Browsing by Author "Roschelle, Jeremy"
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Item AI and the Future of Learning: Expert Panel Report(Digital Promise, 2020-11) Roschelle, Jeremy; Lester, James; Fusco, JudiThis report is based on the discussion that emerged from a convening of a panel of 22 experts in artificial intelligence (AI) and in learning. It introduces three layers that can frame the meaning of AI for educators. First, AI can be seen as “computational intelligence” and capability can be brought to bear on educational challenges as an additional resource to an educator’s abilities and strengths. Second, AI brings specific, exciting new capabilities to computing, including sensing, recognizing patterns, representing knowledge, making and acting on plans, and supporting naturalistic interactions with people. Third, AI can be used as a toolkit to enable us to imagine, study, and discuss futures for learning that don’t exist today. Experts voiced the opinion that the most impactful uses of AI in education have not yet been invented. The report enumerates important strengths and weaknesses of AI, as well as the respective opportunities and barriers to applying AI to learning. Through discussions among experts about these layers, we observed new design concepts for using AI in learning. The panel also made seven recommendations for future research priorities.Item Commentary on Interest-Driven Creator theory: a US perspective on fostering interest, creativity, and habit in school(Springer Open, 2019-10-25) Roschelle, Jeremy; Burke, QuinnIn this commentary on Interest-Driven Creator (IDC) theory, the authors reflect on the proposed three-step cycles of (i) sparking students’ interest, (ii) fostering individual creativity, and (iii) inculcating lifelong learning habits. Each component of IDC theory pulls together a wide span of prior research and emphasizes active roles for students. Although the context of IDC as a prototype for educational reform is K- 12 Asian classrooms, we note that some US schools are also mired in a focus on test scores. This is especially true among the US most struggling, low-income schools, where a lack of electives and afterschool programs correspond to diminished student perceptions about their own autonomy as learners and their future creative potential. Thus, while IDC is an important provocation for curricular reform in Asia, there is also the need to broaden its scope and begin to explore the potential of IDC as a leadership tool beyond Asia. The wider learning sciences community, the commentary concludes, is uniquely suited to support such an extension, and there are many opportunities for productive international collaboration.Item Computational Thinking for a Computational World(2017) Angevine, Colin; Cator, Karen; Roschelle, Jeremy; Thomas, Susan A.; Waite, Chelsea; Weisgrau, JoshComputers, smartphones, smart systems, and other technologies are woven into nearly every aspect of our daily lives. As computational technology advances, it is imperative that we educate young people and working adults to thrive in a computational world. In this context, the essential question for American education is: In a computational world, what is important to know and know how to do? This paper argues that computational thinking is both central to computer science and widely applicable throughout education and the workforce. It is a skillset for solving complex problems, a way to learn topics in any discipline, and a necessity for fully participating in a computational world. The paper concludes with recommendations for integrating computational thinking across K-12 curriculum.Item Cyberlearning Community Report: The State of Cyberlearning and the Future of Learning with Technology(SRI International, 2017) Roschelle, Jeremy; Martin, Wendy; Ahn, June; Schank, PatriciaCyberlearning researchers envision and investigate the future of learning with technology. In an earlier generation of research, the theoretical focus was on students’ reasoning, the standard technology was a laptop or desktop computer, and the typical setting was a conventional classroom. Such research remains tremendously important. However, emerging frontiers in the learning sciences now call on cyberlearning research to develop new theories, investigate developing technological capabilities, and consider diverse education settings. This report, organized by CIRCL and co-authored by 22 members of the U.S. cyberlearning community, describes six design themes emerging across multiple NSF-funded cyberlearning projects.Item An Efficacy Study of a Digital Core Curriculum for Grade 5 Mathematics(AERA Open, 2019-05) Roschelle, Jeremy; Shechtman, Nicole; Feng, Mingyu; Singleton, CorinneThe Math Curriculum Impact Study was a large-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) to test the efficacy of a digital core curriculum for Grade 5 mathematics. Reasoning Mind’s Grade 5 Common Core Curriculum was a comprehensive, adaptive, blended learning approach that schools in the treatment group implemented for an entire school year. Schools in the control group implemented their business-as-usual mathematics curriculum. The study was completed in 46 schools throughout West Virginia, resulting in achievement data from 1,919 students. It also included exploratory investigations of teacher practice and student engagement. The main experimental finding was a null result; achievement was similar in both experimental