#glidelab

On Wednesday, June 21 2017 I will be participating in a panel entitled ‘From Lab to School to Community: Applying Playful Learning Research’ This panel is part of a mini-conference on Playful Learning: Defining and Designing Playful Learning for Children, Families, and Communities. I will be representing the Games and Learning Interactive Digital Envrionments (GLIDE) Lab and sharing how our lab addresses the following questions. I will try to share my responses on these questions and my insights from the conference by modifying this post after June 21. 

1.     Why is it important that our school and community work be based on research from “the lab” (the lab could be in the literal sense or a metaphor for rigorous community or school based research)?

2.     What are common challenges when trying to conduct these types of studies in real-world settings?

3.     How do you decide what outcomes you want from playful learning research/interventions and what outcomes are “good enough” to justify the time and money required to make them happen?

4.     Compare and contrast work you have done in schools vs. in a community setting. What are the pros and cons of each in terms of potential impact and feasibility of implementation?

5.     How strong does the basic science evidence from “the lab” have to be before you introduce an intervention into the school/community setting?

6.     What part do the schools and communities themselves play in your research? Co-developers? Co-implementers? Co-Evaluators? How have these roles gone well or presented struggles in your experience?

7.     Have you ever had an idea that you were sure was going to work and seemed amazing but then did not work out as you expected? What happened?

8.     Alternatively, have you ever had an idea that you were not so excited about that far exceeded your expectations? What happened there?

9.     What is your ultimate dream for your work (assuming unlimited time and funding)? What impact do you think that would have on children?

10.  If you could collaborate with someone from any discipline (outside of your own) what would it be and how would that collaboration add to your research and allow you to answer new questions?    

Aroutis, Amanda and I are at the annual meeting of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE) in Austin, TX.

Today, we are presenting our work on game-based learning from 2010-2017 in the symposium titled the Development of the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). I organized this symposium based on a conversation some of us had at AERA 2016. This conversation involved Aaron Kessler from Concordia University Chicago, Joshua Rosenberg from Michigan State University, Michael Phillips from Monash University- Australia, Aroutis and myself. It focused on how we have pushed the boundaries of TPACK and repurposed it in one way or the other. For instance, using TPACK as an analytical lens, understanding how context determines how TPACK is enacted, using TPACK in combination with other frameworks and so on. 

The symposium includes five empirical presentations that feature investigations undertaken to argue for and demonstrate practical applications of enhancing pre-service and in-service teachers’ knowledge of technology integration. The development of teachers’ Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework is demonstrated through a variety of methodological approaches (e.g. ethnography), in varied contexts (e.g. online learning), and applied in varied applications of teaching and learning with technology (e.g. game-based learning).  This spectrum of TPACK applications showcase what teachers’ knowledge of technology looks like in action, how it can be nurtured for novice and veteran teachers, and the impact context or the setting can have on their knowledge and skills as teachers who facilitate learning with technology.

Amanda, Aroutis and I are presenting the following:

1. The Process and Outcomes of Developing and Assessing Pre-Service and In-Service Teachers’ Knowledge of Game-Based Learning

2. Teachers’ development of technological, pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) around games for learning using an online forum

Later in the day, we are also presenting a poster that showcases Keys to the Collection, a mobile augmented reality game developed for Barnes Foundation. 

We hope you can join us at the symposium and at the poster presentation! 

The GLIDE lab is at SITE 2017. Amanda, Aroutis, and I are having a great time with our academic friends and family. We saw some graffiti at the HOPE outdoor gallery. We ate great food at Torchy’s Tacos and Counter Culture. We heard some great Jazz music in a basement at Elephant Room. We are looking forward to the Michigan State University-Iowa State University joint social going to be held tomorrow (March 7) at Pelon’s Tex-Mex! 

Aroutis, Amanda and I are at the annual meeting of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE) in Austin, TX. 

Today, we are joining a group of early-career, mid-career and senior faculty to present in the symposium titled The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) Framework: Lineages of the First Ten Years of Research. The symposium is organized by Aaron Kessler (Concordia University Chicago, USA) and Michael Phillips (Monash University, Australia). Quoting them, 

“The purpose of this symposium is to provide the TPACK community with a snapshot of the first ten years of the TPACK framework with the hope that this comprehensive review will provide the researchers with an opportunity to reflect on the development of these lines of research over the past decade. This is important as it provides researchers with a chance to ‘draw breath’ before diving headlong into new work while also providing the chance to systematically face our theoretical, methodological, epistemological and ontological assumptions about each of these lineages. Finally, this symposium provides a map for thinking about the various lineages of TPACK research while also providing an in-depth review of each of those lineages. “

Aroutis and my presentation is titled Disrupting the The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) Framework for Game-Based Learning. The abstract for our presentation is as follows-

As is evident, new ideas and methods have birthed from TPACK to further the advancement of the science of its multifaceted use as an educational technology framework. In the final presentation of this symposium, we discuss a line of scholarship that is rooted in TPACK but takes the framework beyond its traditional boundaries. We explicate chronologically the theoretical and practical advancements that emerged from co-opting TPACK to serve as an analytical lens for games and game-based learning. We discuss how TPACK can allow designers, researchers, teachers, and teacher educators interested in game-based learning to:

1.     Approach games as a curriculum (Foster, Mishra & Koehler, 2011; Foster, 2012)

2.     Create assessments and support player styles (Foster, 2011)

3.     Create and teach game-based learning courses in an after-school and K-12 setting and providing alternative ways to facilitate student learning and motivation in varied academic domains (Foster & Shah, 2015; Shah & Foster, 2014)

4.     Develop and assess in-service and pre-service teachers’ knowledge of game-based learning in K-12 and university settings (Foster, Shah & Duvall, 2015; Shah & Foster, 2015a)

5.     Analyze existing games and designing inter-disciplinary and play-based learning environments for use in formal and informal educational settings (Foster & Katz-Buonincontro, 2013)

Dr. Aroutis Foster and I are presenting at Drexel University’s Online Learning Council’s second Town Hall meeting on Thursday, March 2, 2017 from 9:30-11:00am. 

This invited presentation will showcase the research and practice activities undertaken at Drexel University's Games and Learning in Interactive Digital Environments (GLIDE) lab. The lab aims to explore the learning process, motivation to learn, and identity change in students using immersive digital technologies to impact formal and informal learning.

You can find more information about the event here. You can find information about the GLIDE lab here.