ESU IDT Team Awarded Top Honor at International Competition

Two students in the Instructional Design and Technology graduate program were named the winning team at a recent international conference.

Milton Knopp and Julie La Combe, both masters students, presented their instructional design and development solution at the Association for Educational Communications and Technology 2016 International Convention. Knopp lives in Topeka; La Combe lives in Abilene.

To win the top award, they faced competition in the finals against two teams of doctoral students - one team from Old Dominion University (Norfolk, VA) the other from the University of South Florida (Tampa).

The aim of the competition is to promote promising instructional design research done by graduate students. The students worked together and received mentoring by faculty and professionals in the field.

The competition is open to all national and international AECT affiliates. From April through early September, there were three rounds of teams submitting proposals – the field started with 22 teams’ proposals and narrowed to the final three before the convention.

Knopp and La Combe found out in early September they had made the final round.

"The opportunity was a thrill, but extremely challenging," La Combe said.

At the convention, held October 17-21 in Las Vegas, each of the final three teams gave presentations and went through question and answer sessions. Judges then determined the winning team.

"(Knopp and La Combe) had strong competition," said Patricia J. Slagter van Tryon, the AECT design and development competition committee chair and organizer. "We are very proud of Julie and Milton's work!"

"I am certain we were successful because of the incredible instruction we received from ESU IDT professors,” La Combe said. “We simply applied what we were taught, and it all fell into place."

"The other schools represented in the finals were several times larger than ESU,” said Knopp. “(We) were the only masters students; the other four finalist were doctoral students. We were representing 'the little university that could'... and often has."

"Milton and Julie’s win reflects the quality of our program and our faculty and staff. This is a tremendous accomplishment and we are so proud of them for continuing this legacy," said Zeni Colorado-Resa, chair of Emporia State's IDT department. "ESU IDT teams have achieved finalist status seven of the last nine years, starting in 2007. Out of those seven times, our students were awarded the overall win three times."

AECT was founded in 1923 and is the most recognized association representing professionals who have an interest in improving learning through the use of media and technology.

Emporia State's recent history in the competition:

2007 – Sandy Valenti and Steve Harmon – finalists
2009 – Liz Ermis and Jennifer Gibson – winners
2010 – Michael Schwind and Rob Ervin – winners
2011 – Jason Baker and Michael Stewart - finalists
2012 – Qing Zhang and Daniel Baldwin; Seung Gutsch and Daphne Tseng – finalists
2013 – Ziang Wang and Yun Lauren Liu – finalists

New Emporia State Faculty Selected for National Symposium & Convention

Two new faculty members in Emporia State’s Department of Instructional Design and Technology have been selected to participate in a symposium and present at a national conference in October.

Dr. Sungwoong Lee, assistant professor, was chosen to participate in the 2016 Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) Early Career Symposium as well as present research at the 2016 AECT Convention taking place in Las Vegas in October 17-21.

Dr. Yeol Huh, assistant professor, will be also be presenting at the convention.

The AECT Early Career Symposium is a mentoring program, which provides an avenue for early career scholars to receive mentoring from established scholars and leaders in the field. The symposium is sponsored by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Cyberlearning and Future Technologies program.

Lee was selected from a large number of highly qualified applicants based on his qualifications, work to date, and potential for future scholarship to the field of Instructional Design and Technology. 

“I didn’t think I would be selected,” Lee said. “I’m very surprised and excited to be participating in the symposium and looking forward to working with the mentors.”

Lee was also invited to present two papers, “The Effect of Video Games on Math Achievement,” and Embodied Pulley Physics: The Development of Hands-On User Interaction in Virtual Reality” during the 2016 AECT International Convention.

Lee is the third Emporia State University IDT faculty member to participate in the Early Career Symposium in the last six years,.  Dr. Jozenia Colorado-Resa was selected to participate at the 2010 symposium and Dr. Insook Han participated in the 2015 symposium. 

Huh was selected to participate in 2014 as a doctoral student.

                             

Huh will present “Exploring Ways Online Teachers Teach Self-Regulated Learning Skills to Students in U.S. Online K-12 Schools” at the convention. 

                                               

IDT Students will Compete in Final Round of AECT Design and Development Competition

Emporia State University will once again have a student team in the FINAL Round of the AECT Design and Development Competition!  Milton Knopp and Julie La Combe, Instructional Design and Technology graduate students, will be representing ESU at the 2016 Association for Educational Communications and Technology International Convention (AECT) in Las Vegas, NV to compete in the final round.  Only three teams are selected to go forward to the final round.  The convention will take place Oct. 17-21, 2016.

Including this year, ESU IDT students have been finalists in the AECT Design Competition for 7 out of the last 9 years, starting in 2007.  The last time an ESU IDT team went to the final round was in 2013.  

Historical information on IDT students in final round of AECT Design Competition:

2016: Milton Knopp and Julie La Combe to compete in 2016 AECT Design Competition

2013: http://idtesu.blogspot.com/2014/02/esu-idt-team-presents-winning.html

2012: https://www.emporia.edu/dotAsset/a4ff7fba-ff16-404c-bbdb-c58a29576c18.pdf

2011:https://www.emporia.edu/news/11/29/2011/emporia-state-s-idt-dynasty-continues/?

2010: http://www.emporia.edu/alumni/spotlight/spring/2011/another-prize-winning-instructional-design

2009: https://www.emporia.edu/dotAsset/5cfb40d4-fd0b-4576-b005-53cfea809185.pdf (page 9)

2007: http://www.emporia.edu/dotAsset/3f4a4912-d8bc-4c03-a1af-b1e14986d72a