Introduction: The emerging technology of three-dimensional (3D) printing has the potential to provide unique 3D modeling to support specific content in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, particularly chemistry. Method: Seventeen ( n = 17) students with visual impairments were provided direct instruction on chemistry atomic orbital content and allowed to use either print or tactile graphics or 3D models in rotating order. Participants were asked specific content questions based upon the atomic orbitals. Results: The students were asked two sets of comprehension questions: general and specific. Overall, students’ responses for general questions increased per iteration regardless of which manipulative was used. For specific questions, the students answered more questions correctly when using the 3D model regardless of order. When asked about their perceptions toward the manipulatives, the students preferred the 3D model over print or tactile graphics. Discussion: The findings show the potential for 3D printed materials in learning complex STEM content. Although the students preferred the 3D models, they all mentioned that a combination of manipulatives helped them better understand the material. Implications for practitioners: Practitioners should consider the use of manipulatives that include 3D printed materials to support STEM education.

In this case study, we researched one cohort from the Center for Animation, a higher education teaching environment that has successfully fostered group creativity and learning outcomes through problem-based learning. Through live and videotaped observations of the interactions of this community over 18 months, in addition to focused interviews with nine key community leaders, we considered the evaluative culture and actions of this community, and how these evaluative practices improved their creative problem solving. We describe their evaluation practices in the context of principles derived from the Joint Committees' Evaluation Standards (Yarbrough, Shulha, Hopson, & Caruthers, 2011), which are well-respected standards used by professional evaluators. Specifically, we found that problem-based learning strategies were successful in part because the community members (1) established a context and culture of high expectations, collaboration, and evaluation; (2) united the students, teachers, and industry leaders as shared stakeholders in the success of the project; (3) identified early the key criteria for evaluating progress; and (4) asked questions to evaluate progress towards meeting the criteria, using many approaches to gathering information. We discuss the implications for applying these principles to other problem-based learning environments, particularly in higher education, as well as future research.

What happens when just an ordinary interaction with a student shifts your whole perspective on things? A routine conversation as course coordinator with one of our postgraduate public policy students took an interesting and insightful turn recently, and our interaction brought to light for me the importance of storytelling and the holding of disconcertment in the reflexive doing of difference, even in places where you would least expect it. Instead of holding a conversation where our words and stories acted upon each other from a distance, in this instance, I experienced the experience of inhabiting the conversation. I experienced knowing in action; a doing of knowing, where the participants, the stories and the tensions and vulnerabilities that attend our stories are inextricably linked together and embodied in the constituent act of being the conversation. Although I have engaged in complex and insightful discussion on many occasions, this conversation, seemingly unremarkable at its outset, caught me off guard. It drew me into a process entirely unexpected, constituted through the inhabiting of the experience and the reflexive opportunities it presented. This paper seeks to describe and provide some analysis of this 'experience of an experience' with a view to understanding something more of the processes of 'knowing in action' and its role in skilling us to work better with difference.

Institutions looking to adopt competency-based education often struggle with the technological challenges of supporting this model. In response, this chapter proposes a “born-CBE” infrastructure intentionally designed to support the data exchanges and workflows required by CBE. This modular infrastructure contains a system of record, a digital learning environment, a recommendation engine, a financial aid processor, a competency dashboard, and a competency transcript. In order for these components to work together cohesively, data standards for interoperability (LIS, OneRoster, and LTI) are essential. The authors then discuss the essential capabilities of the learning infrastructure. These include support for backward design, authentic assessments, various learning workflows, personalization and adaptivity, and learning and performance analytics.

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