Students enrolled in the GSAA program could create avatars that “reflect” their disability, Georgia Tech said in its announcement. This could include blind students who would make an avatar complete with “glasses and a cane or a guide dog.”
Students will also be able to create avatars that have “nothing to do with their disability,” the school said.
GSAA activities won’t be confined to the virtual Second Life platform. Georgia Tech officials plan to connect the project to prevalent social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, where students in the alliance will get reminders of upcoming STEM training sessions in Second Life.
“Our project is being designed to serve all these students through training, self-advocacy exercises, and most important, pairing students with mentors chosen to meet their needs,” Todd said, adding that the STEM program could also be used by students who don’t have disabilities. “We’re designing our resources to promote better education for all students who need help in STEM.”
The university said it hopes to make GSAA a national model for virtual STEM courses, but for now, the program will be limited to students at Georgia Tech, the University of Georgia, Georgia Perimeter College, and high schools in Georgia’s Greene, Clarke, and Gwinnett counties.
Georgia Tech is the latest campus to get involved in STEM education, which has been plagued by consistent gaps in the number of minority and women students who pursue the four fields.
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