Brett E. Shelton
Associate Professor
Email: brett.shelton@usu.edu
Location: EDUC 216
Office Phone: 797-2393
Fax: (435) 797-2693
2830 Old Main Hill
Logan, UT 84322
Personal Web Page
IDIAS Website
Curriculum Vita [PDF]
Biography | Research Interests | Education | Professional Memberships | Awards
Publications | Projects | Grants | Courses
Biography
Brett uses a variety of mixed-method research approaches to study vision, perception, cognition, and the design and assessment of innovative technologies for learning. Other interests include immersive and interactive learning environments, data visualizations, open education, instructional simulations and educational gaming. He is the former director of the Center for Open and Sustainable Learning whose mission involves extending educational opportunity to all those who desire it, including the building of hybrid open coursework to maximize accessibility of educational resources. He now directs the IDIAS Institute which has projects based on the development of hand-held application development for learning, as well as virtual world training applications that use unique design attributes to facilitate after action review and assessments.
Research Interests
- instructional games and simulations
- immersive learning environments
- vision and cognition
Education
- Ph.D., Educational Technology, University of Washington, 2003
- Technology Entrepreneurship Certificate, University of Washington Business School
- M.Tech., Industrial Management and Supervision, Interactive Computer Graphics and Multimedia, 1996
- B.S., Computer Engineering, University of Idaho, 1994
Professional Memberships
- International Society of the Learning Sciences
- American Educational Research Association
- Professors of Instructional Design & Technology
Awards & Honors
- Concept to Company Digital Media Award Finalist 2012, GeePerS by Baxajaunak Technology, L.L.C.
- Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: Conversations on Quality Fellow, part of a select group of university professors, government officials, and industry professionals who participated in a symposium dedicated to improving K-12 online learning, January 24-25, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services Researcher/Scholar of the Year 2010-2011, nominated on behalf of the Department of Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences, the EEJ CEHS provides teaching, service, and research in a variety of disciplines to improve the teaching/learning transaction wherever it takes place and to increase the effectiveness of services for individuals, families, communities, schools, and organizations.
- 2011 Utah State University Robins Award Finalist, Researcher/Scholar of the Year
- Regional Campus and Distance Education Exemplary Course Award Fall 2011, ITLS 5205/6205 Computer Applications for Instruction and Training, rated top 5 of over 226 courses evaluated
- Hearst Foundation: Curriki Fellow, part of a select group of university professors who work with inservice or pre-service teachers to integrate open educational resources into their curriculum and instruction, methodologies or design courses, 2009
- USU Proposal Writing Institute Fellow, part of a group of Utah State University professors selected to participate in grant writing workshops funded by the USU Office of Proposal Development, Vice President for Research, 2009
- Byron R. Burnham Leadership Award, Utah State University College of Education and Human Services, Department of Instructional Technology, Spring 2008
- Appointed Director of the Center for Open and Sustainable Learning (COSL), April 2008
- Featured Instructor / Researcher, Utah State University College of Education and Human Services Alumni Magazine, Summer 2007
- Featured Instructor / Researcher, Utah State University College of Education and Human Services Promotional DVD, Fall 2007
- Ageia PhysX Rocks, 2nd Place, Independent company promotion for innovative and useful applications awarded to HEAT project: $750 unrestricted award, 2007
- Early Career / Junior Researcher, International Conference of the Learning Sciences, 2006
- Featured Instructor / Researcher, The Open Courseware Consortium, 2006
- Doctoral Consortium Selection, International Conference of the Learning Sciences, 2002
Selected Publications
- Olsen, J., Shelton, B. E., & Campbell, T. (2012). S’cape from formality: Embedded and automatic assessments within simulation games. Proceedings of the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2012, 11 pages.
- Shelton, B. E., Parlin, M. A., Jump, V., & Rowan, L. (2012). Iterative technology-based design with deaf/hard of hearing populations: Working with teachers to build a better educational game. Proceedings of the International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS 2012), Sydney, Australia, 2 pages.
- Shelton, B. E., & Parlin, M. A. (2012). Taking activity-goal alignment into open-ended environments: Assessment and automation. In D. Ifenthaler, D. Eseryel, & X. Ge (Eds.), Assessment in Game-based Learning: Foundations, Innovations, and Perspectives. Springer: New York, 105-122.
