ICLS 2020 is pleased to offer a broad selection of professional development workshops that will be held online on Friday, June 19, and on the morning of Saturday, June 20.

*Workshop registration is closed as of Friday, June 5th at midnight.


Full Day Pre-Conference Workshops

Friday, June 19

Half Day Pre-Conference Workshops

Saturday, June 20

 


Full Day Pre-Conference Workshops


Improving science education through interdisciplinary collaborations between learning sciences and discipline-based education research: A workshop for new and established interdisciplinary researchers

Note: This full day workshop is now set to take place in two parts (approx. 4 hrs each) occurring on Friday, June 19 and Saturday, June 20 (at the same time as the half-day workshops - please do not register for both)

* We are anticipating the availability of funds to support attendance at this workshop for up to 24 attendees, pending funding from the National Science Foundation. If you are interested in being considered as a supported attendee, please contact Dr. Melanie Peffer at [email protected].

Authors: Melanie Peffer, Kristy Daniel, Anita Schuchardt

We invite ICLS attendees to take part in this full day, cross-cutting workshop that will work towards defining and discussing the role of interdisciplinary research involving Learning Sciences and Discipline-Based Educational Research. If you are interested in establishing collaborative partnerships to explore new perspectives on educational research in the sciences, this workshop is for you and is designed to help you build such connections across departments and institutions. While the topics we will discuss and examples we use all focus on biology, participants from other disciplines such as chemistry and physics, are also welcome to attend.

The workshop organizers all have research experience in conducting interdisciplinary studies and will lead activities to highlight strengths and challenges of interdisciplinary research. Participants will take part in a series of four activities over the course of one day that are focused on highlighting disciplinary differences, building strategies for interdisciplinary collaboration, an interactive showcase of existing successful interdisciplinary projects through a panel discussion with invited researchers, and opportunities to networking among attendees. To support the success of these activities, we ask that any interested attendee consider bringing a poster showcasing or advertising their research program to present during a mini poster session we will host in the afternoon portion of this workshop.

The goals for this workshop are to establish a shared, understood value of interdisciplinary research and scaffold steps to support researchers interested in such interdisciplinary pursuits. This session will help workshop attendees learn about other research interests to help participants find potential collaborators and inspire new research directions crossing disciplinary boundaries.


What’s power got to do with it?: Exploring participatory research in the learning sciences

Authors: Sarah Radke, Rishi Krishnamoorthy, Colin Hennessy Elliot, Jasmine Ma, Sarah Switzer

This full day workshop is geared towards participants who are interested in or have experience with participatory research methods. Join us in exploring different models of participatory research methods and the methodological commitments that undergird them. We will engage with a scholarly community, including learning scientists and youth, to explore the ways that participatory methods challenge traditional notions of research (data, validity, analysis etc.) rooted in colonial approaches to knowledge creation. As a group, we will collaboratively question: 1) what is the role of participatory methods in the Learning Sciences; 2) how do we practice participatory methods that value the knowledges of participants in critical and decolonial ways; and 3) how do the boundaries between research, practice, researcher, and participant emerge?

This workshop is structured as a co-constructive knowledge building activity that will engage participants in the key methodological questions and work that participatory research methods require. As a group of scholars in the Learning Sciences, we will learn with and from youth participant researchers and workshop tensions that arise in participatory research through cases from the organizers’ and participants’ research.The workshop consists of activities, case presentations, and discussions that lead to a collaborative outline of 1) the different forms of participatory methods that scholars bring to the Learning Sciences and the tensions they help produce in research activity, 2) the methodological commitments that participatory research methods have in common, 3) the role of researchers in the communities they research with and 4) a vision of the future contribution of this kind of research practice to the academic community and the communities we do research with.


Communicating design-based research: A workshop for creating and interpreting design arguments

Waitlist: https://forms.gle/G8nGwVpMiE9t9fVc9

Authors: Pryce Davis, Christina (Stina) Krist, Daniel Rees Lewis, Mike Tissenbaum, Freydis Vogel, Matthew Easterday

The main goal of this workshop is to improve how we compose and interpret design arguments from design-based research (DBR). Despite DBR’s increase in popularity, ongoing discussions in the field about rigor, and detailed articulations of how to go about doing DBR, there is still a lack of specification when it comes to communicating DBR. Therefore, this workshop will present and refine a framework for communicating and analyzing design arguments in a more standardized way that both producers and consumers of design research can use to make sense of the products of design research. We welcome both novice and experienced design researchers to participate in this interactive workshop to explore questions like:

  • What are design arguments and how do we construct them?
  • What are the key aspects of a DBR project that must be communicated?
  • What are the particular challenges to communicating DBR?
  • How do we write about DBR in the structure of traditional research reports?
  • How can we unpack design arguments already in the literature so they are useful to practice?

