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TAPPED IN and ESCOT as Two “Partnership Networks” for Research Innovation in Learning Technologies

TAPPED IN and ESCOT as Two “Partnership Networks” for Research Innovation in Learning Technologies. Roy Pea SRI International Center for Technology in Learning. Technology as powerful catalyst for. Reform of curriculum and pedagogy toward higher standards

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TAPPED IN and ESCOT as Two “Partnership Networks” for Research Innovation in Learning Technologies

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  1. TAPPED IN and ESCOT as Two “Partnership Networks” for Research Innovation in Learning Technologies Roy Pea SRI International Center for Technology in Learning

  2. Technology as powerful catalyst for... • Reform of curriculum and pedagogy toward higher standards • Transforming teacher professional development • New levels of learner engagement and understanding

  3. Two Cultures: Academic Research and Commercialization • Different audiences, purposes, pressures • The gap may be narrowing as... • Research greets practice • Grant agencies seek “sustainability” and “scaleability” of their funded efforts • Companies seek innovations and to leverage external research • New models for public-private partnerships will need to evolve

  4. What is SRI International? • An independent, non-profit research institute with the mission—“to promote and foster the application of science in the development of commerce, trade and industry for the prosperity of mankind” • One of the world’s largest research, technology development, and consulting firms • Focus on engineering, computer science, physical and life sciences, and education and health

  5. Center for Technology in Learning (SRI International) • Mission: Improving learning and teaching through innovation and inquiry in computing and communications • Status: 35 FTE, 25 projects, 20 proposals, FY99: $6 million+ revenues • Areas of focus: • Next-generation Internet learning environments • Learning technology assessment partnerships • New K-12 curricular designs for learning • Research-industry partnerships

  6. Two Areas of Research Opportunities and Affiliated CTL Projects • Opportunity #1: Teachers are the key to effective use of learning technologies. Use technologies to support their continual learning. TAPPED IN: An On-Line Teacher Professional Development Institute • Opportunity #2: The wired economy unfolds: Create distributed learning environments populated with component-based software. ESCOT: Educational Software Components of Tomorrow

  7. The TAPPED IN Project • Mark Schlager, Patricia Schank, Judith Fusco, Richard Goddard • Multi-user virtual environment for ongoing teacher development • Partners: 12 diverse TPD organizations • In 18 months: nearly 2000 registered users already • 1996-2000 Funding:

  8. TAPPED IN: A Virtual Office Building with Offices, Suites, Design Studio, Resource Center • A Web-based virtual environment that enables users to: • log in from any computer with Internet access • converse (publicly or privately) while sharing resources • create, annotate, and store group documents • jointly view text documents and Web pages • maintain awareness of the actions of others around you • customize the media-space to make it your place • And soon... • Shared graphical sketchpad • Integrated asynchronous discussion forum (now HyperNews) • Creation and viewing of video clips (e.g., teaching cases) • Exhibit Hall for standards-based learning tools and materials

  9. TAPPED IN Concept: A Working Community of Education Professionals & Organizations • TPD Program Support • ... for meetings, net-courses, discussion groups, F2F follow-up • learn technology skills in authentic, relevant context • Multiple organizations sharing a virtual place • cross-pollination: ofideas, experiences, expertise • one-stop “shopping”: formultiple perspectives on, and approaches to, TPD • Community-Owned Gathering Place • sustainable, evolving on-line commons for pre- and in-service teachers, teacher educators, researchers, administrators, librarians...

  10. Research Informs Design: Professional Development in the Teaching Profession • Teacher Professional Development (TPD) is a critical component of all education reform efforts • Formal TPD approaches (e.g., summer institutes, collaboratives) can offer motivating, collaborative learning experiences but find it difficult to: • scale to large numbers • sustain collaboration back at home sites • provide cost- and time-effective support through the change process • tailor content to local school, district initiatives • build infrastructure for sustainable TPD (and reform) systems

  11. Teaching for High Standards (Darling-Hammond and Ball: NEGP, 1997) “...U.S. teachers have only 3 to 5 hours a week in which to prepare their lessons, usually in isolation from their colleagues. Most have no time to work with or observe other teachers; they experience occasional hit-and-run workshops that are usually unconnected to their work and immediate problems of practice. This occurs despite the fact that there is in this country an enormous staff development industry. Districts, counties, and private entrepreneurs sponsor workshops, institutes, and after-school dinner meetings to develop, train, refresh, update, and inservice teachers.... However, much of such professional education is superficial, unconnected to a coherent vision of teaching or a set of curricular goals, and disjointed across localities and the courses of teachers' careers....”