- Lee, V. R., Shelton, B. E., Walker, A., Caswell, T., & Jensen, M. (2012). ReTweeting History: Exploring the intersection of microblogging and problem-based learning for historical reenactments. In K. Seo, D. Pellegrino & C. Engelhard (Eds.), Designing Problem-Driven Instruction Using Online Social Media. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 23-40.
- Stowell, T., Scoresby, J., Coates, C., M. Capell, & Shelton, B. E. (2011). Leveraging open source technology for 3D game engine development. In R. Ferdig (ed.), Discoveries in Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations: New Interdisciplinary Applications. IGI Global: Hershey, PA, 78-109.
- Shelton, B. E., Satwicz, T. & Caswell, T. (2011). Historical perspectives on games and education from the learning sciences. International Journal of Game-Based Learning 1(3), 84-96.
- Shelton, B. E., & Scoresby, J. (2011). Aligning game activity with educational goals: Following a constrained design approach to instructional computer games. Educational Technology Research & Development, 59(1), 113-138.
- Scoresby, J. & Shelton, B. E. (2011). Reflective redo from the point of failure in virtual environments. Proceedings of the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2011, 11 pages.
- Shelton, B. E., Duffin, J., Wang, Y., & Ball, J. (2010). Linking OpenCourseWares and open education resources: Creating an effective search and recommendation system. 1st Workshop on Recommender systems for Technology Enhanced Learning (RecSysTEL 2010). Procedia Computer Science 1, 2865-2870.
- Caswell, T., Jensen, M., Lee, V. & Shelton, B. E. (2010). From Gettysburg to the Cuban Missile Crisis: Designing for historical reenactments with Twitter. Proceedings of the International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS 2010), Chicago, IL, 2 pages.
- Shelton, B. E. , Stowell, T., Scoresby, J., Alvarez, M., Capell, M. & Coates, C. (2010). A Frankenstein approach to open-source: The construction of a 3D game engine as meaningful educational process. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, 3(2), 03 Feb. 2010. IEEE computer Society Digital Library. IEEE Computer Society, <http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TLT.2010.3>
- Scoresby, J. & Shelton, B. E. (2010). Visual perspectives within educational computer games: Effects on presence and flow within virtual learning environments. Instructional Science, doi: 10.1007/s11251-010- 9126-5
- Neville, D., Shelton, B. E., & McInnis, B. (2009). Cybertext redux: Using DGBL to teach L2 vocabulary and reading to beginning university students. Computer Assisted Language Learning. 22(5), 409-424. DOI: 10.1080/09588220903345168
- Arendt, A. & Shelton, B. E. (2009). Incentives and disincentives for the use of OpenCourseWare. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 10(5). Retrieved December 25, 2009 from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/746
- Stowell, T., Scoresby, J., Coates, C., M. Capell, & Shelton, B. E. (2009). Utilizing readily available and open source libraries to create a 3D game engine. International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations, 1(4), 20-49.
- Neville, D., & Shelton, B. E. (2009). Literary and historical 3D-DGBL: Design guidelines. Simulation and Gaming. Full Text (OnlineFirst PDF) available March 25, 2009: http://sag.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/1046878108330312v1 doi:10.1177/1046878108330312
- Stowell, T., & Shelton, B. E. (2008). The challenges, frustrations and triumphs of remixing an open source engine for educational games. TechTrends, 52(5), 32-37.
- Walker, A., & Shelton, B. E. (2008). Problem-based educational games: Connections, prescriptions, and assessment. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 12(4), 663-684.
- Hanson, K., & Shelton, B. E. (2008). Challenges of virtual reality design and development faced by educators. Educational Technology & Society, 11(1), 118-131.
- Johnson, S., B. E. Shelton, and D. Wiley. (2007). Collecting, organizing, and managing resources for teaching educational games the wiki way. Innovate 4(2). http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=423 (accessed March 12, 2008)
- Shelton, B. E., & Hedley, N. R. (2004). Exploring a cognitive basis for learning spatial relationships with augmented reality. Technology, Instruction, Cognition and Learning, 1(4). 323-357.
