Changing Classroom Designs & Availability of Technologies:

Elizabeth S. Charles, Nathaniel Lasry & Chris Whittaker

prepared for RISQ Colloquium 2016

How we might disrupt teaching practices and improve students' learning

Challenges:

Instructional Technologies (IT) often do not make it into the classroom

Implementing IT requires infrastructure support ◦ what needs to change within the system?◦ how do we make these changes?

Our SALTISE research focus:

Supporting pedagogical change◦ Active learning instruction

◦ Designing for collaboration & learning

Designing disruptive technologies

Principles driving the research

Research-Practice Partnerships◦ (Penuel, et al., 2007)

Design-Based Implementation Research ◦ (Hoadley, 2004; Penuel et al., 2015)

Orchestration ◦ (Dillenbourg & Fischer, 2007)

Trajectory of design projects

Researchers + Practitioners observe

and work with Learning Community

Methods: Design-based Implementation Research

P+ AR

R

R = researchersP = practitionersA = decision makersC = Learning Community

Consideration of empirical and practical findings

(Re)defining goals

Consideration of constraints (piloting)

DBR

CYCLE

Cycle Level 2

R P P+A

R+P C+A

Cycle Level 1

Cycle Level 3+

R+P C+A

3 projects with cégep support

1. Active Learning Classrooms

2. GRASP ◦ Group Response & Ambient Student

Participation

3. DALITE◦ Distributed Active Learning Information

Technology Environment

What is Active Learning?

Based on constructivist & social constructivist theories of learning (student-centered instruction)

Engages students in higher order thinking activity (debate, problem solving, etc.)

Uses variety of modes of presentation/ representations (visualization, simulations, etc.)

It is evidence-based instruction

Project 1: Active Learning Classrooms (ALCs)

ALCs are physical spaces for active learning:

◦ Student collaboration [tables]

◦ Knowledge visualization [interactive whiteboards]

◦ Joint-problem spaces & sharing [boards & tables]

Dawson’s ALC – version 1.0

Dawson’s ALC – version 2.0

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• SMART Boards for student groups

• Table design facilitates flow

• Tables focus students toward SMART Boards

• Teacher at centre facilitates orchestration

• Teacher can interact with each table easily

Dawson ALC – version 2.1

Tables as tools for collaboration

(measurements in mm)

What do ALCs look like in action?

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Classroom Design

Impact of Classroom Design on Pedagogical Approach

active

traditional

Pedagogy(F value 28.808, p<0.001)

Classroom design(F=0.201, p=0.7)

Pedagogical Approach

Important finding from this research

Making ALCs work: Communities of Practice

Project 2: GRASP

Group Response & Ambient Student Participation (GRASP) system

Started with the model of “Lantern”Alavi & Dillenbourg, (2012)

GRASP app

• Co-designed with researcher-practitioner team

• Supported by: Colleges, ECQ-ALPIC grant, SSHRC-CCSIF grant

GRASP: Teacher Views

GRASP: Students’ Views

Project 3: DALITE

Distributed Active Learning Interactive Environment (DALITE)◦ web-based asynchronous Peer Instruction

Iterations: phases 1-2

Iterations: phases 3-4

DALITE phase 2 HarvardX

Acknowledgements

Financial Support:◦ Dawson College◦ Ministère de l'Éducation et de l'Enseignement supérieur ◦ PAREA, Grant # PA-2011-006

◦ Chantier 3, Grant Number: 1126

◦ Entente Canada-Québec (ECQ), ALPIC – SALTISE◦ NSERC – DALITE

Software Development:◦ Gordon Isnor (GRASPv1)

◦ Sameer Bhatnagar, Dawson (DALITE/EdX.v4)

◦ Koya Charles, Edu8 (DALITE v.2-3)

◦ Jim Slotta & Mike Tissenbaum, University of Toronto (OISE) (DALITE v.1)

◦ Chris Whittaker, Dawson (CLACC)