groups. The exploratory investigations help clarify interpretation of this result. As educational leaders throughout the United States adopt digital mathematics curricula and adaptive, blended approaches, our findings provide a relevant caution. However, our findings are not generalizable to all digital offerings, and there is a continuing need for refined theory, study of implementation, and rigorous experimentation to advise schools.Item Evaluation of an Online Tutoring Program in Elementary Mathematics(Digital Promise, April 2020) Roschelle, Jeremy; Cheng, Britte Haugan; Hodkowski, Nicola; Neisler, Julie; Haldar, LinaMany students struggle with mathematics in late elementary school, particularly on the topic of fractions. In a best evidence syntheses of research on increasing achievement in elementary school mathematics, Pelligrini et al. (2018) highlighted tutoring as a way to help students. Online tutoring is attractive because costs may be lower and logistics easier than with face-to-face tutoring. Cignition developed an approach that combines online 1:1 tutoring with a fractions game, called FogStone Isle. The game provides students with additional learning opportunities and provides tutors with information that they can use to plan tutoring sessions. A randomized controlled trial investigated the research question: Do students who participate in online tutoring and a related mathematical game learn more about fractions than students who only have access to the game? Participants were 144 students from four schools, all serving low-income students with low prior mathematics achievement. In the Treatment condition, students received 20-25 minute tutoring sessions twice per week for an average of 18 sessions and also played the FogStone Isle game. In the Control condition, students had access to the game, but did not play it often. Control students did not receive tutoring. Students were randomly assigned to condition after being matched on pre-test scores. The same diagnostic assessment was used as a pre-test and as a post-test. The planned analysis looked for differences in gain scores ( post-test minus pre-test scores) between conditions. We conducted a t-test on the aggregate gain scores, comparing conditions; the results were statistically significant (t = 4.0545, df = 132.66, p-value < .001). To determine an effect size, we treated each site as a study in a meta-analysis. Using gain scores, the effect size was g=+.66. A more sophisticated treatment of the pooled standard deviation resulted in a corrected effect size of g=.46 with a 95% confidence interval of [+.23,+.70]. Students who received online tutoring and played the related Fog Stone Isle game learned more; our research found the approach to be efficacious. The Pelligrini et al. (2018) meta-analysis of elementary math tutoring programs found g = .26 and was based largely on face-to-face tutoring studies. Thus, this study compares favorably to prior research on face-to-face mathematics tutoring with elementary students. Limitations are discussed; in particular, this is an initial study of an intervention under development. Effects could increase or decrease as development continues and the program scales. Although this study was planned long before the current pandemic, results are particularly timely now that many students are at home under shelter-in-place orders due to COVID-19. The approach taken here is feasible for students at home, with tutors supporting them from a distance. It is also feasible in many other situations where equity could be addressed directly by supporting students via online tutors.Item A Field-Driven, Equity-Centered Research Agenda for OpenSciEd: Updated Version(Digital Promise, 2022-03) McElhaney, Kevin; Baker, Anthony; Kasad, Zareen; Roschelle, Jeremy; Chillmon, CarlyIn order to catalyze the research community around OpenSciEd, Digital Promise, with support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, has developed the OpenSciEd Research Agenda. Early on, we determined that three broad relationships between OpenSciEd and a research community could be fruitful. OpenSciEd enabled research encompasses questions in science education and beyond that can be best answered using OpenSciEd. OpenSciEd inspired research aims to drive innovations based on OpenSciEd’s distinctive features and affordances. OpenSciEd partnership research would address questions of mutual interest to researchers and OpenSciEd developers. This paper details the processes utilized to frame the research agenda, recruit stakeholders and engage them in activities to generate research questions, and identify emergent themes for future OpenSciEd research.Item Generalizability of a Technology-Based Intervention to Enhance Conceptual Understanding in Mathematics(SRI International, 2018-11) Roschelle, Jeremy; Tipton, Elizabeth; Shechtman, Nicole; Vahey, PhilipThree previously reported experiments found that a technology-enhanced intervention increased student conceptual understanding of mathematics in Texas. To investigate generalizability to broader populations and settings, we triangulate among three methods. First, we examine interactions between demographic variables and intervention effects. We found that the intervention was not sensitive to typical variations in school populations. Second, we use propensity score methods to measure the match between the sample and a broader population. The sample matches the school