Design-based Research Approach Research Articles

'Digital authoring support for argumentative writing: what does it change?

C-SAW (Computer-Supported Argumentative Writer) is an online authoring software embodying design principles derived from theories on written argumentation, self-regulation and conceptual change as well as feedback from practitioners and users, in line with a design-based research approach. Designed to scaffold writing processes, C-SAW is intended as additional support in instructional designs using argumentative writing for learning. This article presents the results of a mixed-method study comparing undergraduate students writing with C-SAW or a text editor. Outcome measures included the number of arguments and the degree of their completion, knowledge of argument components, topic knowledge and changes in epistemic beliefs. Participants writing with C-SAW elaborated arguments to a greater degree, but there were otherwise no significant differences between conditions for other measured outcomes. Furthermore, results were influenced by informal reasoning skills that outweighed the effects of condition. These results are discussed with respect to the difficulties of studying the effects of digital tools on writing and learning in controlled first-use contexts and the importance of developing instructional designs with explicit learning outcomes that are aligned to the instructional principles embedded in digital tools.

Ergebnisse zur forschungsbasierten Entwicklung, Implementation, Evaluation und Weiterentwicklung eines Fortbildungsangebotes für Lehrkräfte zum »Professionellen Umgang mit heterogenen Lerngruppen«

Im Rahmen des Beitrags wird der Frage nachgegangen, inwiefern eine Lehrerfortbildung zum »Professionellen Umgang mit heterogenen Lerngruppen« heterogenitätssensibles Handeln von Lehrkräften zu fördern vermag. Dazu wurde die Fortbildungspraxis mithilfe von Beobachtungsprotokollen und verschriftlichten Reflexionsaufgaben aus zwei Fortbildungsrunden systematisch erfasst. Mithilfe einer inhaltsanalytischen Auswertung (Mayring 2015) und anschließender Triangulation dieser beiden Datenquellen konnten die Lernprozesse der Teilnehmenden nachgezeichnet werden. Dabei bildete die forschungsbasierte Entwicklung, Implementation, Evaluation und Weiterentwicklung des Fortbildungsangebotes nach dem Design-Based Research Ansatz den Rahmen der Studie. Ein zentrales Ergebnis sind die unterschiedlichen Ausprägungen der Bewusstheit der eigenen Beobachtungsund Handlungspraxis der Lehrkräfte sowie die Ausprägungen der Bereitschaft, die Beobachtungsund Handlungspraxis weiterzuentwickeln. Die Teilnehmenden differenzieren diese Ausprägungen im Verlauf der einzelnen Fortbildungsphasen aus.

Design Tradeoffs of Interactive Visualization Tools for Educational Technologies

Instruction in most STEM domains uses visuals to illustrate complex problems. During problem solving, students often manipulate and construct visuals. Traditionally, students draw visuals on paper and receive delayed feedback from an instructor. Educational technologies have the advantage that they can provide immediate feedback on students’ visuals. This feedback allows students to learn visualization conventions and to learn new content knowledge. This paper presents a design-based research approach to develop visual tools for an educational technology for chemistry. In this research, three design tradeoffs emerged: (1) Which aspects of the drawing task should visual tools constrain? (2) How should visual tools account for variability in students’ prior experiences? (3) How should the design of multiple visual tools be aligned so that students can easily transition between them? Our design-based research approach comprises three studies that address each of these design challenges in the context of chemistry visualizations. Our studies yield principles for the design of interactive visual tools for educational technologies.

Using Educational Robotics as a Cognitive Tool for ICT Teachers in an Authentic Learning Environment

This study describes the theoretical foundations of a learning environment designed for an ICT teachers’ graduate level course, and presents a comprehensive analysis of the qualitative data acquired regarding the course’s implementation. Participants in the study included six ICT teachers enrolled in the “Embedded Systems and Robotic Applications” course of Spring 2018. A design-based research approach was used in order to achieve a systematic but flexible methodology. Within the scope of this study, robotics was used as a cognitive tool, and authentic learning principles were applied. The participants’ reflections about the learning environment indicated that they were satisfied with the course settings, their motivation increased after the course, and they learned more effectively through the scaffolding provided by the instructor.

