It’s About Time: 4th International Workshop on Temporal Analyses of Learning Data

Interest in analyses that probe the temporal aspects of learning continues to grow. The study of common and consequential sequences of events (such as learners accessing resources, interacting with other learners and engaging in self-regulatory activities) and how these are associated with learning outcomes, as well as the ways in which knowledge and skills grow or evolve over time are both core areas of interest. Learning analytics datasets are replete with fine-grained temporal data: click streams; chat logs; document edit histories (e.g. wikis, etherpads); motion tracking (e.g. eye-tracking, Microsoft Kinect), and so on. However, the emerging area of temporal analysis presents both technical and theoretical challenges in appropriating suitable techniques and interpreting results in the context of learning. The learning analytics community offers a productive focal ground for exploring and furthering efforts to address these challenges as it is already positioned in the “‘middle space’ where learning and analytic concerns meet” (Suthers & Verbert, 2013, p 1). This workshop, the fourth in a series on temporal analysis of learning, provides a focal point for analytics researchers to consider issues around and approaches to temporality in learning analytics

A Multidimensional Framework of Collaborative Groups’ Disciplinary Engagement

Abstract This research is aimed at developing novel theory to advance innovative methods for examining how collaborative groups progress toward productively engaging during classroom activity that integrates disciplinary practices. This work draws on a situative perspective, along with prior framings of individual engagement, to conceptualize engagement as a shared and multidimensional phenomenon. A multidimensional conceptualization affords the study of distinct engagement dimensions, as well as the interrelationships of engagement dimensions that together are productive. Development and exploration of an observational rubric evaluating collaborative group disciplinary engagement (GDE) is presented, leveraging the benefits of observational methods with a rubric specifying quality ratings, enabling the potential for analyses of larger samples more efficiently than prior approaches, but with similar ability to richly characterize the shared and multidimensional nature of group engagement. Mixed-methods analyses, including case illustrations and profile analysis, showcase the synergistic interrelations among engagement dimensions constituting GDE. The rubric effectively captured engagement features that could be identified via intensive video analysis, while affording the evaluation of broader claims about group engagement patterns. Application of the rubric across curricular contexts, and within and between lessons across a curricular unit, will enable comparative studies that can inform theory about collaborative engagement, as well as instructional design and practice

Penuel, William R., Barry J. Fishman, Britte Haugan Cheng, and Nora Sabelli, Organizing Research and Development at the Intersection of Learning, Implementation, and Design, Educational Researcher, 40(October, 2011), 331-337.

Describes four elements of design-based implementation research; identifies challenges to successful research of this kind; sets steps that research communities focused on this kind of research need to undertake

Mapping Enabling Conditions for High-Quality PBL: A Collaboratory Approach

This paper explores enabling conditions for scaling high-quality project-based learning (PBL) to understand factors that influence how PBL spreads, whether and how it can be sustained and the extent to which it informs meaningful change in schools. We report on a year-long collaboration across three research projects. Each project team analyzed qualitative data from their individual project and then aggregated data across projects to understand similarities and variations in conditions that support the long-term implementation goals of PBL. We used systems mapping as a methodological tool and a case study approach to test and refine the map. We focus on two enabling conditions for PBL that emerged across all contexts: teacher agency and productive disciplinary engagement (PDE). Teachers reported having agency and described making instructional decisions and adapting PBL to support students’ needs. PDE motivated teachers to deepen PBL practices. While the studied collaboratory is not the first to pursue shared goals, to our knowledge it is the first to produce research that aggregates knowledge and data across projects. While scaling innovations in schools is complex, the results suggest that certain conditions enable PBL to be implemented with greater depth and can be generalized across contexts. We discuss the implications of this approach for researchers, stakeholders, and practitioners

Mapping the Complexities and Benefits of Research-Design Partnerships

Increasingly our field is recognizing the necessity of close, collaborative relationships with educators, policy makers, students and other potential stakeholders if our design and research work is to have a lasting and more equitable impact on education. However, this work is not easy or quick, and we lack both detailed examples of how it is done and training for new (and current) scholars in how to do it. This symposium brings together a group of scholars who actively engage in RPPs and DBIR in order to highlight the lessons that have been learned and extend our discourse into the realities of this work, how to prepare students and current scholars to design their work with partners at the center, and how to accurately plan for work that engages stakeholders