The Envisionment and Discovery Collaboratory

Enid Ablowitz - Discovery Learning (annotated)

Discovery Learning

Vision

Leadership in Educational Reform

Research: An Educational Process

Vertically Integrated Teams

The Undergraduate

Technology as Enabler

A Unique Facility

The Discovery Learning Center

Discovery Learning

Discovery Learning is the Collegeís platform for continuing innovation in engineering education, new partnership opportunities with industry, breakthrough discoveries in learning technologies and their applications, and the expansion of the Collegeís technology-enhanced, on-site and off-site educational offerings for traditional and non-traditional learners. The new facility, the Discovery Learning Center will benefit the generations of learners engaged in relevant, creative problem-solving for the benefit of society.

(Controversial views on Discovery Learning -- 4/29/99 at 10:40:58 AM by Gerhard Fischer)

Vision

Discovery Learning at the College of Engineering and Applied Science at CU Boulder, is a student centered, inquiry-based, educational process where the learner develops critical thinking skills, experiences the passion and excitement of original research and engages in problem solving with other learners in a collaborative, technology-enhanced educational setting. It is a different type of learning which builds on interactivity and creates long-range impact through personal involvement.

Leadership in Educational Reform

The College is already at the leading edge of national reform in engineering education because of the hands-on, team-based, interdisciplinary approach of Integrated Teaching and Learning (ITL). Through the engagement of undergraduate students in research activities, Discovery Learning expands on the interdisciplinary integration of ITL, creating yet another powerful new model for a systemic, cultural change in teaching and learning.

(Reinventing Undergraduate Education -- 10/18/98 at 11:11:19 AM by Gerhard Fischer)

Research: An Educational Process

Research has been, for the most part, the purview of faculty, graduate students and lab-based private sector investigators. Through Discovery Learning, undergraduate students will join graduate students, post doctoral fellows, faculty and industry partners and share in the adventure of discovery--- at the frontiers of the unknown, or the yet-to-be revealed. Research will be re-characterized to describe not only the end products of discovery, but also the educational process where the methodology of learning---discovery--- is as crucial as the result. By fostering creativity and collaborative interactions, and by enriching the learning process, Discovery Learning, will "turn the prevailing undergraduate culture of receivers into a culture of inquirers, a culture in which faculty, graduate students and undergraduates share an adventure of discovery." The Collegeís model further extends the collaborative approach to include industry and government partners.

Vertically Integrated Teams

Integrated Teaching and Learning is about new methodologies for learners to acquire the core fundamentals of an engineering education and to extend that learning to applications. ITLís horizontal integration breaks down barriers between departments and between learners. Discovery Learning is about knowledge creation through the common and complementary activities of vertically integrated teams. Through Discovery Learning, undergraduate students will become active members of research groups, involved in all aspects of a problem, from formulation of the hypothesis or the definition of the design challenge, to iterative testing and evaluation of results. Mentoring will be an integral part of the model and crossing disciplines will be imperative as the teams break out of the linear progression of studying subspecialties. The external partners will bias the inquiry toward real world solutions. The richness of the vision of Discovery Learning includes not only the undergraduate inquiry-based experience, but also industrial and government partnerships to identify opportunities for inquiry and to enhance the teams through direct participation.

The Undergraduate

Discovery Learning will be a powerful experience for all team members, but especially for the undergraduate students. Whether or not they envision themselves engaged in a research career, the excitement of achieving new results, seeing a new phenomenon or constructing a new device will stimulate their creative minds, will expose them to the discipline of sustained inquiry and will have a lasting impact on their view of the world.

(Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program -- 11/15/98 at 11:14:49 AM by AJG)

Technology as Enabler

The concept of dispersed learners, that is, team members who may not be in the same physical location, is an important component of Discovery Learning. Technology enables the creation of collaboratories, specially equipped spaces that allow team members to interact irrespective of geography or time. Here, new learning technologies will converge to change the face of the "classroom." Emerging software and enabling tools allow for communication and interaction in new ways. The shared learning experience, where the line between teacher and student is blurred, sets up a model for the way people learn outside the formality of a course: in other words, lifelong learning.

A Unique Facility

Just as the ITL learning paradigm was realized through the creation of the Collegeís award-winning ITL Laboratory, Discovery Learning will be realized through the construction of a comparably unique Discovery Learning Center (DLC). The DLC will be a partner to the ITL Laboratory, which together will epitomize the University of Colorado's Total Learning Environment. The Discovery Learning Center, to be constructed as the next phase of the development of the engineering complex, will be a bridge to both the current engineering center and the ITL lab, and will provide innovative physical spaces to support this new kind of learning. DLC will have the capacity to link to other sites, on campus, with our partners, in the community and around the world, through state-of-the-art technology. The DLC will be sufficiently flexible to accommodate short and medium term projects. Tenants will be interdisciplinary groups able to demonstrate that they meet these criteria for occupancy. Imagine the possibilities: DLC will be a window on the world of research collaboration and impact. Designed so that the activities will be in full view; the mystery of the research enterprise will be replaced by an invitation to inquire further. The operations of the DLC will in part be defined by the specific activities going on at any given time. The partnerships that will emerge will define the specific activities, but the philosophy of DLC will create the core values of the enterprise. DLC will represent the best of what a public research university has to offer.

(Unique Facilities - Related Links -- 4/29/99 at 10:51:05 AM by AJG)

The Discovery Learning Center:

will be a new 45,000 square foot interactive, learner-based, reconfigurable, technology-rich collaboratory.
will cost $15.3 million for the facility and its infrastructure equipment, with approximately half of the funding to come from private sources and half from the State of Colorado.
will begin to address the critical space shortage in the College; (the Engineering Center was built over 30 years ago to house less than two thirds the current number of students and less than half the faculty, at a time when the Collegeís research budget was less than 15% of its current level, adjusted for inflation!)
will have initial, interdisciplinary anchor tenants such as the Center for LifeLong Learning and Design, the Colorado Space Grant Consortium, the Colorado Center for Information Storage, the Learning Technologies Group and complementary activities of the Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program, with each tenant meeting the criteria for the new Discovery Learning approach.
will house activities related to the development of both the cognitive and physical components of learning technologies, collaborating with the Boulder Campusí Alliance for Technology Learning and Society (ATLAS) initiative.
will have as a guiding principle ëoutside-iní industry and government collaborations in addition to the traditional outreach activities and student internships
through the use of efficiently designed common spaces, will accommodate multiple users and serve large numbers of students, faculty and collaborators.
will have a communications core that will make the facility a resource not only for the College, but for the Campus, the University, the community and remote learners, creating an advanced learning network.
will be a staging area for new ideas, connections and practices and will provide a testbed for new learning technologies

(DLC Exterior 4/29/99 at 11:06:20 AM by AJG)
(DLC Interior 4/29/99 at 11:06:36 AM by AJG)

Last Updated: 4/29/99; 11:18:55 AM
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