  12. Contrast: Professional Development in Other Professions • Formal learning activities supplement informal learning opportunities that occur regularly among colleagues and other professionals • Learning opportunities occur through: • context of daily professional practice • sharing experiences, resources, techniques • creating new relationships, resources, and practices • cycles of tightly- and loosely-coupled collaboration • peer networks that transcend organizational boundaries

  13. Teachers Take Charge of Their Learning (Renyi, NFIE, 1996) Re-Envisioning TPD: Professional Communities of Practice “Today's teachers... find themselves pressed for time and opportunities to learn. Teachers should work collaboratively; yet all day they are isolated from other adults.” Teaching for High Standards -- Darling-Hammond and Ball “[Elements of effective TPD cannot] be adequately cultivated without the development of more substantial professional discourse and engagement in communities of practice.”

  14. Bridging the Gap with Technology • Technology may enable augmenting local TPD services by giving teachers easy access to high-quality TPD from work and home • Attempts to fill the gaps in TPD programs by providing Internet tools (Email, listservs, Websites) to establish on-line communities have fallen short of needs and expectations • Such tools are not designed to support the ebb and flow of discourse and collaboration characteristic of professional practice • New TPD models and environmentsmust be co-invented that: • balance formal activities with informal, sustainable professional development opportunities year-round • begin supporting teachers in pre-service education and continue to serve them • bring diverse stakeholders and resources into the discourse

  15. Research & Design Embedded in Practice: TAPPED IN R&D Strategy • Organic growth: Co-invent on-line TPD models with leading TPD organizations ready to integrate on-line activities year round and serve as models for others • User community as Expedition Leaders • Researchers/Developers as Sherpas: Provide support, brokering, and community activities • Stay “one step ahead” technologically • Meeting current needs while providing new capabilities • Text to... Web to... Java to... Internet telephony? Shared apps? • Research to understand processes, outcomes, and sustainability of new on-line TPD models • Grow a knowledgeable,empowered community of customers for emerging Internet technologies

  16. Practice Informing Research:Tenants as Community Resources “Resource—a new source of support; something to which one has recourse in difficulty; capability of or skill in meeting a situation” • Lawrence Hall of Science GEMS and SEPUP programs (NSF) • Swarthmore College’s Math Forum (NSF) • New Haven Unified School District (SSPP and BTSA) • Geological Society of America ESSTEP Project (NSF) • ED’s Oasis Website (AT&T Learning Network) • Museum of Tolerance Teaching Steps to Tolerance Program (ED) • Ed Schools: Pepperdine, Indiana, UIUC, U. Wisc., Madison • After School on-line real-time discussions • MeetMe@tappedin.sri.commailing list • Office hours, guest speakers...

  17. Research Informing Practice • Importance of persistent place and identity • On-line discourse flexibility: Need support for multiple styles, modes, paces of interaction • Organization-level findings • Key to sustain regular, meaningful activities with diverse initiators—a mix of formal-informal, organization & teacher-initiated • Provide productivity support: Well-defined objectives, agenda, and timeline tied to off-line activities • Acculturation: Explain rationale, responsibilities, and benefits of on-line participation • Support quick build up of high-qualitydocuments, Web sites tailored to teachers’ needs • Lesson plans, assessment rubrics, student products, curriculum frameworks, guidelines and standards documents • Need for consistent, participatory leadership: encouragement, support, and reward (not technology ‘hand-off’)

  18. Big Picture Lessons (being) Learned • ‘Professional Society Membership’ Model • A society’s resources are its members and its knowledge-base • Local Coalitions but a Global Network • ‘Professional Practice Stakeholder’ Model • Desegregate TPD from other school reform stakeholders—Librarians, media specialists, administrators, universities... • ‘Whole Career Support’ Model • TPD community should support its members throughout their career from apprentice to masters • ‘Professional Development in Daily Practice’ Model • PD is a continuous process that can occur in 3-minute conversations as well as 3-week institutes

  19. Visions for TAPPED IN? • Develop partnerships with pre-service and masters programs • Pepperdine U.// Cal. St. Hayward // U. Wisconsin, Madison // U. Illinois, Urbana-Champaign // Indiana University • Working with KY and LA Unified for extensive TAPPED IN use in their forthcoming TPD efforts • Keep pace with accelerating growth of existing TAPPED IN by re-engineering TAPPED IN for many thousands of concurrent users • Partnering, licensing, developing new technologies • Business planning and implementation of a program of commercial sustainability for TAPPED IN • Roles for palm-size wireless computing for distributed TPD