In the workshop, participants will discuss these and other questions while they work together to deconstruct design arguments found in a variety of sources, from seminal examples of DBR to public claims about commercial learning technologies, in order to understand the strengths and weaknesses of current DBR communication. They will have the opportunity to share their own in-progress work and to collaborate with other participants and the organizers to improve how they talk about their design. In this way, individual participants will develop skills as both producers and consumers of design research.

This workshop is intended for a broad swath of the LS community. As a NAPLeS sponsored event, we particularly invite students and teachers of LS programs to participate and gain tools for understanding one of the central methods of the field. Likewise, novice researchers will develop knowledge and skills about DBR broadly, but specific skills on deconstructing DBR reports and lessons for constructing their own future work. This workshop will also be valuable to more experienced researchers who have not yet integrated DBR into their research but wish to, and those who have, but are looking for methodologically consistent ways or reporting their work to the broader research community. Finally, those currently doing DBR research will find the workshop valuable in refining their skills in communicating their research and also contributing to standardizing DBR communication for the future.


Learning to facilitate and support the exploration of complex socioecological systems: A teaching and teacher learning workshop proposal

Authors: Megan Bang, Carrie Tzou, Priya Pugh, Charlene Nolan, Jordan D. Sherry-Wagner, Leah Bricker

Join us for a full-day workshop that explores the following question: How do teachers learn to support students’ socio-ecological sense-making and ethical deliberation and decision-making through the intersections of phenological field-based science practices and family and community knowledges and practices? This workshop stems from a National Science Foundation-funded project called Learning in Places. Using community-based design research, project partners seek to increase Kindergarten through third grade learners’ opportunities to engage in complex socio-ecological reasoning and decision-making through the use of field-based science learning in outdoor places (e.g., learning gardens, parks, neighborhoods), and in ways that are intentionally connected to classrooms and students’ families and communities. During this workshop, we will explore methodological innovations in professional development for supporting and studying teachers’ learning as they work to better support student learning. The goals of the workshop include:

  • Using project frameworks to analyze data of student and family thinking gathered from the use of instructional tools in elementary classrooms.
  • Engaging with select project frameworks that embody elements of the overall project, as well as classroom instructional tools that those frameworks support, and then co-designing those frameworks and tools.
  • Engaging with a research design for studying teacher learning at scale, as well as engaging with example associated data collection instruments and tools.

We are hopeful that this workshop will spark discussions about the possibilities and challenges (theoretically, conceptually, methodologically, and practically) related to supporting teacher learning at scale, learning specifically about complex socio-ecological systems, field-based science education, and nature-culture relations, and in ways that foreground power and historicity. What types of resources and other supports are needed to not only engage teachers in this learning, but to also see them begin to embody this learning in their pedagogical practices and decision-making to support student learning? We hope you will join us for explorations of data and tools, engaging theoretical, conceptual, and methodological terrain, and interesting and productive discussions.


Expanding the field: How the learning sciences might further computing education research

Authors: R. Benjamin Shapiro, Lauren Margulieux, Nathan Holbert, Kristin Searle, Mike Tissenbaum, Betsy DiSalvo

Learning Scientists have long studied how people learn computing, including how doing so can shape learning of other disciplines. Yet as the field of Computing Education Research (CER) has exploded over the past several years, valuable theories, methods, and practical approaches to doing educational research developed within the Learning Sciences are under-utilized in the CER conversation. Current CER publications focus on experience reports that emphasize design but do not attempt to contribute to theory or on empirical paper that emphasize cognition-focused psychological theories and individual-focused methods to build upon those theories separately from the social and cultural contexts of learning environments. As CER grows more towards bridging these design-focused and theory-focused groups, we believe that the Learning Sciences can offer models for doing so because the Learning Sciences formally organized under the same conditions. We invite participants from the LS and CER communities to join us in articulating an LS-inspired agenda to expand future CER. We will take stock of relevant theories and methods from LS, active problems within CER, and articulate a synthesis of the two that can guide future work that reintegrates LS and CER.

Attendees are required to prepare a position paper that proposes a particular direction for CER and/or identifies relevant empirical research, theory, and design principles drawn from LS. These position papers are expected to be brief (approximately 1000-2000 words) and narrow in their scope. Position paper may focus on topics such as design, learning and identity, scale, or teaching, or they may extend beyond these topics. The workshop team will review these position papers for thoughtful application of LS theory to core computing education questions and the identification of key learning constructs that have been under-utilized in the CER community. During the workshop, we will use these position papers as starting points for discussions to build upon. We intend for the outcome of the workshop to be a short series of position papers for a special issue to appear in a CER venue like ACM TOCE or Computer Science Education.

Submission information is available at https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRmKBrkC8uK6MNXPgYxr8TdsVT9sHxKADJBlk3L87f0GKsG_PbfblULK8KJDVvKRPY3JhqYOK6s-OQy/pub.