population in Texas, with minor exceptions; we report adjusted effect sizes. Third, quasi-experimental research with populations outside of Texas are considered. Results from Florida and England were consistent with Texas findings. Across three methods, the results suggest that the experimental findings generalize across populations and settings. This work also establishes a practical approach to investigating generalizability in experimental research in schools.Item An Initial Logic Model to Guide OpenSciEd Research: Updated Version(Digital Promise, 2022-03) McElhaney, Kevin; Baker, Anthony; Chillmon, Carly; Kasad, Zareen; Liberman, Babe; Roschelle, JeremyThis white paper supports an ongoing effort to define a research agenda and catalyze a research community around the OpenSciEd curriculum materials. Rigorous research on these materials is needed in order to answer questions about the equitable design of instructional materials, impacts on student learning, effective and equitable classroom teaching practices, teacher professional development approaches, and models for school adoption that address the diverse needs of historically marginalized students in STEM. Research findings have the potential to advance the knowledge, skills, and practices that will promote key student, teacher, and system outcomes. The research agenda stands to accelerate the research timeline and stimulate a broad range of research projects addressing these critical needs. To support the collaborative development and activation of the research agenda, we outline an initial logic model for OpenSciEd. The logic model can shape research efforts by clarifying intended relationships among (1) the principles, commitments, and key affordances of OpenSciEd; (2) the components of OpenSciEd and how they are implemented and supported in classrooms, schools, districts, and states; and (3) the desired outcomes of OpenSciEd.Item Intelligence Augmentation for Collaborative Learning(Springer, 2021-07-27) Roschelle, JeremyToday’s classrooms can be remarkably different from those of yesteryear. In place of individual students responding to the teacher from neat rows of desks, today’s innovative schools have students working in groups on projects, with a teacher circulating among groups. AI applications in learning have been slow to catch up; most available technologies are described as personalizing or adapting instruction to needs of individual learners. Meanwhile, an established science of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning has come to prominence, with clear implications for how collaborative learning can be supported. In this contribution, I consider how intelligence augmentation could evolve to support collaborative learning. A focus on AI role in automating, adding to awareness, assisting and augmenting is suggested, extending the field’s prior tendency to focus on assessing, assigning and adapting.Item Navigating the Tensions: How Could Equity-relevant Research Also Be Agile, Open, and Scalable?(Digital Promise, 2022-08) Zacamy, Jenna; Roschelle, JeremyDigital learning platforms are beginning to become open to research. Specifically, in our work in SEERNet, developers are extending five platforms, each used in either K-12 or higher education by more than 100,000 users, to enable third-party researchers to explore, develop, and test improvements. SEERNet seeks to enable equity-relevant research aligned with the IES Standards for Excellence in Education Research (SEER) principles. It also seeks to support research that is more agile (or rapid), is more open, and scales from research to impacts on practice. We review the emerging tensions among the goal of equity-relevant research and desires for agile, open, and scalable research. We argue that designing and developing technical capabilities for agile, open, and scalable research will not be enough. Based on a series of interviews we conducted with experts in social sciences and equity-focused research, we argue that researchers will have to rethink how they plan and undertake their research. Five shifts could help. First, researchers could deliberately reframe their designs away from a comprehensive, monolithic study to smaller, agile cycles that test a smaller conjecture each time. Second, researchers could shift from designing new educational resources to determining how well-used resources could be elaborated and refined to address equity issues. Third, researchers could utilize variables that capture student experiences to investigate equity when they cannot obtain student demographic variables. Fourth, researchers could work in partnership with educators on equity problems that educators prioritize and want help in solving. Fifth, researchers could acknowledge that achieving equity is not only a technological or resource-design problem, but requires working at the classroom and systems levels too. In SEERNet, we look forward to working with the research community to find ways to address equity through research using well-used digital learning platforms, and to simultaneously conduct research that is more agile, more open, and more directly applicable at scale.Item Principal Leadership in a Virtual Environment(Digital Promise, 2021-11) Patz Stephenson, Stefani; Hardy, Angela; Seylar, John; Wayman, Jeff; Peters, Vanessa; Bellin, Melissa; Roschelle, JeremyThe sudden and unexpected shift to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic has brought new