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

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

• Roy Pea
• SRI International
• Center for Technology in Learning

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Technology as powerful catalyst for...

• Reform of curriculum and pedagogy toward higher
  standards
• Transforming teacher professional development
• New levels of learner engagement and understanding

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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

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What is SRI International?

• An independent, non-profit research institute
  with the missionto promote and foster the
  application of science in the development of
  commerce, trade and industry for the prosperity
  of mankind
• One of the worlds largest research, technology
  development, and consulting firms
• Focus on engineering, computer science, physical
  and life sciences, and education and health

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 of ideas, experiences,
  expertise
• one-stop shopping for multiple 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...

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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

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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....
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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

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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.
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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 environments must 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

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Research Design Embedded in Practice TAPPED IN
RD 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

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Practice Informing Research Tenants as
Community Resources
Resourcea 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 Colleges Math Forum (NSF)
• New Haven Unified School District (SSPP and BTSA)
• Geological Society of America ESSTEP Project
  (NSF)
• EDs Oasis Website (ATT 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_at_tappedin.sri.com mailing list
• Office hours, guest speakers...

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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 initiatorsa 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-quality documents,
  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)

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Big Picture Lessons (being) Learned

• Professional Society Membership Model
• A societys resources are its members and its
  knowledge-base
• Local Coalitions but a Global Network
• Professional Practice Stakeholder Model
• Desegregate TPD from other school reform
  stakeholdersLibrarians, 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

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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

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TAPPED IN Needs re SPA?

• Opportunities to develop new tenant suites with
  your organization or company (e.g. TAPPED
  IN_at_3COM)
• Partnership and investment opportunities with
  commercialization planning
• http//www.tappedin.sri.com
• Contacts
• roypea_at_unix.sri.com
• schlager_at_unix.sri.com

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ESCOT Educational Software Components of
Tomorrow

• ESCOTS 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

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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 (Geometers Sketchpad)
• University of Colorado, Boulder (AgentSheets)
• Swarthmore College (MathForum)
• The Show Me Center, University of
  Missouri-Columbia

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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

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Why is the educational software business so
problematic?

• Buggy economic model
• Produce stand-alone application islands
• Big project teams
• Distribution controlled by a few companies
• Works for business software, but not low-profit
  education

• Promising economic model
• Component-based technologies
• Incentives for small developers, authors
• Web-based, open distribution
• Need to encourage cooperation among more casual
  authors!

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Its 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

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Example 1Educational 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!

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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)

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Example 2 ESCOT

• A distributed network of teachers, researchers
  developers creating link-able representational
  tools for real middle school math curricula

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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 reformbut
  creating conditions that support re-use and
  interoperability)

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Collect Powerful Components
Geometers Sketchpad
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Database Links 5 New Middle School Math Curricula
to Technology
Work with Show Me Center at U-Missouri, Columbia
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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)

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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

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ESCOT Contacts

• Jeremy Roschelle
• Roschelle_at_acm.org
• Roy Pea
• Roypea_at_unix.sri.com

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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 processgtRapid prototyping and
  iterative design with broadband dialogs with
  users

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Knowing what we dont 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