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The primary objective of this grant is to test a new model for cross-research
project interaction. The model--Research Learning Circles--is based
on Learning Circles which
have been successfully implemented by many different groups throughout
the world as a way to structure project-based learning among classrooms.
As an outcome of our primary goal, our second project goal is to build
our collective knowledge about online teaching and learning. We are
using the Virtual-U for
our private
dialogues but the results of our work will be posted here and on
the CILT Knowledge Network.
Researchers, like teachers, are "prisoners of time" (National
Education Commission on Time and Learning (1994). While they place a
high value on the theories, approaches and ideas of their peers, the
informal structures for sharing these are often inadequate for the level
of exchange that would be of greatest value. Researchers want to entice
others to work around their project or intellectual challenge, to have
others read their work, or help them puzzle out their ideas for a grant
submission. And yet they are often less eager to respond to similar
requests of others especially if these appear to be only distantly unrelated
to their research paradigms or writing topics.
At the same time, granting institutions, such as NSF, are looking for
ways beyond publishing papers and attending meetings to encourage the
researchers they fund to share knowledge and collaborate. For example
NSF has commissioned the needs assessment and prototype creation of
CLTNet, an online network to support the communication and collaboration
between the seven Centers for Learning and Teaching. NSF perceives a
need for researchers with similar research objectives to communicate
with each other; they are investigating CLTNet as a possible model.
Linda Harasim, one of the members our team directed an extensive effort
to network research universities in "TeleLearning Network of Centers
of Excellence" across Canada. The PT3 grants have also been experimenting
with strategies for developing cross-project communication and collaborations.
Learning Circles are task-based learning communities formed to solve
similar problems that teachers had implementing cross-classroom collaborations
for teachers with different curricular constraints. Early efforts to
use networking in instructional contexts spawned huge numbers of project
proposals but fewer offers to participate. Learning Circles provide
a group structure for collaborative work around a theme. The Learning
Circle structure encouraged the grouping of these projects and the shared
responsibility of the group-- the circle -- to assure that all of them
were successful.
As the problems of researchers, restricted time, design constraints
and little formal structures of cross-research exchanges, are analogous
to those of a teachers, we propose to design a Research Circle with
the goal of evaluating this structure for its potential use in a wider
application. The Research Circle will group 7-8 “lead” researchers
(and some of their research colleagues) around a research theme or problem.
For this experiment, we will use online teaching and learning as the
problem space of the circle.
The participants in a Learning Circle share a common goal of acquiring
a deeper understanding of issues or topics by a process of exchanging
ideas on a set of related projects defined by each of the participants.
The participants in this Research Circle are joined by a shared goal
of evolving new theories, methods or analytic tools for understanding
a field of inquiry, online teaching and learning. While building their
group knowledge and skills is an explicit goal of this research, we
also plan to reflect on the research circles as a method of inter-project
exchange that could be scaled to any size.
In Learning Circles there is a group task, a final publication, and
set of phases that structure the work toward this task. Each part of
the publication is sponsored by different members of the group and the
sponsoring person or group is responsible for organizing the circle
work on this part of the larger task. The norm of reciprocity is critical
for the working in a learning circle. Each participant or participating
group barters their research or analytic skills on other circle projects
in exchange for the focus of circle participants on their project.
Phases of the Project and Deliverables
Learning Circles are defined by a phase structure that begins with the
organization of the circle and ends with the publication of a collective
work. The same six phases of learning
circle interaction will be used for Research Circles, with some
adjustments to time and tasks.
While students are matched on a theme, our researchers are matched on
a field of study, in this case online teaching and learning. There are
7 "lead" researchers who are participating and in some cases
organizing the participation of a small research team.
1. Linda Polin & Margaret Riel
2. Sarah Haavind & Britte Cheng
3. Stone Wiske
4. Sherry Hsi
5. Linda Harasim
6. Melissa Koch
7. Curt Bonk
A subset of the group will meet in NECC to discuss opening activities
and location for the discussions.
The Learning
Circle begins with a set of orientation activities that help participants
come to know and trust one another. These include sharing information
about oneself and one's background with a goal of forming group cohesion
and a sense of interpersonal safety. Some examples of the activities
we might select include:
* creating personal profiles that will lead to mapping the talents,
interests, and
needs of the researchers in the circle (maybe using lists like the one
below.
* involve a listing of the influential articles or books recently read
and a short
justification of the choices.
The circle will also use this time to discuss issues of intellectual
property and other concerns that mark this activity as different from
learning circles.
Profiling
1) Things I like to do, I am good at, are easy
for me or that I enjoy doing.
2) Things that I getting good at or I have a
strong drive do or to learn more about
3) Things that I am not very good at but I do
because I like to or because I have to do
4) Things I am not very good at or I will go
out of my way to avoid or get others to do
3) Framing the Projects: (July 22- August,18 2002) Each of the lead
researchers either as individuals or as group leaders in the circle
will frame one "project" or activity for the circle. The discussion
will center on the connections between projects and the scale of the
proposed work. The goal is have a manageable set of projects distinct
enough to provide diverse ways to look at the issue or topic but common
enough to provide overlapping understanding. Since the projects will
come from the group, it is not possible to list them here, but these
examples illustrate the type of projects that might be proposed:
List indicators of design success and failure: In designing your online
learning environments, list 3 indicators that suggested your design
was effective and 3 indicators that prompted you to change your design.