Half Day Pre-Conference Workshops


Interdisciplinary design and new educational technology for engaging learners in role-based simulations

Authors: Rebecca Quintana, Elisabeth Gerber

More info at https://sites.google.com/umich.edu/icls2020workshop/home

This half day workshop will engage participants in reviewing, designing, and reflecting on role-based simulations for learning. Our workshop will focus on the design of role-based simulations using ViewPoint, a web-based tool developed at the University of Michigan for engaging learners in role-based simulations. Prior to the workshop, participants will receive access to ViewPoint, including both facilitator and participant views of the tool.

In the week leading up to the workshop, participants will be invited to participate in an asynchronous, online simulation using ViewPoint, which will be designed and facilitated by the workshop organizers. The simulation will be based on an existing simulation of the college admissions process that has already been used in a classroom setting. This simulation design does not require any specialized knowledge by the participants. The simulation will allow participants to (a) experience first-hand the challenges and insights that derive from role-playing, (b) learn about a group decision-making process, (c) interact with the workshop organizers and other participants, (d) utilize the main features of the ViewPoint platform, and (e) ask questions throughout the process and in a subsequent debrief session at the workshop.

At the workshop, participants will examine and critique the design of three existing role-based simulations from various STEM and related fields. Participants will then reflect on their participation in the college admissions simulation that they completed asynchronously in the week leading up to the workshop, using ViewPoint. Then in small groups, participants will lay the groundwork for a new simulation design of a topic of their choosing and consider how aspects of their simulation design will allow learners to make progress towards learning goals. Finally, participants will reflect on how to structure debrief and reflection opportunities and on assessment design for simulations.

The workshop is designed to engage participants with any level of simulation experience, from novices to experts and anyone in between. Through this workshop, we hope to further our ongoing program of research, which seeks to understand how instructors and researchers engage in the complex practice of design, including how these design processes can be best supported and facilitated. We also seek to improve existing resources and guidelines that we can provide to future simulation designers. Following the workshop, organizers will send participants updated materials and resources that are informed by outcomes of the workshop, including access to a website that focuses on simulation design using ViewPoint.


Researching the ecologies of interdisciplinary learning

Authors: Lina Markauskaite, Hanni Muukkonen, Crina Damsa, Kate Thompson, Peter Reimann

The recent decade has brought a significant shift in curriculum focus from disciplinary learning to various interdisciplinary learning options. STEAM projects, innovation-focused courses and similar project-based programs have become widespread in schools and universities. However, research and design for interdisciplinary learning are challenging, fragmented and lags behind institutional decisions that change practice.

This workshop aims to create opportunities for the learning scientists interested in interdisciplinary learning to share their research questions and challenges, and expand their theoretical and methodological approaches. We expect that ideas discussed in this workshop will provide a foundation for developing a special journal issue that synthesizes current approaches and charts a future research agenda for studying interdisciplinary learning.

The workshop will cover and integrate conceptual, methodological and design aspects of interdisciplinary learning and will be structured to explore the ecology of the field at four broad levels:

  1. Institutional: What sorts of sociopolitical agendas and arrangements do underpin the current move towards interdisciplinary learning? How do values, expectations and roles of different stakeholders shape it? What enables and what hinders successful practices? What sorts of theories and methodologies could be used to study these practices? Etc.
  2. Curriculum: What is distinct to interdisciplinary teaching and learning? What are the main design principles for designing interdisciplinary learning environments and courses? How can we study the impact and effectiveness of different designs? Etc.
  3. Group: What is distinct to learning in interdisciplinary teams? What kinds of methodologies and analytical tools do we use for studying interdisciplinary learning processes, and outcomes? How can we study the dynamic between the personal resources of individual team members and group processes? Etc.
  4. Individual: What kinds of capabilities (knowledge, skills, dispositions, and other personal resources) do people need to participate successfully in interdisciplinary knowledge work? How could we assess these capabilities? What is the relationship between disciplinary and interdisciplinary capabilities? Etc.

We invite participants who want to contribute to the workshop by sharing their work and those who want to participate in the workshop without presenting. We are looking forward to contributions that investigate the questions of interdisciplinary learning at any of the above levels and across. They could draw on theories and methods from the learning sciences and other fields: anthropology, science and technology studies (STS), cognitive science, organizational science, linguistics, design, computer and data science, learning sciences, etc. Contributions could range from initial ideas, to work in progress, to mature and finished projects.