  20. TAPPED IN Needs re: SPA? • Opportunities to develop new tenant suites with your organization or company (e.g. TAPPED IN@3COM) • Partnership and investment opportunities with commercialization planning • http://www.tappedin.sri.com • Contacts: • roypea@unix.sri.com • schlager@unix.sri.com

  21. ESCOT: Educational Software Components of Tomorrow • ESCOT’S testbed is an open, distributed network of teachers, researchers, developers using a collection of re-usable, interoperable software resources to author Java and Web-based resources for reform in middle school math and science • First phase (‘98-’00) funded by the National Science Foundation

  22. ESCOT Leaders and Partners • Jeremy Roschelle, Roy Pea and Chris DiGiano (SRI), Jim Kaput (U. Mass-Darthmouth) • Key ESCOT Partners: • University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth (SimCalc) • Key Curriculum Press (Geometer’s Sketchpad) • University of Colorado, Boulder (AgentSheets) • Swarthmore College (MathForum) • The ‘Show Me’ Center, University of Missouri-Columbia

  23. The big idea: components! • Graphs, tables, calculators, geometry, simulations, equations, notepads… probably 100 or so core active representational objects that occupy parts of a screen • Enable mix-and-match, plug-and-play • Cognitive research rationale: • Dynamic, linked multiple representations key for understanding • Animated graphics for process history • Collaboration support • Assessment support • Leading to: • • Lower cost • Better quality • More flexibility

  24. Buggy economic model Produce stand-alone application islands Big project teams Distribution controlled by a few companies Works for business software, but not low-profiteducation… Promising economic model Component-based technologies Incentives for small developers, authors Web-based, open distribution Need to encourage cooperation among more casual authors! Why is the educational software business so problematic?

  25. It’s “the right time” • Java: a common platform • Web: coordinate distributed work • Handhelds: ability to run software components at very low cost • Standards-in-Development (e.g. IMS, IEEE P1484) • Labeling for search (meta-data) • Plug & play, mix and match • Linked representations

  26. Example 1:Educational Object Economy(EOE) • Created by Jim Spohrer, et. al (Apple) • Now a non-profit organization in San Jose • Building a sustainable community of small developers producing free educational applets(http://www.eoe.org) • Over 2,300 applets thus far!

  27. Problems with the EOE? • No links to curriculum, or standards • Applets are “frozen,” and do not work together • Authors writing every tool themselves (little teacher involvement)

  28. Example 2: ESCOT A distributed network of teachers, researchers & developers creating link-able representational tools for real middle school math curricula

  29. ESCOT Goals • Collect broadly useful, powerful components • Link to curriculum needs • Combine in new activities • (*NOT building a complete suite of component software for middle school math reform—but creating conditions that support re-use and interoperability)

  30. Collect Powerful Components Geometer’s Sketchpad

  31. Database Links 5 New Middle School Math Curricula to Technology Work with ‘Show Me’ Center at U-Missouri, Columbia

  32. ESCOT Teams Integrate Re-usable Components from a Shared, Web-Accessible Library into Lessons • Teacher: Pedagogical Design • Developer: Component Design • Web facilitator: Web Design (and teamwork)

  33. ESCOT Needs re: SPA Participants? • ESCOT is an OPEN testbed with policies that allow volunteers to join, including SPA members • Strong interest in finding commercial partners developing networked hand-held computers that could provide platforms for ESCOT • Work with Educational Object Economy on “intellectual capitol appreciation” licensing • Longer-term partners needed for ESCOT testbed component commercialization

  34. ESCOT Contacts • Jeremy Roschelle Roschelle@acm.org • Roy Pea Roypea@unix.sri.com

  35. Research Highlights for SPA • Innovations arising at the intersection of technology trends and customer needs • “Front-end” social science research on current conditions and obstacles to quality • Build off “Best Practices” as models, and establish incremental value-added technologies through... • Evolutionary growth through user-centered, participatory design with “threshold” early adopters • Development process—>Rapid prototyping and iterative design with “broadband” dialogs with users

  36. Knowing what we don’t know • We know we need commercialization partners to achieve sustainability • Business case development, e.g. • Size of market and barriers to entry • Product/service pricing, competitor analysis, ROI • Clout in Sales, Marketing, Channel Distribution

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