awareness of the need for school leaders who can ensure that high-quality, equitable education can take place virtually as well as in the classroom. How can school districts develop a large corps of such principals? Research on the topic is still emerging, and this report offers early considerations for decision-makers based on an examination of research literature, interviews with 11 principals and administrators knowledgeable about virtual learning, and Digital Promise’s experiences in the field. The authors say high-quality, equitable learning in a virtual environment—“powerful learning”—is enacted through three essentials: meaningful use of technology, inclusive access to it, and the efforts of principals who know how to lead for meaningful use and inclusive access. The report also poses questions for district leaders to answer if they want to develop such principals. Among the questions: “What does a principal need to know and be able to do in order to effectively lead in a virtual context?” In addition, the report discusses how cultivating adeptness at leadership for high-quality, equitable virtual learning might be made part of effective principal pipelines. These pipelines, which research has shown can result in effective school leaders, are “comprehensive” because their seven parts cover the span of principal talent-development actions, and “aligned” because these components reinforce one another. The authors look at each of the pipeline parts, known as domains, and provide considerations for possible district action for each one.Item Scaling Up Design of Inquiry Environments(Routledge, 2021-06) Roschelle, Jeremy; Mazziotti, Claudia; Means, BarbaraBringing inquiry learning environments to scale is an important issue for society, especially given the needs for stronger inquiry skills among future citizens, employees, and leaders. Scaling up is a complex challenge for any educational innovation, as new pressures emerge as innovations scale. This chapter argues that scaling is particularly challenging for ambitious inquiry learning innovations that often do not find a good fit with prevailing priorities in many of today’s classrooms and communities. Six examples of inquiry learning environments that achieved considerable scale and four additional long-term partnerships illustrate the potential for scaling inquiry learning environments and key requirements for achieving scale . The example projects planned for scaling from the earliest stages of their work. They invested in scaling up for a long period of time, and their approach evolved to incorporate insights gained through their experience in the field. Teams implementing these inquiry learning innovations reflected on which principles helped them reach scale and consolidated their understanding of their approach as a learning activity system; they addressed teacher learning needs; and they built partnerships to sustain support for their approach. The chapter reviews definitions of scaling up, causes of failure, strategies linked to success, and unresolved remaining challenges.Item A Summary and Synthesis of Initial OpenSciEd Research(Digital Promise, 2023-03) McElhaney, Kevin; Mills, Kelly; Kamdar, Danae; Baker, Anthony; Roschelle, Jeremy;This report summarizes and synthesizes OpenSciEd research published as of August 2022, addressing two questions about OpenSciEd: (1) To what extent do teachers enact OpenSciEd units with integrity to its distinctive principles? and (2) To what extent do OpenSciEd teacher tools and professional learning experiences support teachers to enact OpenSciEd with integrity? This review includes 16 publications (journal articles, peer-reviewed conference proceedings, conference papers, doctoral dissertations, and published reports). Five of the papers focus on the design of OpenSciEd materials and do not have an empirical focus, seven have an empirical focus on classroom enactment, and four have an empirical focus on teacher supports. All but one of the papers were co-authored by affiliates of the OpenSciEd middle school development consortium, and all but one focus on the middle school grade band.Item Transfer for Future Learning of Fractions within Cignition’s Microtutoring Approach(Digital Promise, April 2020) Roschelle, Jeremy; Cheng, Britte Haugan; Hodkowski, Nicola; Haldar, Lina; Neisler, JulieIn this exploratory research project, our team’s goal was to design and begin validation of a measurement approach that could provide indication of a student’s ability to transfer their mathematics understanding to future, more advanced mathematical topics. Assessing transfer of learning in mathematics and other topics is an enduring challenge. We sought to invent and validate an approach to transfer that would be relevant to improving Cignition’s product, would leverage Cignition’s use of online 1:1 tutoring, and would pioneer an approach that would contribute more broadly to assessment research.Item Transforming Teachers’ Knowledge for Teaching Mathematics with Technologies through Online Knowledge-Building Communities(University of South Carolina & Clemson University, 2018-11) Niess, Margaret L.; Roschelle, JeremyMathematics teacher educators are faced with designing teacher in-service professional development experiences for developing and transforming Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) towards integrating digital technologies as mathematics learning tools. Online environments provide opportunities