Interoperable Components for Shared Active Representations
(ICSAR)
Dan Suthers, University of Hawaii
Cindy Hmelo, Rutgers University
Patricia Schank, SRI International
Nicholas Jackiw, Key Curriculum Press
Bill Sandoval, UCLA
Currently, research into richly functional software environments for learning typically involves designing and implementing an entire system from scratch. To alleviate this problem, the long-range vision of this team is a set of reusable, interoperable components for simulation, animation, graphing, annotation, anchoring discussions, displaying evidence, and connecting tools and tutors.
As first steps, the ICSAR group set out to identify the variety of ways in which we want collaborating learners to interact with representations, particularly focusing on how these interactions will require that software-based representations be able to interact with each other. We approached this problem through the construction and analysis of scenarios for 'ideal' learning environments in several curricular areas, ranging from middle school through college, and including Chemistry, Evolution, Ecology, Mathematics, and Oncology. This analysis was intended to lead to recommendations for further work in the development of component technology for educational software.
Project website: http://lilt.ics.hawaii.edu/icsar/
Getting Our Act Together (GOAT) with AERA Special Interest
Groups
Chris Hoadley and Roy Pea, SRI International
Carolyn Gale, Vanderbilt University
The purpose of this minigrant is to establish a strategic liaison between CILT and two professional research organizations, the American Educational Research Association's Special Interest Group in Education in Science and Technology and the American Educational Research Association's Special Interest Group in Advanced Technologies for Learning. To encourage partnership between these organizations, this minigrant funds the development of a miniature version of CILT's Knowledge Network software for the use of SIG members. This replaces their existing Web sites and membership databases. SIG members are encouraged to join CILT, as well, and their information is carried directly into the CILT Knowledge Network if they choose to become CILT members.
Project website: http://www.ciltkn.org/aera
Knowledge Mining
Sean Brophy, Thomas Clark, Allison Moore, Carolyn Gale,
and John Bransford, Vanderbilt University
Jeremy Roschelle, SRI International
The Knowledge Mining process brings together the current thinking of a community using a new asynchronous communication tool on the Web. The goal is to gather high-quality information on a specific topic quickly and to synthesize the ideas into a single document. People knowledgeable about a specific topic are invited to write a short description of important ideas about the topic plus key references. The result should be a large array of current, pertinent, and useful information about a topic from a variety of perspectives. This process uses a very structured mode of communication designed for quick collection and synthesis of experts' unique thoughts about a topic. We are currently exploring other situations in which this process and Web tool can be used to support learning.
Teacher Professional Development in a World of Advancing
Technology: A Systemic Conversation
Mark Schlager, SRI International
Margaret Honey, EDC, CCT
Susan Goldman, Vanderbilt University
Marilynn Fong, LACOE TFL Project
Implementing the new California Content Standards Framework poses significant logistical and organizational challenges to schools across the state. To help meet these challenges, the Los Angeles County Office of Education Technology for Learning collaborative has initiated a project that unites educators from different schools with private organizations in Communities of Excellence (CoE). As the CoE projects have grown, it has become increasingly necessary to develop a new model for professional development, growth, and communication to address the time and distance limitations inherent in face-to-face meetings and the need for continuous collaboration among the teachers in each community.
This project is designed to create a process for planning and implementing professional development that is both scalable and sustainable enough to achieve fundamental and lasting reform. Researchers, teachers, administrators, school district support staff, and technology support providers are currently engaged in a 5-month planning process to support the expansion of the CoE. The result of this 'systemic conversation' will be three products: (1) a plan for scaling up the CoE process that involves the use of advanced Internet technologies to help implement the professional development strategies outlines above, (2) a grant proposal to NSF to implement and study the scale-up process, and (3) a technical report describing our work and aimed at the education reform research and policy communities.
The analysis conducted on this project is captured in this proposal to NSF.