Current Issues in Education (E-Journal, Arizona State University)
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Designing Learning Experiences for the Future of Learning in the Digital Age: A Proposed Framework
Get PDFWhile our understanding of how we learn has grown exponentially, our knowledge of how to incorporate these ideas when designing instruction has not. This paper proposes a new framework for designing learning experiences which build on existing instructional design models but also incorporates a deep understanding of humans, how we learn, what motivates us, what causes us to lose interest, and what instruction will get us to remember and use our knowledge. The learning experience design framework includes three parts which form a continuous cycle of development and improvement: planning, creating, and refining, all informed by key situational factors. While non-linear, each part is further divided into two sections to address both sides of designing a learning experience: the learning and the experience. These sections can guide anyone into designing better learning experiences for the future of learning in the digital age
Foreword: The Final Installment
Get PDFThis final installment of the ShapingEDU special issue was inspired by the concept of a “sibling” body of work to compliment the first publication installment. The themes of both bodies of work overlap in their calls to action, yet each article stands solidly on their own. Educators, learning designers, and education leaders have felt the responsibility of helping to usher in the right solutions that will spur student engagement, inclusion and success. Eleven articles unpack the various intertwined journeys we must embark on together to bolster digital equity and inclusion, to recognize all forms of learning and to spur an even more harmonious connections between our institutions and the workforce of the future
Bilingual Cognition and Growth Mindset: A Review of Cognitive Flexibility and Its Implications for Dual Language Education
Get PDFThe United States has seen an increase in cultural and linguistic diversity of student populations. Policy makers have looked toward existing research in dual language education, alternative curriculum, and bilingualism to support the needs of dual-language learners. In this paper, we review two areas of research that have implications for educational policy, and also have theoretical implications for early cognitive development. The first area focuses on cognitive flexibility in bilingual populations. The second area focuses on growth mindset. We highlight the parallels in these constructs, arguing that bilinguals may be uniquely receptive to growth mindset interventions due to their increased cognitive flexibility. We identify specific ways that growth mindset interventions could be applied to support dual-language learners. Lastly, we argue that future research in both areas may provide researchers and educators with a better understanding of early cognitive development in bilingual populations and the emergence of growth mindset in all populations
Curriculum, Aesthetics, and Social Justice: From the Common to the Exceptional
Get PDFThe unique capacity of aesthetic methods to provoke a variety of consequential educational outcomes has attracted considerable scholarship. Less developed, however, is an exploration of teacher perspectives and implementation of six aesthetic themes of teaching: connections, risk, imagination, sensory, perceptual, active engagement (CRISPA). Using an educational criticism and connoisseurship inquiry method, we asked two questions: 1) What are the intentions and practices of a high school teacher as he teaches English, and 2) What are the intentions and practices of the same teacher as he teaches English incorporating CRISPA? We present an analysis that spotlights uncovered themes observed from applying CRISPA to teaching literature. We discuss the connection between CRISPA and the complementary curriculum; the capacity of CRISPA to enhance curriculum development and implementation; and add to literature that links aesthetics to social justice pedagogy. We include implications for educators seeking to enhance their practices. 
Catalyzing a Culture of Care and Innovation Through Prescriptive and Impact Analytics To Create Full-Cycle Learning
No full textStudent success, both during and after college, is central to the mission of higher education. Within the higher-education and, more specifically, the student-success context, the core raison d'être of machine learning (ML) is to help institutions achieve their social mission in an efficient and effective manner. While there should be synergy among people, processes, and ML, this synergy is not often realized because ML algorithms do not yet connect the dots on fully understanding and strategically fostering student success. Transitioning from risk to impact prediction is a catalyst for institutional transformation, which can lead to continuous learning and student-success process innovation. This paper explores how ML can complement and facilitate organizational transformation in promoting a culture of care and innovation through virtuous full-cycle learning
A Collective Case-Study on Navigating Faculty Bilingualism, with Reflections on the Research Experience
Get PDFThis article is both a research paper and a reflection piece, describing the core of a research project about examining faculty experience and some of the author’s related self-learning and reflection fueled by the project. This qualitative case-study asked: for bilingual faculty whose native language and academic discipline is French, in what ways is language intertwined in their experience of higher education in English-language universities in the United States Midwest? Semi-structured interviews with three individuals suggested this multifaceted idea: for these faculty members, their experience of higher education is intertwined with 1) their relationships with individuals and groups of various linguistic characteristics; 2) complexities of identity/personality; and 3) power dynamics. Parallel to this research about faculty experience was the author’s experiential learning about the research process and reflections on her relationship to research and practice in the field of education. This article sketches this learning alongside the research study
Self-Mapped Learning Pathways: Theoretical Underpinnings and Practical Course Design for Individualized Learning
Get PDFIn the Fall of 2014, several universities came together to offer a unique “dual-layer” open online course. This course was designed with two complete layers from two different course design modalities (instructivism and connectivism). Learners were granted the freedom to create an individualized pathway through the course involving either layer, both layers, or a custom combination of both layers at any given point in the course. Since these options gave learners the ability to map their own pathway as a learning process, this course structure is now referred to as Self-Mapped Learning Pathways. The goal of this design methodology is to allow for true individualization of the learning process for each learner. This article will examine the theoretical underpinnings of Self-Mapped Learning Pathways design methodology. Additionally, several design considerations will be suggested based on practical application as well as research results
The Digitization of White Women’s Tears
Get PDFSocial media is a digital mirror of society. Across disciplines, scholars have written of social justice as it exists and as it should be within higher education and beyond. Looking to social media spaces where higher education practitioners and scholars interact with one another, we can see how scholars who discuss social justice initiatives can themselves perpetuate systems of oppression. Utilizing Mamta Motwani Accapadi’s (2007) article “When White Women Cry: How White Women's Tears Oppress Women of Color” as a foundation, I reflect through poetry on how white women in positions of power within higher education engage in harmful behavior in digital spaces. Finally, I provide recommendations on how fellow white women can disrupt these acts of oppression
Thinking Backward: A Knowledge Network for the Next Century
Get PDFThe standards of educational information exchange are still firmly rooted in a Newtonian paradigm that emphasizes strict rules of information exchange. With the explosion of information since World War II, and especially its accessibility through the mechanism of the internet, this paradigm has become a barrier to effective exchanges of information at all levels. Vannevar Bush recognized this problem as early as 1945 and provided a roadmap to addressing it in his famous As We May Think. Douglas Engelbart and Theodore Holmes Nelson applied Bush’s vision to technology but we have never fully realized its potential in part due to our Newtonian information paradigm. This article argues that what Bush, Engelbart, and Nelson proposed is essentially an Einsteinian (relativistic) notion of information flows with tools specifically designed to facilitate the augmentation of human knowledge. It further posits what such a system of knowledge exchange might look like and how we might begin to build it
Mindfulness in the professional lives of K-12 educators
Get PDFThis interpretive case study explored how K-12 educators conceptualized and applied mindfulness in their professional lives while taking the Stress Management and Relaxation Techniques (SMART) in Education professional development program. Participants believed mindfulness practice strengthened awareness and improved relational quality. Participants with regular mindfulness practice reported greater benefits and deeper insights about being present, compassion for self and others, and awareness of patterns of thought and behavior. This unique type of professional learning supported greater self-awareness. The study suggests mindfulness for educators presents opportunities for individual and school transformation, although the amount of school change participants reported was influenced by systemic support and privilege. Strengthening relational quality in schools, empowering teachers, and shifting school culture from places of cultural reproduction to those of transformation may more effectively address the social and civic issues that face society