to a broad range of teachers, yet, the asynchronous nature presents communication and collaboration challenges. A researcher-conjectured, empirically-supported learning trajectory guides this online TPACK program for engaging teachers in knowledge-building communities. Three online technology education courses provide teachers with experiences as students, learning about the technologies while confronting challenges to their thinking about teaching with the technologies. The fourth course provides the teachers with key experiences through blended instruction. Through online explorations and discourses in their communities, they examine reform-based instructional strategies for teaching with technologies. Concurrently, they design, implement, analyze and reflect on their teaching experiences through their designed five-day unit in their mathematics classrooms. Four TPACK components reveal how this experience in knowledge-building communities transforms their TPACK.Item Understanding and Supporting District Systems Change Around Computer Science Education(AERA Annual Conference Proceedings, 2021-04) Burke, Quinn; Roschelle, Jeremy; Ruiz, Pati; Weisgrau, JoshForty states have undertaken recent initiatives to expand access to computer science, including the development of comprehensive K-12 computing standards (Code.org, 2019). Yet while standards represent a necessary scaffold for states to support implementation, ultimately the challenge of a tailored computing agenda (Burke et al., 2020; Coburn, Hill, & Spillane, 2016) falls to the individual districts themselves. Given the wider history of inequitable K-12 computing opportunities (Margolis, Goode, & Ryoo, 2015), districts are faced with the challenges of (i) ensuring equitable student access to high-quality CS content, (ii) developing integrated systems for teacher development and instructional feedback, and (iii) articulating coherent curricular learning progressions across grade levels. The “State of the States Landscape” report (Stanton et al., 2017) reveals that although the majority of U.S. states have CS standards, districts must promptly tackle these challenges to foster genuinely equitable programs. This study examines the development of equitable pathways in three unique school districts: Iowa City Community School District (IA), a college-town district serving 14,000 students which is rapidly becoming more urban and diverse and seeks to increase participation among English language learner students; Indian Prairie School District (IL) a suburban district west of Chicago, serving 28,000 students and committed to improve achievement for students from low income families; Talladega County Schools (AL), a rural school district of 7,500 students in the central part of the state, with a focus on increasing participation among females. This three-year study investigates the why, what, and how of developing a comprehensive K-12 computing pathway. First, in terms of why, to what extent has each district been able to identify and articulate a unified vision for CS education? To what extent does this vision correspond to existing district resources, as well as adhere to their stated commitment(s) to educational equity? Second, in terms of what, how does a district’s vision for K-12 computing help define what qualifies as computing and where it is to be integrated into schools? What are the computing competencies (i.e., using algorithms, computational modeling) each district identifies and to what degree have teachers been able to understand and value these competencies? Third and last, in terms of how, what is the process that each district adopts to translate these designated competencies into actual classroom practice? And how do they measure success in terms of student work, teacher feedback, and wider community engagement? At the close of our second year of research, participating districts have already addressed the first two elements of why? and what? They continue to address the third element of how? as they ramp up pilot coursework in select schools over year three, a challenge now compounded by the nationwide pandemic. Through teacher and administrative interviews and surveys, as well as wider feedback from district-specific chamber of commerce/ technology committees, this presentation will identify and compare the various rationales for equity-driven computing pathways, examine to what degree they help leadership teams articulate a district-wide framework, and how such a framework took hold within classrooms.Item Using Research on Homework to Improve Remote and Hybrid Learning(Digital Promise, 2020-12) Roschelle, Jeremy; Hodkowski, Nicola M.Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many students are learning remotely or in a hybrid of remote and in-school learning. As a result, most teachers and students are in learning situations where more independent work is assigned to students. There is no research that directly speaks to this unprecedented situation. There is, however, a considerable body of established research to draw on about assigning independent work to students to do at home: research on homework. Further, technology to support homework is becoming more available and research supports its effectiveness. In this article, we review some of the major points of this established research and suggest how schools, teachers, and parents and guardians can apply this research and related technology now, during the pandemic.