The evolution of simSchool: A case study in design-based researchDr. Gerald Knezek is Regents Professor of Learning Technologies at the University of North Texas, USA. Along with colleagues Dr. Rhonda Christensen and Dr. Tandra Tyler-Wood, he has lead research efforts related to simSchool since 2006.
SimSchool is a dynamic, web-based simulation of a classroom teaching environment designed to improve the competence and confidence of current and future teachers. SimSchool is now in its ninth year since initial creation by David Gibson and colleagues. This presentation will discuss how the product has evolved through several design-development-feedback-refinement cycles to incorporate new features such as Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic sensory variables; "Make a student" and "Create a task" options, visualization of simulation run results; module sharing facilities to create library-like user-contributed simulation routines, and a quick-entry simSchool Lite. An abbreviated list of features envisioned for the future will be presented as well. http://www.simschool.org/ |
Collaboration in educational design research: The experiences of two PhD students and one professorThomas C. Reeves is Professor Emeritus of Learning, Design, and Technology at The University of Georgia. His expertise encompasses evaluation, socially responsible educational research, public health education, authentic e-learning, and educational technology in developing countries.
Collaboration with practitioners is a hallmark of educational design research. This case describes a unique collaboration wherein two PhD students completed their dissertation research with the goal of optimizing an online evaluation course and identifying reusable design principles related to online learning. Tom Reeves played three roles in this study, research supervisor, primary practitioner, and co-researcher. Eunjung Oh, now at Georgia College and State University, focused her research on enhancing group work in online learning. Ying Liu, now at the University of Wisconsin, focused her research on enhancing self-regulated learning online. Both students reported their dissertations using the research article format. |
Successive Approximation of Quality in Design Research Projects Nienke Nieveen is senior researcher at SLO [Netherlands Institute for Curriculum Development]. Her work centers on coordinating the Institute's evaluation activities and the thematic strand 'Curriculum and teachers'. She has been engaged in several projects related to school-based curriculum development and professional development of teachers in the field of curriculum development. She co-edited the following books: Design approaches and tools in education and training (1999), Educational design research (2006), Introduction to educational design research (2009) and Schools as curriculum agencies: Asian and European perspectives on school-based curriculum development (2010).
Formative evaluation is a crucial feature of each design research project. Results give ground for both: a. improving the prototype of the intervention towards a high-quality final deliverable and b. sharpening the underlying tentative design principles towards an elaborated set of design principles. In this way, each prototyping cycle contributes to successive approximation of both of these outcomes strived for in design research projects. Nonetheless, in professional design practices, formative evaluation seems often to be neglected. In order to change this situation within the Netherlands Institute for Curriculum Development (SLO), a series of concerted actions were taken to motivate and professionalize curriculum developers in planning and performing formative evaluation activities. In the presentation we will briefly introduce the actions taken by SLO and will illustrate this with two design research projects: 'Project-based education in lower secondary education' and 'Scientific English in the curriculum for English in secondary education'. |
Towards sustainable curriculum innovations through design research studies: Two studies from Ghana
Jules Pieters and Joke Voogt are both interested in strategies that contribute to sustainable implementation of curriculum innovations through collaborative curriculum design in teacher design teams. They supervised two studies in Ghana in which teachers in teams jointly designed and enacted curriculum materials.
Two studies are presented in which the teacher-curriculum encounter is approached through teachers’ involvement in collaborative curriculum design in teams. Study 1 shows how polytechnic lecturers design an updated curriculum through industrial visits. Study 2 describes the development and up-scaling of a program aiming to prepare student-teachers to integrate ICT in their teaching practice. Both studies show how active involvement of (student-)teachers in analysis, design , evaluation and implementation results in curriculum ownership and teacher learning, and contributes to sustainable curriculum innovations. |