The sponsoring researcher could use these lists, and discussion around
them, to contribute a set of design principles to the CILT Design database.
Create a shared database of theories, research traditions, and empirical
studies of online teaching and learning. Using the template, enter examples
of research on online teaching and learning that influence your thinking
and design of online teaching and learning communities.
Test the tool in multiple contexts. A researcher might be interested
in testing a tool for analysis of different online interaction and would
request samples of text from different types of online teaching. Then
after the analysis, each of the groups might be asked to comment on
the validity of the assessments.
Each of the
lead researchers either as individuals or as group leaders in the circle
will frame one "project" or activity for the circle. The discussion
will center on the connections between projects and the scale of the
proposed work. The goal is have a manageable set of projects distinct
enough to provide diverse ways to look at the issue or topic but common
enough to provide overlapping understanding. Since the projects will
come from the group, it is not possible to list them here, but these
examples illustrate the type of projects that might be proposed:
List indicators of design success and failure: In designing your online
learning environments, list 3 indicators that suggested your design
was effective and 3 indicators that prompted you to change your design.
The sponsoring researcher could use these lists, and discussion around
them, to contribute a set of design principles to the CILT Design database.
Create a shared database of theories, research traditions, and empirical
studies of online teaching and learning. Using the template, enter examples
of research on online teaching and learning that influence your thinking
and design of online teaching and learning communities.
Test the tool in multiple contexts. A researcher might be interested
in testing a tool for analysis of different online interaction and would
request samples of text from different types of online teaching. Then
after the analysis, each of the groups might be asked to comment on
the validity of the assessments.
This is the longest period of time and requires attention to the progress
being made on each of the related projects. A project summary chart
at the end of each week helps the group attend to their reciprocal obligations
as they focus on their own and others projects. The projects all run
concurrently.
The publication includes a description of the
project or problem posed and responses from each group. The anticipated
medium for publication is a website.
The
participants will reflect on the process and assess the amount of work,
the effect of interaction on their work, and the outcomes. While it
is anticipated that there may be a range of reactions related to differences
in background variables, we would expect that at least a majority of
the initials partners would have to find the structure of value to recommend
this process to granting organizations such as NSF.
References:
Riel, M. & Polin, L. (2002) Communities as Places of Learning. To
Appear in Barab, S. A., Kling, R., & Gray, J. (in press). (Eds.).
Designing for Virtual Communities in the Service of Learning. Cambridge,
MA: Cambridge University Press.
Report of the National Education Commission on Time and Learning, (1994)
Prisoners of Time: Schools and Programs Making Time Work for Students
and Teachers. U.S. Department of Printing, DC.
Principal Investigators:
Margaret Riel
Sr. Researcher SRI, & Visiting Prof. Pepperdine University
943 San Dieguito Drive, Encinitas, CA 92024
Phone: (760) 943-1314, Messages (voice by email) (949) 223-2588,
Cell 760 402 8512
margaret.riel@sri.com)
Britte H. Cheng
Graduate School of Education
University of California, Berkeley
4523 Tolman Hall #1670
Berkeley, CA 94720-1670
(510)643-6175
bcheng@socrates.berkeley.edu
Other project participants:
Linda G. Polin
Professor & Director,
Online MA in Educational Technology
Pepperdine University
Graduate School of Education and Psychology
400 Corporate Pointe
Culver City, CA 90230
lpolin@pepperdine.edu
310.568.5641 VOX, 310.568-5755 FAX
Stone Wiske
Technology in Education Program, Director
Educational Technology Center, Director
Harvard Graduate School of Education
324 Longfellow Hall
Cambridge, MA 02138
Telephone 617 495-9373 FAX 617 495-9268
email: stone_wiske@gse.harvard.edu
Melissa Koch
Social Scientist
Center for Technology in Learning
SRI International
333 Ravenswood Avenue, BN365
Menlo Park, CA 94025
tel: 650/859-2227, fax: 650/859-4605, cell: 510/673-6808
Linda Harasim
Professor
C6101, School of Communication
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive
Burnaby BC V5A 1S6
Sherry Hsi
President
Metacourse, Inc.
1442A Walnut Street #442
Berkeley CA 94709
USA
E-mail Address: sherry@metacourse.com
Sarah Haavind
The Concord Consortium
37 Thoreau St., Concord, MA 01742
sarah@concord.org
Curtis J. Bonk, Associate Professor
Indiana University, Dept. of Coun and Educ Psych
(adjunct: Instructional Systems Technology)
School of Education: Room 4022
Bloomington, IN 47405-1006
(812) 856-8353 (work); 856-8333 (fax); E-mail: CJBonk@indiana.edu
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