant in an apartment building in Istanbul. This is accomplished with the use of web applications (Facebook, Google Earth, Google Docs, Google Voice, emails, Blogger, chats, text messages, podcasting, audio-video files, 3-D maps, and Google Bookmarks), and authentic materials (e.g. movie/music clips). I delivered the tasks and the materials—in accordance with the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) standards—through the TGS project, which was first piloted and run successfully for several years to teach second-year second-semester university Turkish learners. The project involves a semester-long simulated life in a Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) environment, and promotes cultural and communicative competence while motivating students to be virtually connected to a new culture, autonomous, and lifelong learners. The specific research questions address: 1. How does the TGS project affect student’s cultural competence? 2. How effective is the TGS project as a context for language learning? 3. How do students compare the TGS with more traditional learning methods? How do teachers evaluate the Turkish textbook? 4. How effective is Internet technology in the TGS project? A number of different instruments were used to measure the effectiveness of global simulation in promoting cultural competence: oral interviews, ACTFL standards textbook evaluations, Flashlight surveys, teacher-course evaluations, and the TGS final exams. The results revealed that the success of global simulation in Turkish has clear implications for teaching not only Turkish, but also other less commonly taught languages, for which the classroom is the predominant method for American university students to learn a foreign language and culture.

This study sought to identify factors that optimize individual and collaborative cognitive processing in complex learning environments. Across two laboratory sessions, the effects of manipulating instructional sequence delivery (high cognitive load vs. low cognitive load) of a simulation-based game and learning condition (individual vs. collaborative) were examined on retention and transfer of instructional content. The instruction was a set of tutorials for preparing novice students to use Aspire, a simulation-based game, developed by Cisco, that teaches entrepreneurial and computer networking skills within the industry of information technology. An instructional sequence by learning condition interaction was found on transfer, but not retention, measures. For delayed transfer performance, individuals who received high load instruction experienced cognitive overload that exceeded their cognitive capacity. Collaborative students were able to collaborate with each other in a way that reduced the high cognitive load imposed by the instructional sequence; thus, they were able to process the instructional content across their collective working memory. Individual students were not able to reduce the cognitive load imposed by the instructional sequence; thus, they had less working memory capacity for processing the instructional content. Collaborative students who received the low load instruction also demonstrated lower motivation than those who received high load instruction. Taken together, these findings support the notions of individual and collective working memory processing differences. This study holds implications for leveraging technology to design learning environments that aid students in attaining collaborative skills and knowledge needed for the 21st century. / text