Digital Promise Reports and Publications
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Item 360 Filmmakers Challenge Key Findings from the Fall 2016 Program(2016) Riconscente, Michelle; Designs for LearningThe 360 Filmmakers Challenge engages young people to produce 360° films that make an impact. As part of the Oculus VR for Good initiative, the program aims to inspire the next generation of virtual reality (VR) creators and build student skills and confidence as producers with emerging technology. More broadly, the program takes aim at closing the Digital Learning Gap, recognizing that schools need more than just equitable access to technology — all students need opportunities to engage in active, creative uses of technology that support lifelong learning.Item A New Narrative: How Unlocking the Power of R&D Through Inclusive Innovation Can Transform Education(Digital Promise, 2024-01) Kimberly Smith; Viki YoungAcross the country, district-community teams are tackling pressing and complex educational challenges with Inclusive Innovation, an education R&D model that starts with centering the needs of those most impacted by these challenges. This paper shares the stories, solutions, outcomes, and learnings from years of deep collaboration in the words of students, parents, teachers, and district leaders who have worked together to tackle education challenges—and discusses how the Center for Inclusive Innovation, anchored in its core tenets, is building upon this work with the Inclusive Innovation 2.0 model.Item Accelerating Change: A Guide to the Adult Learning Ed-Tech Market(Digital Promise, 2017-02-01) Laxton, Amber; Berlin, Mike; Constantakis, PattiThis guide demystifies the adult learning landscape and addresses concerns of entrepreneurs and investors head-on.Item Accelerating Change: How Education Technology Developers Can Jump-Start a New Adult Education Market(Digital Promise, 2015) DeSchryver, David; Dlugoleski, DeirdreItem 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 Ambitious Mashups: Reflections on a Decade of Cyberlearning Research(Digital Promise, 2020-09) Center for Innovative Research in CyberlearningThis report reflects on progress from over eight years of research projects in the cyberlearning community. The community involved computer scientists and learning scientists who received NSF awards to investigate the design of more equitable learning experiences with emerging technology—focusing on developing the learning theories and technologies that are likely to become important within 5-10 years. In early 2020, the Center for Innovative Research in Cyberlearning's team analyzed the portfolio of past and current projects in this community, and convened a panel of experts to reflect on important trends and issues, including artificial intelligence and learning; learning theories; research methods; out-of-school-time learning; and trends at NSF and beyond.Item The Art and Science of Learning: How New Mexico School for the Arts Uses Research(Digital Promise, 2017) Liberman, Babe; Liberman, BabeItem Automated Essay Scoring in Middle School Writing: Understanding Key Predictors of Students’ Growth and Comparing Artificial Intelligence- and Teacher-Generated Scores and Feedback(Digital Promise, 2023-08) Hillary Greene Nolan; Mai Chou VangProviding feedback to students in a sustainable way represents a perennial challenge for secondary teachers of writing. Employing artificial intelligence (AI) tools to give students personalized and immediate feedback holds great promise. Project Topeka offered middle school teachers pre-curated teaching materials, foundational texts and videos, essay prompts, and a platform for students to submit and revise essay drafts with AI-generated scores and feedback. We analyze AI-generated writing scores of 3,233 7th- and 8th-grade students in school year 2021-22 and find that students’ growth over time generally was not explained by teachers’ (n=35) experience or self-reported instructional approaches. We also find that students’ growth increased significantly as their baseline score decreased (i.e., a student with the lowest possible baseline grew more than a student with a medium baseline). Lastly, based on an in-person convening of 16 Topeka teachers, we compared their scores and feedback to AI-generated scores and feedback on the same essays, finding that generally the AI tool was more generous, with differences likely driven by teachers’ ability to understand the whole essay’s success better than the AI tool.Item Breaking With the Past: Embracing Digital Transformation in Education(Digital Promise, 2023-04) Jean-Claude BrizardToday's businesses know that driving innovation is integral to succeeding not just in the present, but more importantly in the decades to come. Through the years, the innovation of digital technologies has transformed entire industries. Now it’s time to put those technologies to use and apply that same mentality to transform our schools. We need digital transformation of teaching and learning at scale across the United States. This report examines how the traditional one-size-fits-all approach to teaching and learning compares to more learner-centered, personalized frameworks; why we need to transition to them at scale; and how digital technologies can enable that scaling.Item Bridging the Digital Divide for Low-Income Students(Digital Promise, 2014-04-07) Digital PromisePart of a series of case studies produced by Digital Promise examining the work of members