Student Experience

Want to know what it’s like to be a MEITE student?

Learn more about the exciting innovations our students pioneered during their time in the program.

Connect with the MEITE Program

There are multiple ways to become a member of our community:

• Visit Us on Social Media: On our Instagram and Facebook pages, we love sharing the stories of our students and program. These places are a great way for you to get a preview of the successes and experiences of our students, faculty, and program!
• Attend an Online Information Session: We regularly host information sessions on Zoom with our Program Director, Dr. Todd Cherner. In these sessions, you’ll have the opportunity to learn more about the program and ask questions. Please visit our Events page to see when our next session is offered and register for it!
• Request Information via Email: Do you have a specific question or would like further information but can’t make it to an information session? No problem! Please use the form to contact us!

The MEITE Innovation Showcase

The MEITE program culminates with our Innovation Showcase, which is held annually on the last Friday of July. At the event, our students pitch, present, and demonstrate their final projects. The audience for this event includes current students and their guests, faculty members from across UNC’s campus, industry partners, and community members. In preparation for it, students complete their final projects during the first summer session and prepare for the Showcase during the second summer session.

The Innovation Showcase is a celebration of the MEITE students, and they pitch and present their final projects. Below is a preview of a final project for each concentration and a link to the slide deck they used at the Innovation Showcase.

Preview Past Students’ Final Projects

To complete the MEITE program, all students complete a final project, which is equivalent to a thesis. Each concentration within MEITE has a unique final project, and students are encouraged to utilize the knowledge and experiences gained from their coursework and internship to help them develop their project. Examples of the final projects are below.

Graduated MEITE students have graciously shared their work. We have included links to the projects that are open-access and screenshots for the projects that require user registration.

Edupreneur

Students create a minimally viable prototype of a product or service for the field of educational innovation and an accompanying business and marketing plan for it.

Dannielle Elison’s History in AR

• Slide Deck | Project Preview

Middle and high school students are currently taught in a segmented way, with each class they take focusing on one subject and a specific set of skills. Within this structure, students are given few opportunities to combine these subjects and skills to solve problems in a cross-curricular fashion, leading to a lack of confidence and an inability for solving real-world problems. This situation is then compounded as they leave the highly structured school experience and enter institutions of higher education or join the workforce. In response, History in AR Time is a web-based interactive timeline that is designed to provide 7th-12th grade students an engaging way to combine skills and knowledge that will allow them to make more profound, meaningful connections to history while solving real-world problems.

When using History in AR Time, students enter the timeline, choose an era, and can add various layers to explore deeper learning depending on their interests or needs. Students can examine subjects like science, sports, music, math, the arts, and more to understand how all these subjects work together to create history and culture. After exploring, they can complete gamified quests that challenge them to use various skills for solving real-world problems. History in AR Time is currently in the concept phase and will be ready with an MPV in the next 6-8 months to test with small groups of students.

Innovative Specialist

Students identify an industry within the field of educational innovation and create a multimedia report that includes two parts. The report first explains the current and historical trends in the industry along with identifying the leaders within that industry. It then provides a market analysis and recommendations for one of those leaders to increase its customer base.

Marina Shallcross’s An Analysis and Projection of AI in Education

• Slide Deck | Project Preview

Artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed education in the past decade, and its continued growth will shape how students learn and receive support. Currently, AI is used across all education disciplines to deliver personalized learning experiences, analyze student performance, and optimize educational outcomes.

A subfield of AI that is used in education is Natural Language Processing (NLP) which uses computational models to analyze text and speech for AI to both understand human speech and communicate using human speech patterns. Students are increasingly adopting AI applications that use NLP, like chatbots, for assistive and generative purposes.

An Analysis and Projection of AI in Education focuses on generative AI that uses NLP. This is a timely topic in education, as AI in education recently garnered attention with the creation of ChatGPT and Google Bard, AI-powered chatbots that can generate written responses within seconds using NLP. Through an analysis of current AI chatbots, this report will discuss current strengths and deficits and present opportunities for embedment within education. It will also focus on Chat GPT as an example for outlining the ways AI chatbots can be a threat to academic integrity and solutions to ensure ethical usage that can support student critical thinking and writing proficiency.

Learning Engineer

Students choose a topic of their choice and based on that topic, create a 10-module asynchronous course. Within the course, students will leverage emerging technologies along with innovative teaching strategies to build the learners’ knowledge and skills to meet the course objectives.

Grace Willard’s Introduction to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace

• Slide Deck | Project Preview (click the Episode List icon)

Introduction to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace introduces users to equitable practices that they can use within the course to build an inclusive, diverse workplace. Organizations are focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, but the current marketplace does not support the practical application of interpersonal skills that support these initiatives. Research has found that even Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs lack adequate interpersonal skills instruction to prepare a workforce that can work collaboratively. This course’s target users are individuals in workplaces that have adopted DEI goals and want to support these goals through learning and development programs. Users will learn about common issues that occur in workplaces, ways to resolve conflict that occurs in those contexts, and how the actions they take affect the whole workplace. users will understand basic definitions of DEI and practice specific interpersonal skills within Virtual Learning Environments using VR technology. By providing a virtual learning environment, it allows users to practice these skills through first-person perspective storytelling that adapts to their decisions through branching storylines. The goal of this immersive learning environment is to promote experiential learning and strengthen engagement in the acquisition of interpersonal skills.

Adaptive Learning Analyst

Students use best practices in adaptive environments, quantitative data analysis, and instructional design to build a 5-module personalized learning experience. Throughout the modules are data-informed pathways that support “right-sized” learning pathways throughout the experience, so each student can be successful!

Megan Buyer’s InstructSTEM: Rooting Practice in Pedagogy

• Slide Deck

STEM education is constantly evolving, and it is crucial for instructors to stay up to date with the latest educational best practices. Designed to help bridge the research-to-practice gap, InstructSTEM is a professional development course that provides a synthesized and accessible introduction to evidence-based pedagogical practices for high school and college STEM instructors. The modules will cover a range of topics in the learning sciences along with instructional practices, identifying learner characteristics, and course development. The pace and content will be tailored to the instructors’ prior knowledge, performance, and interests. For example, instructors will take assessments prior to and after engaging in learning activities for each topic, and the corresponding activities will be modified based on their performance. Instructors will also develop deliverables relevant to the STEM content area(s) they teach and receive feedback and guidance from their peers and course facilitators. This personalized and adaptive course has the potential to significantly improve STEM instruction by equipping instructors with the tools and knowledge needed to implement effective educational practices in their context and subsequently boost STEM student performance and retention.

MEITE Alumni

After completing the MEITE program, our alumni are employed in a variety of roles within the vast field of educational innovation. From directors of non-profits and program managers to instructional designers and researchers through community outreach partners and product development team members, we are continually impressed with the professional opportunities our alumni take upon graduation. Below are just a few examples!

Alexandra Lewis
Lead Instructional Designer at VirtualSC

Marina Shallcross
Project Manager at CourseDog

The MEITE Faculty Members

The MEITE program is housed in the UNC School of Education, and world-class scholars in the fields of educational innovation, learning analytics, and the learning sciences serve as the program’s Core Faculty Members. While in the program, you’ll have opportunities to engage with Drs. Cherner, Sawyer, Bernacki, and Greene along with their colleagues in the Schools of Education and other professional schools, including the Schools of Business, Media and Journalism, and Information and Library Sciences.