The NSF/IES Common Guidelines for Education Research and Development suggest that external feedback is appropriate for each of the different types of research described. What exactly does that mean? How does a project effectively engage an advisory board in the evaluation process? This session will provide suggestions for how the external feedback function can be undertaken by an advisory board with clearly defined roles and expectations that correspond to the type of research and the purpose of the feedback.
“Scaling up” involves adapting an innovation successful in some local setting to effective usage in a wide range of contexts. In contrast to experiences in other sectors of society, scaling up successful programs has proved very difficult in education. In this chapter, Chris Dede discusses the challenges in creating scalable and sustainable educational interventions.
This presentation by Sue Ellen McCann opened the "Building New Audiences with Technology" Diving Deeper session at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting in Washington, DC. It frames the discussion by asking how people learn about and choose to use new technologies, and then uses KQED's e-book strategy as an example.
In this article we examine educational assessment in the 21st century. Digital learning environments emphasize learning in action. In such environments, assessments need to focus on performance in context rather than on tests of abstracted and isolated skills and knowledge. Digital learning environments also provide the potential to assess performance in context, because digital tools make it possible to record rich streams of data about learning in progress. But what assessment methods will use this data to measure mastery of complex problem solving -- the kind of thinking in action that
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TEAM MEMBERS:
David Williamson ShafferDavid HatfieldGina Navoa SvarovskyPadraig NashAran NultyElizabeth BagleyKen FrankAndre RuppRobert Mislevy
Design-Based Research (DBR) has been a tool of the learning sciences since the early 1990s, used as a way to improve and study learning environments. Using an iterative process of design with the goal of refining theories of learning, researchers and educators now use DBR seek to identify how to make a learning environment work. They then draw theories from the research findings that can be shared with a larger community. In this way, knowledge of design principles accumulates within a community for the improvement of learning outcomes. With few exceptions, including some after-school clubs
This article examines how people learn by actively observing and "listening-in" on ongoing activities as they participate in shared endeavors. Keen observation and listening-in are especially valued and used in some cultural communities in which children are part of mature community activities. This intent participation also occurs in some settings (such as early language learning in the family) in communities that routinely segregate children from the full range of adult activities. However, in the past century some industrial societies have relied on a specialized form of instruction that
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Barbara RogoffRuth ParadiseRebeca Mejia ArauzMarciela Correra-ChavezCathy Angelillo
This report summarizes findings from an evaluation of the NSF-funded project: Two Eyes, 3D. Through collaborations with two museums, the project sought to develop and test learning outcomes for stereoscopic (3D) resources. More specifically, the external evaluation—conducted by Rockman Et Al—sought to determine the perceived value of using stereoscopic technology within museums and planetariums, uncover best practices for implementation of stereoscopic resources, and further explore best practices for research partnerships within museum settings.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
American Association of Variable Star ObservrsJennifer Borland
The concept of engagement across the learning sciences and in museums draws from research on visitor interests, motivations, and behaviors. Such involvement by museum visitors reveals institutional and field expectations about museum efficacy and demonstrated impact. However, engagement is a concept with different uses and interpretations across institutions and fields. If we are going to talk about visitor engagement in museums specifically, it is incumbent on museum educators to understand and address the values that are associated with this idea. What does engagement look like and sound
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Indiana UniversityChildren's Museum of IndianapolisElizabeth WoodBarbara Wolf
This paper discusses the results of a long-term memory study in which fifty visitors to Expo 67 (25 participants from British Columbia and 25 from Quebec) shared their recollections of their personal experience forty years after the event. The impetus for this study stems from a desire to understand the long-term impact of visitors' experience in informal, leisure-time contexts, and, particularly in large-scale exhibitions. This paper presents and discusses outcomes that elucidate the nature of personal memories of Expo 67 and in relation to the collective memory of cultural events/productions
Harvard Family Research Project's (HFRP) Issues and Opportunities in Out-of-School Time Evaluation briefs highlight current research and evaluation work in the out-of-school time field. These documents draw on HFRP's research work in out-of-school time to provide practitioners, funders, evaluators, and policymakers with information to help them in their work. Recognizing the critical role that staff play in promoting quality out-of-school time (OST) programs, in this brief we examine OST professional development efforts and offer a framework for their evaluation.
This essay examines the question of how museum professionals select research methods for summative exhibit evaluation. It explores the ways in which this question historically has been answered in the United States, and it argues that selecting appropriate research methods depends upon understanding the interrelationship between research theories, methods, and designs. It also characterizes this interconnection in relation to different kinds of evaluative questions. The main purpose of the paper is to help museum professionals select an approach to summative evaluation appropriate to specific