Reflections of design-based research approach on learning experience of visual programming course

This study aims to examine the effects of Visual Programming course conducting in accordance with design-based research on students' learning experiences. The study was conducted in the fall semester in 2017-2018 at Software Engineering Department in Technology Faculty of a university in the north of Turkey. The sample of the study consists of 12 students taking the course. In this study based on a two-stage research method, the course was taught in accordance with design-based research for 14 weeks. Then the implications of teaching the course in that way for students’ visual programming learning experiences are analyzed with the specific case study. At the end of the study, the participants of the study were interviewed through a semi-structured interview form. The qualitative data obtained from the participants are subjected to content analysis. It is seen that students’ views can be grouped under five main themes. The results of the study show that the course process which is maintained in accordance with the design-based research method has important contributions for students learning experiences. It is concluded that the views of the students are generally positive but it can be said that there are also negative views about the process even if in limited numbers.

It’s Not About Being Right: Developing Argument Through Debate

This research sought to develop argument as a problem-solving process by adding debate to social studies instruction with three groups of fifth-grade students. This design-based research (DBR) reports on the ways that instruction was refined across three topical units to develop argumentative agency and a critical participatory literacy. Students addressed current issues extended from historical events and engaged in issues collaboratively through debates, then individually in their writing. DBR approaches afforded a description of the factors that enhanced and inhibited argument development across the debate cycles and chronicled the modifications that were put in place to refine the instruction. A retrospective analysis led to pedagogical assertions that illuminate what was learned about the interrelationship of oral and written argument and the instructional refinements that were required to support arguments as a means of solving problems.

Teaching about Personal Finance in HCS – Suggestions from a Design-Based Research Approach

Supported by the notion of concept-driven design and design-based research, as well as the tradition of critical pedagogy and the idea of sociomaterialism, the aim of this article is to explore and ...

Façade cool coatings: an experiment on colour and surface quality

ABSTRACT The colours of architectural surfaces can make an important contribution to improving the environmental quality of the built environment. Researches have demonstrated that the colour and the shape of a building’s envelope can contribute to the enhancement of the thermal performances of the building. This research involved the development of a new coating for external wall insulation combining effect pigments and a toothed section. The whole process involved a design-based research approach. The development of the new coating lasted from March 2012 to March 2013. Surface temperature tests have been carried out in 2013 and 2019. The tests confirmed that the colour and the chemical composition of the material are the most important factors for lower surface temperatures. Further research is needed to re-calibrate the chemical composition of the material and verify the shading effect provided by the toothed section on vertical surfaces.

Co-Designing an Intervention to Prevent Overweight and Obesity among Young Children and Their Families in a Disadvantaged Municipality: Methodological Barriers and Potentials.

Design-based research (DBR) is an innovative methodology for co-creation, but potentials, challenges, and differences between methodological ideals and the real-life intervention context are under-researched. This study analyzes the DBR process in which researchers, professionals, and families co-design a family-based intervention to prevent childhood overweight and obesity in a rural municipality. It involves interviews with six key stakeholders in the co-design process. Data were coded and analyzed using systematic text condensation, while the theory of the “social effectiveness of interventions” developed by Rod et al. (2014) was used as an analytical tool for unpacking the co-creation process and exploring methodological barriers and potentials. The DBR approach contributed with a feeling that everyone’s perspective was important, and the professionals got a new perspective on the families’ experiences with healthy living they did not previously consider. We also found that the iterative design process did not fully align with the organizational structures in the municipality or with the needs of stakeholders, leading to friction in the partnership. This study emphasizes the complexity of using an anti-hierarchical approach within a hierarchical context, and the importance of being aware of how the DBR approach shapes the partnership, as well as of how the social dynamics within the partnership shape the design process.

