Supporting Voice in Diverse Playful Learning Communities of Practice

• In Event: Communities of Play: Learning Together to Improve and Scale Playful Learning

Proposal

Introduction. The Tech & Play Initiative aims to establish and deepen playful learning experiences with technology in primary schools. Tech & Play is a collaboration of over 15 organizations, including large international NGOs, U. S. universities and science institutions, and implementation, research and technology partners in four countries where programs are being implemented: Rwanda, Kenya, Brazil, and Denmark. We lead the COP for this initiative and facilitate ongoing interactions and knowledge sharing among members. We also serve as the research partner for the initiative.

Research. This presentation focuses on an evaluation conducted during the first year of implementation of the Tech & Play COP. The evaluation explored the value of the learning that the COP fostered (Wenger, Trayner & de Laat, 2011), including stakeholder expectations and aspirations for the community, experiences participating in the community, and how participation varies across different partners and geographies. The evaluation focused on 1) co-construction of knowledge and 2) the development of social relationships to do the work.

Methods include a survey of COP members and interviews with COP leads. Where relevant, we incorporate lessons from the implementation of a second community of learning that we also facilitate, the PLAY 2.0 initiative, which focuses on the adaptation and use of research tools to improve practice.
Research questions include: 1. To what extent does the Community of Practice build knowledge and support the implementation, refinement, and scaling of Tech & Play? 2. To what extent are members of the Community of Practice collaborating to support learning to refine and scale Tech & Play?

Findings. In our presentation, we will provide an overview of the findings from our initial evaluation, reflections from the first two years of implementation for the Tech & Play and PLAY 2.0 COPs, including successes, challenges and adaptations in response to these challenges. Major themes include:
1. The importance of in-person meetings for establishing social relationships that can support learning initially
2. How approaches to applying playful learning can support the COP learning community, particularly approaches to fostering active engagement in learning
3. Challenges related to conflicting cultural and institutional logics (Farrell et al., 2023), such as differing conceptions of ways to scale innovations, and effective pedagogical approaches when incorporating technology into classrooms
4. A diverse mix of COP partners can strengthen knowledge building, but also brings challenges in ensuring equitable participation and voice. Attention to managing power differentials should include a focus on ensuring partners have access to the social relationships and infrastructure necessary for participation.

Authors

• Megan Silander, Center for Children and Technology, Education Development Center

• Daniel Light, DRL Research Consulting