Designing a Tool to Support Zoo Interpreters' Pedagogy and Professional Development

• In Event: 63.067 - Approaches to Informal Pedagogies: Preparing Educators to Teach in Informal Environments

Abstract

We present findings from our design of a tablet support tool (TST) that provides zoo interpreters (i.e., docents, explainers, facilitators) with additional capabilities for supporting visitor learning at an interactive game-like exhibit. Our work is a collaboration involving UIC researchers in human-computer interaction and learning sciences, as well as interpretive staff at Brookfield Zoo.

There is considerable work on the value of interpreters for supporting visitors' meaning-making at exhibits (Tilden & Craig, 1977), especially through visitor-centered "dialogic" interpretation (Knapp, 2007). However, few have investigated how interpreters can make use of technology as a support for their interpretation. In the past, interpreters have appropriated technology designed for visitors (Hsi, 2003) or used commercially-available software (Garibay & Ostfeld, 2013) for this purpose. But interactive tools that are tailor-made to support interpreters' development can potentially serve as a mediational means (Wertsch & Rupert, 1993) for rich pedagogical practices. They have the potential to disrupt existing norms (Engeström, 2001) for interpreters in ways that can be productive for their professional development.


Figure 1. The tablet support tool being used by an interpreter at our testbed exhibit,
“A Mile in My Paws”.

Our data consists of video and audio recording of interpreters using the TST in our testbed exhibit, "A Mile in My Paws". A mix of youth and adult interpreters from Brookfield Zoo's interpretive programs participated in facilitating with the TST. We highlighted patterns of interaction between interpreters, visitors, and technology, which we termed "facilitative strategies". This data was augmented by recordings and artifacts from reflective design and professional development meetings with interpreters and their trainers, focused on future iterations of the TST as well as developing novel facilitative strategies.

Through case analyses of interpreters' facilitative strategies when using the TST, we found that interpreters were able to use the TST to create opportunities for visitor learning. The resources and awareness provided by the TST presented a new means of supporting interpreters' collaboration, especially their ability to transition between and introduce topics based on the interactive "A Mile in My Paws" exhibit. The TST also extended interpreters' ability to draw connections or "bridge" between visitors' prior knowledge/experiences and the core exhibit content (e.g. information on polar bears, climate change, and the arctic environment) through the variety of TST resources that interpreters positioned as available for inquiry. Interpreters improved their awareness and intentional enactment of these strategies through professional development; this included reflection on their own practice, as well as involvement in participatory design of further iterations of the TST.

Our work with the TST shows the potential that technology can play for supporting interpreters' pedagogy, both in-the-moment as well as through later reflection during professional development. As interpreters often do not have extensive time set aside specifically for professional development, it is critical to find tools and strategies that can help incorporate their ongoing development more thoroughly into their daily practice. This work also further supports our understanding of pedagogy in informal environments, by focusing primarily on interpreters' experiences, skills, and needs as they make use of a novel tool for supporting their facilitation.

Author

• Brian Slattery, University of Illinois at Chicago