Interdisciplinary Working Methods: Reflections Based on Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL)

In this paper, we discuss the nature of interdisciplinarity and, in particular, the ways that interdisciplinary working is enacted in TEL Research. Following a design-based research approach, a common TEL methodological approach, we identified how interdisciplinarity facilitated the research team to address a wicked problem, fostered dialogue between researchers in different disciplines and stakeholders in the research through the lifetime of the project and facilitated the creation of new meanings. Focusing on the Personal Inquiry Project (PI) team, interdisciplinary working methods are explored through examining two boundary objects namely the PI octagon and the concept of scenario, that provide windows of how interdisciplinary understanding evolves through time and among different stakeholders. These boundary objects, even though they had different importance within the project, illustrate the team's emergent and shared understanding while maintaining flexibility through a rapid iterative process. We discuss how a shared understanding was facilitated through active involvement of different disciplinary teams and consensus was built and refined in the light of emerging findings. Interviews with researchers on the project and the Advisory Board and on our own reflections on work practices illustrate key themes, i.e., the salience of boundary objects in the design process, the development of a common language, and the importance of a shared vision. We conclude with a set of requirements for progress in interdisciplinary working and comment on our view of good practice in fostering interdisciplinarity along with an outline of what we see as the remaining challenges.

Iterative user and expert feedback in the design of an educational virtual reality biology game

ABSTRACT This study focuses on an educational game titled Cellverse, a two-player cross-platform VR project intended to teach high school biology students about cell structure and function. In Cellverse, players work in pairs to explore a human lung cell and diagnose and treat a dangerous genetic disorder. Cellverse is being designed by the Collaborative Learning Environments in Virtual Reality (CLEVR) team, an interdisciplinary team consisting of game designers, educational researchers, and graduate and undergraduate students. Using a design-based research approach, we have enlisted the help of both subject matter experts and user testers to iteratively design and improve Cellverse. The objective of this paper is to share how user and expert feedback can inform and enhance the development of learning games. We describe how we gather and synthesize information to review and revise our game from in-game observations, semi-structured interviews, and video data. We discuss the input of subject matter experts, present feedback from our user testers, and describe how input from both parties influenced the design of Cellverse. Our results suggest that including feedback from both experts and users has provided information that can clarify gameplay, instruction, subject portrayal, narrative, and in-game goals.

Using design-based research to bring partnership between researchers and practitioners

ABSTRACTBackground: A key aim of educational research is for findings to inform practice, thereby bringing about improvements in teaching and learning. However, the relationship between research and practice is complex, and there is often no clear link between changes in practice and research findings. One of the challenges for research and practice is breaking down barriers and finding effective and sustainable ways to translate research findings into practical solutions in the classroom.Purpose: This discursive paper focuses on describing the nature of the partnership working involved when a design-based research (DBR) approach was employed to bring researchers and practitioners together. The researchers and practitioners worked in collaboration to design a professional development (PD) programme, in order to solve classroom problems and enhance practitioners’ research engagement.Sources of evidence: This paper describes the author’s experience of using DBR to co-design a PD programme that was responsive to a particular context and practitioners’ needs. It illustrates and exemplifies the ways in which the researcher–practitioner collaboration itself sits at the heart of the design process and enabled solutions to be found. The paper also considers the epistemological positions of the practitioners and researchers in the different stages of DBR. The context for the description is a mixed-methods intervention study conducted in two colleges of teacher education, which documented the design and refinement of a PD programme to facilitate teachers’ effective use of technology to teach mathematics.Discussion and conclusions: The examples presented and discussed here suggest how a DBR process is able to facilitate fruitful collaborations between researchers and practitioners and increase engagement in research. By working with practitioners to design interventions such as PD programmes, DBR can provide a practical approach for improving practice and deepening the relationship between educational research and classroom practice.

Thematic learning design development: STEM model through water play activity

2013 curriculum is a curriculum model that can integrate skills, themes, conceps, and topics in both within disciplines, across several disciplines and within and across learners. The enactment of the 2013 curriculum will have an impact on the way learning will be designed and implemented by teachers in the classroom. The lessons that are held are not necessarily rigid, absolute housed in the classroom, trapped by an enclosed wall and a short time. Instead learning should be flexible, fun, stimulating student activities and can provide meaningful experiences for students so that students can be creative, productive, and innovative. The purpose of this research is to develop STEM model learning design through water game activity in elementary school. The development of thematic teaching design is done by several experiments to several schools by adopting DBR (Design-Based research) approach. The resulting product is a STEM thematic learning tool based on a water game activity as the implementation of the 2013 curriculum. One of the major reasons for developing this learning tool is to get an example of a learning device integrated with the game. Fun learning but still oriented to learning materials so that learning can be a weapon that will develop student competence.

