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ProfessorJim Laffey
Information Science & Learning Technologies“I have a very strong belief in learning by doing,” Laffey says. “Students in our program get involved with projects early on and learn to do research and design, and to implement technology.”
Right now, his masters’ students are learning to create online support technology for cooperative work environments. These developments allow companies with offices in multiple locations to collaborate across distances and allow distant students to collaborate in online learning. Through the technology, each system user is able to share documents and reports as progress is made, as well as to review materials submitted by everyone else.One doctoral student is putting the same principle — information sharing — to work for hospitals. Every event concerning a patient’s health and safety has to be reported, whether it’s a nurse accidentally switching medication or a patient slipping on a wet floor. Hospital managers then review the information submitted from each department to develop solutions that will prevent repeat occurrences.
Gathering all the necessary details can be difficult when some of the staff might never be on the same shift. To combat this challenge, the online cooperative system organizes and stores shared information for access when each person’s schedule allows and supports each user in carrying out their role in improving patient safety.
Another one of Laffey’s ongoing projects is the Context-aware Activity Notification System (CANS). A former graduate student developed the software, which alerts users to new activity in a network. For example, in SISLT, the system supplements the use of Sakai as a course management system. Each morning, Laffey and his students get information about new posts, page views and resources. The reports direct students to popular topics that they might not have read yet, alerts them about work processes by seeing other students work activity, and attunes them to the social nature of the learning experience.
“Especially in online courses, professors have a hard time knowing when students are participating apart from exams,” Laffey says. “The software, already implemented at the University of Missouri, monitors activity in the online systems and provides customized reports to users.”
This helps MU faculty better understand and interact with students in online courses, increasing the effectiveness of their teaching.
Now at Yale, CANS’ creator, Chris Amelung, is collaborating with his former professor to improve the system. With funding from a US Department of Education grant, given by the Fund for Improving Post-Secondary Education, Laffey and his colleagues are preparing to implement the system at the University of Michigan this winter.
CANS provides another opportunity for SISLT graduate students to gain hands-on experience: Several doctoral candidates are helping with the project, as are master’s students who volunteer their time.
“This is a great fast-paced world where innovations are made every day,” Laffey says. “My favorite part of my job is these creative research projects.”
He enjoys the University environment because it gives him time to develop new ideas. For the six years prior to his start at MU, Laffey worked at Apple, first in product development and then doing research for the company.
“It’s a very different pace,” he says. “The university does support a kind of scholarly work that life in a company doesn’t allow.”
One of those new ideas is a virtual learning environment for children with autism which Laffey is developing with Janine Stichter, associate professor of special education and associate director of the MU Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders.
The pair envisions a 3-D space where autistic youth can develop social interaction skills. The social competency gained online will be helpful in real-life situations. The project, still in its beginning stages, takes advantage of curriculum Stichter is already using in autism education.
“The real beauty of the idea is that online environments can be used anywhere,” Laffey says. “Teachers can take advantage of it in the classroom and kids can also go home, where parents could further work with them.”
Right now, the idea is underway through the hard work of a few faculty and students while funding is being sought for accelerating their progress. When it is developed, the virtual environment could help autistic children strengthen necessary social skills. And Laffey’s students will get another chance to put their design and development skills to work.