Digital Promise Resource Repository
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Exponential Change Brings Exponential Choice: Navigating Life, Learning, and Career
(Digital Promise, 2025-03) Christina Luke Luna; Josh Weisgrau
Success in life and career is often viewed through a narrow lens, but what if we reimagined the pathways that lead there? This work explores a new vision for navigating education and career transitions, emphasizing adaptability, learner agency, and competency-based approaches. Through personal stories and key insights, we examine how K-12 and higher education institutions must evolve to support more flexible, individualized learning experiences. By recognizing the connections between skills, identity, and career growth, we can better equip learners for the complexities of the modern world.
Interview Protocol for Voices of Undergraduate Students Taking Introductory Statistics Courses
(Digital Promise, 2025-02) Achieving the Dream
This document outlines the interview protocol for Achieving the Dream’s (ATD) 2023-24 study, which explored the experiences of 50 undergraduate students enrolled in introductory statistics courses using Lumen One courseware. ATD conducted the interviews virtually via Zoom. Each session began with a student-guided tour of the Lumen One platform, during which students were asked to think aloud as they demonstrated their typical interactions with the courseware. Following this, students responded to a series of open-ended questions designed to examine their experiences in the course. The interview questions focused on students' reasons for enrolling, initial perceptions of statistics, and levels of motivation and confidence.
Voices of Undergraduate Students Taking Introductory Statistics Courses
(Digital Promise, 2025-02) Digital Promise; Achieving the Dream
This report presents findings from a 2023-24 study by Achieving the Dream (ATD), examining the experiences of 50 undergraduate students in introductory statistics courses using Lumen One courseware. The study highlights the effectiveness of courseware features providing formative practice with feedback. It also explores how instructor involvement and course modality influence student engagement and sense of belonging, particularly among students of color. About half of the students indicated that their instructors assisted them in connecting the courseware’s content to their understanding through frequent communication, responsiveness, and a strong presence. While students appreciated the courseware’s real-world examples and low-stakes assessments, few reported using an embedded peer community feature, and some desired more detailed feedback. Recommendations emphasize the importance of improving feedback mechanisms and increasing instructor engagement to better support student success.
Expected and Emerging Requirements for Digital Learning Platforms as Research Infrastructure
(SEERNet, Digital Promise, 2025-01) Roschelle, Jeremy; Wortman, Amanda; Pautz Stephenson, Stefani
Digital learning platforms (DLPs) can transform educational research by serving as infrastructure that bridges the gap between practice and research. This white paper examines the progress of DLPs in SEERNet, a multi-year initiative funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), which aims to advance research infrastructure. Through coordinated efforts among platform developers, researchers, and practitioners, SEERNet members have addressed both expected and emerging challenges. The paper seeks to support others who are seeking to share platform data with researchers by clarifying the range of requirements. Some requirements were expected; others were emergent. Expected requirements, such as enhancing platform data capabilities, enabling experimental research designs, and protecting data privacy, have focused on technical improvements to support scalable and rigorous research. Emerging needs included the creation of standardized workflows, development of researcher outreach strategies, and establishment of templates for institutional review board (IRB) approvals and data-sharing agreements. In addition, fostering a peer review community attuned to the unique affordances and constraints of DLP-based research has emerged as a shared priority. This working paper reflects on lessons learned from SEERNet’s efforts, highlighting innovations in data documentation, experimental workflows, and collaborative relationship building.
Connecting SEERNet and Improvement Science to Pursue Better Outcomes in Schools
(SEERNet, Digital Promise, 2024-11) Jojo Manai; Jeremy Roschelle
In every school, dedicated teachers strive to support their students' unique learning journeys. Imagine a classroom where potential challenges are quickly identified and met with precise interventions. Imagine a school or school district where the many potential ways to solve problems can be quickly tested, and the best solutions rapidly scaled up across the district. We explore how this vision can become a reality through the integration of Improvement Science with SEERNet's data and research capabilities. Improvement Science offers a structured approach to identifying and solving problems. SEERNet—a network of digital learning platforms, researchers, and educators—provides a method to use evidence to compare alternative approaches to supporting students on the basis of detailed data from students’ experiences in digital learning platforms. However, this vision cannot be realized in isolation. Collaboration between researchers and practitioners is vital for improving student outcomes. Researchers contribute theoretical knowledge and empirical skills, while practitioners bring on-the-ground professional experience and knowledge about what works for their students. Working together, they can advance how educational technologies are used for student learning in ways that are research based, practical and relevant. This white paper explores how and why SEERNet could be combined with Improvement Science methodologies. We delve into the collaborative power of Networked Improvement Communities (NICs), a core method in Improvement Science. We then examine the dynamic interplay between SEERNet's approach and Improvement Science. A scenario illustrates how a school district could use Terracotta, a platform that enables research within a popular LMS, to address reading comprehension barriers in STEM subjects for English learners and students with disabilities. Researchers and teachers collaborate to test assignment modifications, such as adding text-to-speech tools and steps to clarify questions. Using iterative Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles, they refine these strategies based on data, resulting in improved outcomes. The paper concludes with five recommendations: fostering collaboration, enhancing data sharing, leveraging root cause analysis, implementing iterative improvements, and scaling successful interventions.