Research: Enhancing the Learning Experience

Projects for enhancing the Learning Experience

My current projects include:

  1. Writing this blog  as part of the AD 737 learning experience
  2. Enhancing the World Climate Exercise, I submitted an article to the Simulation & Gaming journal and is now in peer review.
  3. Improving the World Energy Exercise learning experience. I will design the surveys for this new workshop this week, with a little help from my friends!
  4. Improving the performance of academic probation students at ITBA.
  5. Building an eCommerce website
  6. Using the MIT Climate Colab as an climate change awareness tool.

 Why I am interested in learning ways to improve the learning experience?

There are several motives that drive me to research. First of all, Education is very important lever for changing our society. Shared mental models are key for human behavior.  Donnella Meadows’ famous paper “Twelve Levage Points to intervene in a System” tells us that they are a very important leverage factor.

A second very important point is that I feel there are several important issues related to my country on the world that I want to contribute.

A third motive is that I teach at ITBA, UCES and BU, so researching about the best way to teach is very important for me.

Lastly, ITBA wants to increase research and I think that I can contribute in this endeavour.

Project 1: Writing this blog at blogs.bu.edu is valuable and fun!

Writing this blog as part of the AD 737 Innovative Marketing Techniques is a great learning experience, for several important motives. First, it is impressive the speed with which you can add content to your blog. Second it seems to give you the opportunity to link to other people at BU presenting the subjects that interest you most. Third it gives valuable extra links to your other personal and professional websites. After this experience I look forward to redesign the way in which I help students with their own assignments.

Project 2: The World Climate Exercise:

I am currently taking my first steps in research. My current research topic is the famous World Climate Excercise, designed by Prof. John Sterman at MIT.

In 2013, with the help of Gloria Perez Salazar of the Latin American Chapter of System Dynamics Society I led a 15 people team that translated to Spanish the briefings and the presentation of the World Climate Exercise.

I work with Fabian Szulanski at ITBA, and in 2013 we organized 8 World Climate Exercises for about 151 people, at ITBA, UCES, ORTand AIDIS.  Fabian also facilitates AD 648 Introduction to eCommerce at BU and several other courses of BU’s online degree programs.

Both Fabian and me are now open to share the insights and knowledge that we gained by organizing these workshops and also looking for ways to improve the learning experience.

If you are interested in our work, please write to me at
eduardo@ingfracassi.com.ar

 

Project 3: Improving the World Energy Exercise

We started measuring key variables and working with the Climate Interactive team.

Project 4: Improving the performance of academic probation students at ITBA.

We have improved the information support tools and started collecting data.

Project 5: Building an eCommerce website

Project 6: Using the MIT Climate Colab as an climate change awareness tool.

Here is the story on Climate Interactive’s blog

https://www.climateinteractive.org/blog/world-climate-simulation-sparks-a-climate-solution-win/