Explicit and Congruent: A Case Study of Factors Guiding the Design of an Online Environment

In this presentation we describe the way six design parameters guided our efforts to create FunWritr, an online literacy development and language acquisition application. Garrett (2009) outlines four interrelated components in the design of educational applications, namely: pedagogy, theory, technology, and context. To these, we add curriculum, and the development process. Yanchar and Gabbitas (2010) underscore the importance of being explicit in terms of design principles and Der-Thanq, Hung, and Wang (2007) highlight the centrality of congruence between design parameters. In this paper we describe our position on each of these parameters and the gestalt effect produced when explicitly aligned with each other.

This presentation was given at the 2013 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association

Speaker notes embedded in the PDF version of the presentation.

Transcript

1. Explicit and Congruent: A Case Study of Factors Guiding the Design of an Online Environment Justin Olmanson1, Chung-Kai Huang2, Rob Scordino3, Woonhee Sung4, Jaejin Lee3 Language Learning & Technology Research and Design Group University of Illinois Urbana Champaign1 | National Taipei College of Business2 University of Texas at Austin3 | Teacher’s College Columbia University4
2. Outline • Why Design Congruence Matters • A Self-Critical, Reflective Design Inquiry • The Design Elements • Our Positions on the Design Elements • FunWritr, an Instantiation • Findings Link to the full paper ->
3. Outline • Why Design Congruence Matters – Epistemological Resonance – Design Element Congruence “Collectively we worked to ensure ongoing reflective epistemological resonance among our design orientations (Voithofer & Foley, 2002)... It also gave us the chance to consider the educational design process from the perspective of holism and congruence (Der-Thanq, Hung, & Yu-Mei Wang, 2007).” P.1-2
4. Explicit Congruence among Design Elements Design Element Congruence (Der-Thanq, Hung, & Wang, 2007)
5. Explicit Congruence among Design Elements Epistemological Resonance (Voithofer & Foley, 2002)
6. Outline • Why Design Congruence Matters • A Self-Critical, Reflective Design Inquiry – Our methods for reflective inquiry “We employ a self-critical, reflective mode of design inquiry wherein we explicitly make connections among and between our stances on factors central to the creation of educational technologies (Yanchar & Gabbitas, 2010).” P.2
7. Explicit Congruence among Design Elements Reflection and Self-Critique (Yanchar & Gabbitas, 2011)
8. Distributed Biography (Deleuze & Guattari, 1983) Deleuzian Experiment in Writing, Experience & Identity Explicit Congruence among Design Elements
9. Explicit Congruence among Design Elements Reflection and Self-Critique Resonance Congruence Design Elements
10. Outline • Why Design Congruence Matters • A Self-Critical, Reflective Design Inquiry • The Design Elements “Garrett (2009) suggests four elements for consideration in the development of literacy and language acquisition applications. We bookended her list with two additional elements.” P.1
11. Typically: Standards-Driven (Tyler, 1949) Curriculum The Design Elements: Curriculum What it is: Educational Experience
12. (Jonassen, 2003) Learning Theories Expectations The Design Elements: Learning Theory Typically: Constructo-Behaviorism What it is: Explanation of How Learning Happens
13. Educational Context Physical Space Students Neighborhood Schedule District The Design Elements: Educational Context Typically: High-Stakes Spaces What it is: Site (Barab, Thomas, Dodge, Squire, and Newell, 2004)
14. (Kalantzis & Cope, 2005) Pedagogy The Design Elements: Pedagogy Typically: Teaching Centric What it is: Curriculum meets Learning Theory
15. Resource Procurement & Management The Design Elements: Development Typically: External Funding What it is: Realization
16. The Design Elements: Technology (Olmanson, Huang, Lee, Sung, & Scordino, in preparation) Typically: Automate / Expertise What it is: Role / Goal of Technology Hal iRobot Emerging Technologies
17. The Design Elements
18. Outline • Why Design Congruence Matters • The Design Elements • A Self-Critical, Reflective Design Inquiry • Our Positions on the Design Elements ‘we describe our position on each of these parameters and the gestalt effect produced when explicitly aligned with each other.’ P.1
19. Positionality: Curriculum (McClintock, 1971; Pinar, 2012, 2006; Plato, 1955; Roy, 2003) Reconceptualized Curriculum Self-directed, Reflective Study Meeting learners where they are, via multiple accessible entry points with a focus on intellectual qualities over outcomes.