Design-based research for the development of a flexible learning environment.

BackgroundStudents enrolled for the Bachelor of Radiography degree at the Central University of Technology Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa, spent many weeks off campus at hospitals during workplace learning. A design-based research approach was applied to analyse an educational problem, namely that students apparently fail to apply the theory of radiation safety regulations to protect themselves and patients.AimsThe purpose of the study was to develop authentic activities and assessment for radiation safety requirements, to provide flexible learning in a blended environment to students off campus.SettingThe second-year radiography students of 2016 and 2017 responded off campus to the QuestionPro survey.MethodAuthentic learning and assessment opportunities were contextualised and compiled to align with learning outcomes of the safety regulations as confirmed during a Delphi process. Flexible learning opportunities were delivered via electronic mail (email) and WhatsApp. Assessment responses from the students were received via mobile phones with a Web-based software tool, QuestionPro.ResultsOf the 117 students, 92.3% responded to the QuestionPro survey. From the incorrect responses, learning areas that needed revision were identified, as well as the areas in the X-ray departments of the hospitals showing non-compliance with the requirements for radiation safety.ConclusionThe three outcomes of this design-based research included the formulation of design principles, a designed product in the form of a Website and professional development of the researcher. The design-based research principles that were tested involved the use of knowledge in real life and measuring if students were effective performers with acquired knowledge.

An effective way of designing blended learning: A three phase design-based research approach

Online learning is common in higher education, but has its drawbacks. As a result, blended learning (BL) has emerged as an alternative to alleviate the challenges of online learning. The purpose of this design-based research study was to determine what elements were needed to assist a higher education instructor inexperienced in designing and teaching a BL course to successfully create and implement it, and to document the instructor’s perceptions about the first experience of teaching a BL course. The BL course was designed, implemented and redesigned to make the BL course an effective and efficient learning environment through the three phases of this design-based research. Qualitative and quantitative research methods including instructor interviews, learning environment observations and student surveys were employed to collect data. Results indicated that iterative analysis, design and evaluation of the created BL course provided an opportunity for the researchers to find applicable solutions to any real-world problems that the instructor faced in the course. Besides, the design and implementation of BL led the instructor to shift from a passive teaching approach to an active teaching approach and allowed the students to become active and interactive learners through the process of three iterative design cycles. Although challenges were identified, she had an overall positive perception toward teaching the BL course.

Designing a Model of Practice for Australian Teachers of Young School-age Children on the Autism Spectrum

Abstract Extensive work has been undertaken in North America on effective practices in early childhood education, early childhood special education, and autism-specific interventions. Much of this work, however, has not been disseminated in teacher-friendly ways nor has it been translated into useable formats that support teacher uptake and incorporation into everyday classroom practice. The research presented here drew on practice literature from North America and a Design-Based Research approach to produce a Model of Practice (MoP) for Australian classroom teachers working with students on the autism spectrum in their first year of primary school. This practice model aims to support pedagogical decision making in relation to the effective and inclusive education of this student cohort. Iterative cycles of design involving generation of educational practices from the literature, content validation by experts, and social validation by classroom teachers were undertaken. These cycles were guided by MoP design principles and resulted in a prototype Early Years Model of Practice (EY-MoP) comprising 29 empirically-supported practices, which were highly endorsed by Australian teachers. The field testing of the EY-MoP should provide preliminary evidence of the applicability of this tool in Australian early years classrooms.

