Projects

Knowledge Management and Online Learning Communities. Our CILTKN portal for learning scientists supported over 10,000 users, and allowed rapid dissemination of scientific and practical information about the learning technologies research and development field. The system made use of VLTIs (Very Low Threshold Interfaces) and permitted study of incentives and systems for user-contributed, user-maintained repositories of scholarly information.

Building and Measuring Social Capital. In partnership with sociologists, evaluators, policy researchers, and K-12 schools, we are identifying ways to measure community among teachers and principals, and support people in finding and disseminating expertise by better understanding their own social networks.

Collaboratories and Research Accelerators. Through field studies and supportive technologies, we are building and studying an “educational accelerator” that allows researchers, teachers, technologists, and scientists to collaborate on the design of learning environments for K-12 science education.

Socially-Relevant Representations in Interfaces for Learning. How do people interpret the social context of online environments? In this series of experiments, we are examining how different representations of social cues in interfaces can support learning, and indvidual differences among people in terms of how “socially” they view online experiences.

Design-based Research and Design Studies. Previously, our group helped found the tradition of design-based research, or empirical research on human systems through deliberate design and study of use-in-context. Currently, we are doing a comparative analysis of design knowledge in a variety of disciplines (architecture, engineering, interface design, product design, and instructional design), with the aim of improving design of technologies for learning and collaboration.

Culturally sensitive technology. We have begun work on a project to use culturally-sensitive and context-appropriate technologies to empower children in remote Himalayan villages to communicate across nations and work to understand problems of ecological sustainability through environmental education. Research goals include studying educational uses of ICT in developing nations, understanding the relationship between indigenous and exogenous knowledge in learning, and designing to support cross-cultural communication.

Teaching Design. In a nationally recognized experimental design studio, we are both developing innovative ways to teach educational technology design and to study design education. Teams of undergraduates and graduate students from multiple colleges of the university work together on educational software design projects. Current research focuses on the effectiveness of the CPC design framework and ontologies of design knowledge.