in our League of Innovative Schools. Click here for more info on the League.Item Broadening Participation in STEM College Majors: Effects of Attending a STEM-Focused High School(AERA Open, 2018-11) Means, Barbara; Wang, Haiwen; Wei, Xin; Iwatani, Emi; Peters, VanessaTo increase participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) studies and careers, some states have promoted inclusive STEM high schools. This study addressed the question of whether these high schools improve the odds that their graduates will pursue a STEM major in college. State higher education records were obtained for students surveyed as seniors in 23 inclusive STEM high schools and 19 comparison schools without a STEM focus. Propensity score weighting was used to ensure that students in the comparison school sample were very similar to those in the inclusive STEM school sample in terms of demographic characteristics and Grade 8 achievement. Students overall and from under-represented groups who had attended inclusive STEM high schools were significantly more likely to be in a STEM bachelor’s degree program two years after high school graduation. For students who entered two-year colleges, on the other hand, attending an inclusive STEM high school was not associated with entry into STEM majors.Item Centering Wellbeing: Advancing Social Emotional Learning for All(Digital Promise, 2023-04) Christina A. Russell, Policy Studies Associates, Inc.The Working Group on Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and Learning Differences was launched in 2021 as an initiative of the Global Cities Education Network (GCEN). Fourteen school districts each worked to implement a unique action plan designed to strengthen SEL supports in their district, including for students with learning differences. Districts drew on expertise and resources shared in the working group and adapted the strategies to meet their needs. The learning centered on deep dives into two international school systems: a virtual site visit to Surrey Schools (British Columbia, Canada) and an in-person convening in Melbourne (Victoria, Australia). This report features four case studies and shares lessons learned and strategies implemented by the districts.Item Certifying Competencies and Skills with Micro-credentials in a Global Context(Digital Promise, 2023-06) Rita Fennelly-Atkinson; April WilliamsonIn this session, we introduced our platform of competency-based micro-credentials for educators (https://microcredentials.digitalpromise.org/explore), as well as resources and best practices to support using micro-credentials to meet a variety of adult learner needs across K-12 education, higher education, and workforce contexts. We provided examples of how educational institutions can leverage micro-credentials to recognize and incentivize the implementation of quality pedagogical strategies in any learning environment. In addition, we shared an overview of Digital Promise's global education work, including a case study of how micro-credentials will be leveraged in our blended learning pilot in Haiti, and examined options for using, adapting, and developing micro-credentials in a variety of global contexts.Item Changing a Rural Community’s Expectations Through 24/7 Learning(2014-08-27) Digital PromisePart of a series of case studies produced by Digital Promise examining the work of members in our League of Innovative Schools. Click here for more info on the League. To stay up to date on future case studies, sign up for our email newsletter.Item Civic imagination’s role in K-8 computing education in Kentucky Appalachia(Digital Promise, 2023-10) Emi IwataniIn this invited presentation, Dr. Emi Iwatani shares ways in which a 6-year research practice partnership to promote computing education in Eastern Kentucky has been guided by core principles of civic imagination. The project has not just trained K-8 teachers in computational thinking lessons, but importantly has (1) helped teachers imagine a viable future for their region and their students, (2) supported building of roles and skills for educators that allow them to participate in that future, and (3) provided educators with a sense of agency or permission to help shape that future.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 and Artificial Intelligence: The Future of Teaching and Learning(Digital Promise, 2023-09) Pati RuizItem Computational Thinking Boosters: Algorithmic Thinking 3-8(Digital Promise, 2021-01) Tackett, Traci; Ruiz, Pati; Iwatani, EmiA 30-minute webinar, designed originally for third through eighth-grade teachers in KY Appalachia, introduces ideas for integrating computational thinking (and specifically the notion of algorithms) into lessons across different content areas.Item Computational Thinking Boosters: Algorithmic Thinking in K-2(Digital Promise, 2021-01) Tackett, Traci; Ruiz, Pati; Iwatani, EmiA 35-minute webinar, designed originally for kindergarten through second-grade teachers in KY Appalachia, introduces ideas for integrating computational thinking (and specifically the notion of algorithms) into lessons across different content areas.Item Computational Thinking Boosters: Data & Analysis in K-2(Digital Promise, 2020-11) Tackett, Traci; Ruiz, Pati; Iwatani, EmiA 20-minute webinar, designed originally for third through eighth-grade teachers in KY Appalachia, introduces ideas for integrating computational thinking (and specifically the notion of data and analysis) into lessons across different content areas.