If you want to present, please submit your proposal outlining your work and/or ideas in relation to one or more of the above described themes (up to 2 pages). Contact us at: [email protected]


Multimodal learning analytics & interaction analysis: Connections, tensions & new directions

Authors: Cynthia D’Angelo, David DeLiema, Ananda Marin, Ben Shapiro, Marcelo Worsley

Multimodal learning analytics (MMLA) and Interaction analysis (IA) are robust, generative methodologies used in the Learning Sciences (Blikstein & Worsley, 2016; Ezen-Can, Grafsgaard, Lester, & Boyer, 2016; Jordan & Henderson, 1995; Hall & Stevens, 2015; Marin & Bang, 2018; Vossoughi & Escudé, 2016), and yet research teams rarely deploy them in tandem to address a common research question or analyze data. Despite their obvious differences — MMLA often focuses on large data sets, automated pattern analysis, and sensor-based data collection technology, whereas IA often focuses on generating new types of questions through work with small data sets, manual data analysis, and predominantly video/audio recording equipment — both methodologies share a focus on how multiple modalities, temporal regularities and irregularities, social interaction, and changing contexts shape learning.

Building on the momentum of a recent NSF-funded workshop addressing their possible integration, the proposed ICLS workshop investigates points of connection (e.g., how MMLA data overlaid on video during IA sessions can guide/enhance what the researcher notices) and points of tension (e.g., how the IA commitment to limiting inferences to the observable video/audio record might be reconciled with the longitudinal context afforded by MMLA data) in educational research that draws at once on both methodological traditions.

Bringing these methodological traditions together to tackle common research questions is possible and central now perhaps more than ever before. This is in part because the amount of data collected on research projects often makes it possible to apply both methodologies at once, serving the purpose of seeing both the forest and the trees in the ways participants navigate learning over time and across contexts. With respect to the core conference theme of “sociopolitical dimensions of learning and social justice,” and echoing broader trends in our research community (Esmonde & Booker, 2016; Gutiérrez & Vossoughi, 2009), we explore how learning scientists can consider power and equity when applying both methodologies, and in particular, how stitching these methodologies together would throw new light on sociopolitical dynamics.

Workshop participants will engage in shared data analysis sessions (hosted by the conference organizers) to investigate central opportunities and tensions in MMLA + IA research, including how MMLA can augment video during IA sessions, what kinds of information interfaces bridge both methodologies, how MMLA can help shape the selection of data and focal research questions for IA, and how computational methods can intersect with grounded, theory-based interactional research. Participants will also have opportunities to share their own project contexts, existing data analyses, research questions, and exploratory considerations about MMLA + IA.

We hope that this workshop continues the process of cultivating a community of researchers interested in developing skills in both methodologies and applying them simultaneously in research that addresses persistent inequities in learning environments. By the end of this workshop, participants will have engaged with cutting edge methods of data collection and analysis in ways that also foreground the importance of context. Likewise, we expect participants to have the time and space to explore future projects that integrate MMLA and IA in new ways.


Analyzing learning with speech analytics and computer vision methods: Technologies, principles, and ethics

Waitlist: https://forms.gle/hR3YzgSbKgsR5Cze9

Authors: Elizabeth Dyer, Cynthia D’Angelo, Nigel Bosch, Christina (Stina) Krist, Joshua Rosenberg

This half-day workshop focuses on video and audio data collection methods that allow researchers to effectively use emerging computer-focused analytical methods (e.g., speech analytics and computer vision techniques) in combination with human-focused analysis (e.g., qualitative analysis). Video and audio recordings are an increasingly common data source for examining the complexities and nuances of learning in situ. To date, analysis of video and audio data of learning has been unable to fully leverage computational methods that take advantage of this richness, especially with visuospatial and acoustic features (as opposed to textual extractions; e.g., transcripts).

Recent advances in computer vision, coupled with existing speech analytics methods, make it feasible to identify theoretically and practically important features from video that matter for examinations of learning. Additionally, these computational methods for video and audio data are likely to be most powerful when integrated with human-conducted analysis and decision-making, such as the computational grounded theory methodological framework. However, these new computational methods require different technical specifications for video and audio data than human-focused analysis, many of which must be decided and set before recording occurs.

In this workshop, we will share new principles for collecting audio and video data so that they can be used with innovative computational methods. Specifically, participants in this workshop will:

  1. Become familiar with innovative computational methods (e.g., computer vision and speech analytics) that can be used directly with audio and video data (e.g., OpenPose: automated detection of body positioning in video), and consider how computational methods can be used with human-focused analysis to develop new theory in the learning sciences.
  2. Understand which features of audio and video data have a large influence on whether computational methods can be applied successfully.
  3. Develop principles and strategies for collecting audio and video data in learning environments that increases the successful application of computational methods, including equipment positioning, recording formats and codecs, and equipment features or specifications.
  4. Consider ethical implications of using innovative computational methods, both in terms of ethics of conducting research with these methods and potential uses of these methods for education practice and policy.
  5. Contribute to a collective methodological research agenda and goals for future development of existing computer vision and speech analytics methods for learning sciences research.

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