Supporting Educators as Designers: Making Workshops as Professional Development in a Research-Practice Partnership

• In Event: 34.028 - From Making to Agentic Participation: Perspectives on and Approaches to Fostering Epistemic Engagement in Making

Abstract

One means of promoting students as makers is to empower educators as designers (e.g. Roschelle et al., 2006). Masterful educators purposefully guide learners through practices while improvising and adapting (Dewey, 1938; Sawyer, 2004). Classrooms can be settings for human-centered design (HCD) (Brown, 2008) that support both guided inquiry and spontaneity. Making practices, alongside related pedagogy and organizational innovation (Santo et al., 2015) have advanced opportunities for HCD in formal learning settings. As maker education efforts expand, there is a need to support educators in developing teaching practices that guide student making. Accordingly, this research asks: What professional development (PD) opportunities support educators as designers of learning environments for student making?

This poster shares findings from a series of PD workshops, one element of a research-practice partnership (RPP; Coburn & Penuel, 2016) between Aurora Public Schools and the University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver). The RPP examines and supports K-12 teachers’ practices as designers of technology-rich and culturally relevant education. PD workshops were designed and facilitated by researchers at Inworks, a CU Denver initiative supporting interdisciplinary HCD (Goodman et al., 2016). In this design-oriented environment, a cohort of educators (n=16) practiced the HCD cycle (empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test) over multiple PD days. For example, educators engaged in playful design challenges (Figure 1), iterating on the ideate, prototype, test phases, followed by reflection. Educators also explored empathy and problem definition as these elements of HCD related to problems of practice (i.e. Coburn et al., 2013). Data were collected during workshops via interviews, observations, surveys, and learning artifacts, and analyzed inductively to discern patterns among the ways educators were supported as designers of learning environments to subsequently guide student making.

Findings from our analysis of PD making workshops suggest this learning environment afforded educators distinct learning opportunities. First, educators established relevance to practice. For example, after a design challenge in which one educator chose to work on the floor creating a LEGO structure, she asked, “How can I create a math class where students get on the floor?” Second, educators reflected upon design processes; they appreciated time to “unpack and process” the work of HCD, especially with “good focus on empathy and authenticity.” Third, educators asked questions about pedagogy and change (Table 1), and, lastly, named commitments intended to support their students as makers (Table 2).

The successful proliferation of making in formal learning environments will rely upon effective support for educators who can practice making, question their pedagogy, explore curricular connections, and commit to HCD methods. Our model of making workshops as PD in a RPP suggests educators can develop new perspectives on learning environments and commit to “provid[ing] an environment that supports student curiosity and growth.” By engaging in HCD challenges, activities, and discussions, educators can explore frustrations and learning possibilities inherent in making environments as complementary to conventional schooling. In doing so, educators may begin to view themselves as designers of making environments and opportunities so that students can “own the space” as designers and makers.

Authors

• Katherine Goodman, University of Colorado - Denver

• Jennifer Phelps, University of Colorado - Denver

• Jeremiah Holden Kalir, University of Colorado - Denver