A design-based research approach for developing data-focussed business curricula

Although existing data science educational programmes develop talent and produce graduates, business-focused data science curricula comprising essential skills oriented to business and managerial data with associated analysis, remain underserved. Current pedagogy has focused either on data science or on purely analytic technical aspects. There is therefore, an opportunity to rethink how institutions can develop innovative data-focussed education programmes, addressing both modern industry and community demands. As both academia and industry strive to integrate applied learning, transferable and enterprise skills into business and sciences, this paper proposes a design based research approach (DBR) for designing such a new interdisciplinary data science teaching curriculum as a foundation to deliver business undergraduate degrees in Business Data Science. Adopting a design science method our proposed DBR illustrates effective utilities for conceptualising and evaluating a fully functional new degree programme - Bachelor of Business Data Science. Ten senior business information systems academics and five analytics industry practitioners in Victoria, Australia were interviewed in three iterative prototyping phases followed by a final focus group session with business information systems students that evaluated the proposed structure. The findings suggest that proposed DBR ensures the design of an innovative data science degree that may meet growing industry and interdisciplinary demands. The paper concludes by discussing overall feasibility of the proposal in the Australian higher education sector, particularly for the case context of an Australian University.

Design and Use of a Mobile Application to Prevent Teachers’ Absenteeism in a Higher Education Setting

In this paper, we present a digital application developed to prevent teachers’ absenteeism in a private university in Indonesia. In particular, we evaluated the development and the application of an Android-based attendance management system (AAMS) to monitor teachers’ attendance and their teaching activity at a private university in the capital city of Jakarta, Indonesia. Adopting a design-based research approach, we observed the development procedure and interviewed three end-users of the application, i.e. teachers. The findings of the study revealed the potential use of AAMS as a digital tool to prevent absenteeism among university teachers. The three main challenges were highlighted during the application of AAMS, including the processing time duration and system error, the reporting and analytics issues, and the input manipulation. Furthermore, a recommendation is offered on the basis of the findings.

Making It Clear: Exploring Crystal Structures by Constructing and Comparing See-Through Models

Acquiring a basic understanding about the composition of crystal structures and the resulting structure–property relationship is central for chemists and material chemists, enabling the prediction of desired properties and the solution of a wide range of current challenges in sciences, e.g., the development of clean-energy storage. For a deeper understanding of physical and chemical properties of crystals, it is necessary to focus on different global and local structural features that characterize the composition of several atoms or ions as well as the direct environment of single atoms or ions. To improve students’ mental visualization of both global and local features of the three-dimensional order of crystal structures, we developed and implemented a modeling activity with new transparent models. During the activity, students construct and compare models of common crystal structures, like sodium chloride and zinc blend. The usage of clear plastic balls, in particular, allows students to focus on global features such as packing arrangement and lattice structure, as well as on local ones, like coordination number, site occupation, and polyhedral connectivity. The latter features have been difficult to realize so far. We used a design-based research approach to improve the activity and the instructional material, provided herein, through several rounds of evaluation in a course for undergraduate students in materials chemistry. A detailed qualitative analysis of students’ discourse during the activity revealed that students were engaged in various content-related interactions with the models and that it is beneficial to combine a student-centered construction of the models with a subsequent comparison phase.

Developing a New Generation MOOC (ngMOOC): A Design-Based Implementation Research Project with Cognitive Architecture and Student Feedback in Mind

Abstract This paper describes a design-based implementation research (DBIR) approach to the development and trialling of a new generation massive open online course (ngMOOC) situated in an instructional setting of undergraduate mathematics at a regional Australian university. This process is underscored by two important innovations: (a) a basis in a well-established human cognitive architecture in terms of cognitive load theory; and (b) point-of-contact feedback based in a well-tested online system dedicated to enhancing the learning process. Analysis of preliminary trials suggests that the DBIR approach to the ngMOOC construction and development supports theoretical standpoints that argue for an understanding of how design for optimal learning can utilise conditions, such as differing online or blended educational contexts, in order to be effective and scalable. The ngMOOC development described in this paper marks the adoption of a cognitive architecture in conjunction with feedback systems, offering the groundwork for use of adaptive systems that cater for learner expertise. This approach seems especially useful in constructing and developing online learning that is self-paced and curriculum-based.