Case Studies
Evolving Practices Over Time
Our work with formal and informal educators, administrators, and program designers revealed a need for more conversation. This resource is one of the tools we hope will aid in reflective decision-making grounded in recent research. While there are no answers and we believe that the right tools and practices look different across different learning environments, there are questions that can be asked that can facilitate more conversation to match goals and intentions with platforms and unique features.
This case study focuses the theme of online platform practices that evolve over time. The case narrative is based on observations and interviews with one educator over the course of three years. The goal is for educators to read this study as a group and think about the changes in their own tech practices. Reflection questions are also included to engage discussion and planning for educators in similar complex environments in the fluctuating landscape of technology-enriched education.
Citation
Sandherr, J., Martin, C.K., Nacu, D., Pinkard, N. (2016, June). Cyberlearning Compass: Navigating the waters of blended learning. Presentation at the International Society for Technology in Education conference, Denver, CO.
Using Data Visualizations to Empower Informal STEM Educators
Below is a sample of one of our multimedia cases that showcases our work co-designing data visualization dashboards with mentors in an informal, blended learning environment. This video was created as a resource for educator, researcher and designer audiences.
This is both a story about making data visualizations accessible and actionable for educators in a way that makes sense for their own unique goals and community, but also about the importance of collaborative design. Along with increasing expectations that educators use digital curriculum and online resources, are implications about how resulting learner-generated data should be utilized.
In this video we share educator data dashboards that pull live data from the online platform, displaying metrics to help mentors manage their blended-learning spaces and support their young STEM learners. Together, researchers, designers, and practitioners are determining which metrics are useful in this context, how information should be displayed in order to be most effective, and how mentors use the data to support individual girls in their STEM learning trajectories, and build community engagement and success across the cohort.