- Consolvo, S., Roessler, P., & Shelton, B. E. (2004). Computer-Supported Coordinated Care: Using technology to help care for elders. IEEE Pervasive Computing. April-June.
- Shelton, B. E., Turns, J., & Wagner, T. S. (2002). Technology adoption as process: A case of integrating an information-intensive website into a patient education helpline. Behaviour & Information Technology, 21(3), 209-222.
Invited Journal Articles
- Shelton, B. E. (2008). Is educational game research doomed to fail? TechTrends 32(5), 74-75.
- Shelton, B. E. (2002). Augmented reality and education: Current projects and the potential for classroom learning. New Horizons for Learning, 9(1).
Books
- Shelton, B. E., & Wiley, D. (Eds.). (2007). The Design and Use of Simulation Computer Games in Education. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.
Projects
- IDIAS: Interactive Design for Instructional Applications and Simulations
- CLE: Creative Learning Environments
- IMRC: Interdisciplinary Media Research Consortium
- TwHistory: Re-enacting historical events through Twitter
Grants
| Year | Grant Name | Funding Agency | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 2010-August 2012 |
GeePerS MATH Steppingstones of Technology Innovation for Students with Disabilities |
US Department of Education | $396,707 |
| Aug. 2008-Jul. 2009 | Emergency Services Simulation Training Module (project renewal) | Service agreement with The Institute of Emergency Services & Homeland Security | $70,000 |
| Aug. 2008-Dec. 2008 | Open Education Conference 2008 (General Chair of Conference) | The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation | $26,400 |
| Aug. 2008-Dec. 2008 | Open Educational Resources Handbook Sponsorship | Agilix, Inc | $2,000 |
| Aug. 2008-Dec. 2008 | Tool Stewardship for the Field of Open Educational Resources | The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation | $1,800,000 |
| Jan. 2007-Aug. 2007 | Instructional Simulation Author and Play System “Gameworld” (ISAPS) | Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) with Mosaic, Inc. | $99,000 |
| Aug. 2007-Jul. 2008 | Emergency Services Simulation Training Module (project renewal) | Service agreement with The Institute of Emergency Services & Homeland Security | $143,000 |
| Aug. 2007-Jul. 2012 | Meeting the HQT Requirements of IDEIA and NCLB: Preparing Special Education Teachers for Content-Area Instruction Across Diverse Settings | Personnel Development to Improve Services and Results for Children with Disabilities: Special Education Preservice Improvement | $471,642 |
| Jan. 2007-Dec. 2008 | A Set of Tools for Finding, Reusing, and Iteratively Improving Open Content | Mellon Foundation | $440,000 |
| Jan. 2006-Dec. 2007 | Web Augmented Hybrid Course Development Initiative | Innovation Grant with Department of Special Education | $27,325 |
| Jan. 2006-Dec. 2007 | Automated Assessment Physics Simulation | National Science Foundation SBIR with Mosaic, Ltd. | $150,000 |
| Aug. 2006-Jul. 2007 | Emergency Services Simulation Training Module | Service agreement with The Institute of Emergency Services & Homeland Security | $117,000 |
| Aug. 2006-Jul. 2007 | Interdisciplinary Media Research Consortium | Innovation Grant with Departments of Instructional Technology, Art and English | $83,500 |
| 2005-2006 | The Role of Presence within Mixed-Reality Learning Environments | Utah State University New Faculty Grant | $11,800 |
Courses
- INST 5205/5400: Computer Applications for Instruction and Training
- INST 6480: Instructional Simulations
- INST 6500: Instructional Development Tools
- INST 6730: Technology and its Role in the Transformation of Education
- INST 7000/7010: PhD Professional Seminar
- INST 7150: Advanced Seminar in Instructional Technology: Advanced Visualization Research Topics
- INST 7300: Research in Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences
- INST 7200: Quantitative and Design Research in Instructional Technology
- INST 7870/ 6870: Current Issues Seminar:
- Interactive and Immersive Instructional Environments
- Instructional Games
- Data Visualization Theory & Practice