20. Positionality: Learning Theory (Duckworth, 2006; Greeno, Collins, & Resnick, 1996; Jonassen, 2003, 1991) Constructivism Supporting Connection Making & Reflection Connections between experiences, processes, habits of mind, and understandings serve as a reservoir of resources to be used in the future.
21. Positionality: Educational Context (Olmanson, Kim, Sung, Huang, and Chen, 2010) Naturalistic Classroom Setting Low-Stakes Spaces Within a design ethnography research framework we conducted 80 hours of observations and data collection in an ESL 2nd grade classroom. We identified daily center time as a space congruent with our interest in supporting open-ended exploration and self-directed meaning making.
22. Positionality: Pedagogy (Coles & Hall, 2001; Higgins, 1995; Jewitt, 2006; Truscott, 1998) Expression, Exploration & Noticing Scaffolded, Multimodal, Open-Ended Interaction Anchoring linguistic and metalinguistic exploration to comprehensible, learner directed output.
23. Positionality: Technology (Higgins, 1995; Jewitt, 2006; Smith, 1994) Invisible Mashup Blurring the Lines between Reading & Writing Open-ended, multimodal, environments that leverage Natural Language Processing, APIs, and student understanding. Technology as scaffold and support, not expert.
24. Positionality: Development (Olmanson, Huang, Scordino, & Lee, 2013; Stober & Hansmann, 2009) Agile & Sustainable Democratized, Professionalizing Design & Development Our design process emphasized inclusion, communication, consensus, and participation.
25. Positionality: Development Agile & Sustainable
26. The Design Elements Study Constructivism Sustainable & Agile AI, NLP, & APIs Low Stakes Spaces Expression & Exploration
27. Outline • Why Design Congruence Matters • The Design Elements • A Self-Critical, Reflective Design Inquiry • Our Positions on the Design Elements • FunWritr, an Instantiation
28. Natural Language Toolkit Technologies Used AI Engines & APIs Web Designers Learning Technologists Programmers Language Experts Instructional Designers CALL Project Team Roles Pilot Testing / Class Observation
29. connection making2 classroom observation3 Language Expert Web Designer Learning Technologist Programmer Instructional Designer Natural Language Toolkit modification through APIs5 iterative design6 research and design meetings6 open-ended inquiry1 student-directed1,2 multi-modal4 expanding meanings of text4 exploratory levels4 technology as scaffold5
30. Composition Interface
31. Disambiguation Interface
32. Word Exploration Interface
33. Application Demo
34. Outline • Why Design Congruence Matters • The Design Elements • A Self-Critical, Reflective Design Inquiry • Our Positions on the Design Elements • FunWritr, an Instantiation • Findings: Design Factor Congruence “multiple design factors can explicitly and congruently co- influence the creation of an educational application” P.7
35. The Value of Being Explicit • The importance of curriculum – When aligned with a congruent approach to curriculum within a low-stakes context, constructivistic designs take flight • Design methodologies that get beyond monolithic conceptions of context – Design Ethnography as a way to understand the contours of classroom contexts • The potential of emerging technologies when not constrained by curriculum, pedagogy-as usual
36. Select References Der-Thanq, C., Hung, D., & Yu-Mei Wang. (2007). Educational design as a quest for congruence: The need for alternative learning design tools. British Journal of Educational Technology, 38(5), 876–884. Garrett, N. (2009). Computer-Assisted Language Learning Trends and Issues Revisited: Integrating Innovation. Modern Language Journal, 93, 719–740. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.2009.00969.x. Voithofer, R., & Foley, A. (2002). Post-IT: putting postmodern perspectives to use in instructional technology—a response to Solomon’s “Toward a post-modern agenda in instructional technology.” Educational Technology Research & Development, 50(1), 5–14. Yanchar, S. C., & Gabbitas, B. W. (2010). Between eclecticism and orthodoxy in instructional design. Educational Technology Research and Development, 59, 383–398. doi:10.1007/s11423-010-9180-3
37. Acknowledgements The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305B110008 to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education. And Thank You to the Computer and Internet Applications in Education SIG!
38. Explicit and Congruent: A Case Study of Factors Guiding the Design of an Online Environment Justin Olmanson1, Chung-Kai Huang2, Rob Scordino3, Woonhee Sung4, Jaejin Lee3 Language Learning & Technology Research and Design Group University of Illinois Urbana Champaign1 | National Taipei College of Business2 University of Texas at Austin3 | Teacher’s College Columbia University4 olmansju@gmail.com