Songhee Han is a doctoral student in the Learning Technologies program. Prior to her life at UT Austin, she has worked at public elementary schools in Korea for 7 years. Songhee has been involved in a research & development project Alien Rescue(AR) under Dr. Min Liu's supervision and she has worked on the mission database and code enhancement process in the AR team since 2018. Outside of the program, She has worked as an innovation fellow in the instructional design of the OnRamps program developing online courses for Texas high school students and OnRamps staff. In addition, she has worked as a conference administrator assisting "STEM in the Technopolis" conference and as a graduate research assistant assisting a book project "STEM in the Technopolis- The Power of STEM Education in Regional Technology Policy" for IC² Institute at UT Austin. She co-authored Chapter 2 "Regional Industry Clusters: A STEM Center of Gravity for Educators, Industry, Government and Non-Profits" in this book project. Since 2019, she has worked for the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at Moody College of Communication developing self-directed online courses and researching effective massive open online course design practices.
Her interest includes learning analytics, game-based learning, STEM education, maker education, design thinking, design-based research, massive open online course, and personalized learning.
Min Liu (Supervisor)
Designs and researches interactive learner-centered environments for all age levels with new media and emerging technologies.
Han, H. & Resta, R. (2020). Virtually Authentic: Graduate Students Perspective Changes toward Authentic Learning while Collaborating in a Virtual World. Online Learning, 24(4). doi:10.24059/olj.v24i4.2326.
Zintgraff, Z., Han, H. & Butler, B. (2020). Regional Industry Clusters: A STEM Center of Gravity for Educators, Industry, Government and Non-Profits. STEM in the Technopolis: The Power of STEM Education in Regional Technology Policy (pp. 27–50): Springer.
Alien Rescue
Alien Rescue is an online problem-based 3D immersive learning environment for sixth-grade science. It combines best practices from educational research with innovative technologies to deliver an engaging learning experience. Songhee works on the mission database in this project.
Transnational Collaborative Learning Experience through Web-Based Technologies in Higher Education
This qualitative case study investigates graduate students perspective changes apropos their cross-national collaborative learning experience while participating in an online teaching and learning course jointly taught by graduate schools in the United States and Israel. The participants met virtually, on a weekly basis between November and December 2018, on a platform called Second Life, to design and participate in collaborative learning activities. On completion of the course, interviews were conducted with a small sample of student-participants regarding their experiences. During the design phase, participants dominant perceptions of their learning experiences were characterized by genuine excitement at the novelty of collaborating virtually with colleagues on the other side of the world. Their initial perceptions evolved during the participation phase to realization as learning communities emerged and students roles expanded beyond the scope of mere participants. In this study, the authors argue that participants construction of new knowledge resulted in authentic learning from the standpoints of social constructivism and online collaborative learning theory and further discuss the factors that enabled the participants authentic learning experience.
Mass Customization for the Efficient Development of MOOCs
This study investigates the effects of mass customization (MC) techniques used in industry towards the efficient development of Mass Open Online Course (MOOC) targeting working professionals. We examined the MOOC development process and the degree of the students satisfaction of the courses at a distance learning center from April to May 2020 which serves working professionals in journalism. Data sources used in this study include Slack messages, survey responses, and course completion rates. The preliminary result revealed that applying the MC techniques in developing MOOCs not only enhance the efficiency of course development but also satisfy a diverse range of learners, which is an important goal for MOOC providers survival in the market.
Creating a Maker Course Syllabus for the Learning Technologies Program: Bridging Experiences between the UT Campus Makerspace and K-12 Makerspaces in Austin, Texas
The goal of this report is the development of a new maker course syllabus and course plan for the Learning Technologies program at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). This course will provide hands-on making experiences for graduate students in The Foundry (UT Makerspace) and subsequently bridge those experiences to K-12 makerspaces in Austin. This report contains four major sections. First, the report begins with a literature review of makerspaces and learning, making and assessment, and making in both K-12 and higher education, supported by a review of empirical studies and web-based articles. Second, the context for the development of a graduate level maker course is explained through the analysis of The Foundrys support for graduate students making activities and the summary of my visits to K-12 makerspaces in Austin, Texas. Third, existing maker courses from three different universitiesTeaching for Creativity and Innovation (University of Wisconsin-Stout), Critical Making (University of California, Berkeley), and Introduction to Design and Making (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)are analyzed to gather ideas for a new maker course syllabus. Additionally, I analyze current courses offered by the Learning Technologies program to evaluate the justification for a new maker course for graduate students. Finally, the fourth section details the new maker course syllabus I created.
STEM in the Technopolis Book Project
STEM in the Technopolis is a book about secondary STEM education and regional technology policy. In the book, we:
- Highlighted cases where secondary STEM education is robustly and explicitly part of regions' technology development plans
- Explored the quantitative impact of secondary STEM education on regional development
- Showed how trends in educational philosophy, teaching methods, workforce needs, and the drive for digital equity have set the stage for secondary STEM as integral to policy
- Shared strategies and tactics for integrating the concerns of secondary STEM education into robust regional technology policy
STEM in the Technopolis Conference- The Power of STEM Education in Regional Technology Policy
Friday, April 5, 2019, The University of Texas at Austin
AT&T Hotel and Conference Center, 1900 University Ave.
The conference explored the following questions:
- What does it mean to integrate STEM education policy into regional economic development and technology policies?
- What is the specific role for K-12 STEM education policies in regional development?
- What STEM policy elements should educators, political leadership, and the business community adopt to build a technopolis in their community?
- How do we recognize STEM policy success?
ISSS General Financial Award, The University of Texas at Austin (2019)
Designing Learning Activities with Cross-National Collaborators through a Virtual World in Higher Education, AERA, Virtual (2020)
Investigating Effective Teaching Practices for MOOC Instructors through a TPACK lens, AACE, Virtual (2020)
A Foreign Language School Going Online (Case Study), AECT, Virtual (2020)
Bridging Experiences between the UT Campus Makerspace and K-12 Makerspaces in Austin, Texas, Play Make Learn, Madison, WI. (2019)
