At this point in my journey, I’m considering that my end user is a teacher, so I’m leaning towards a driving question that involves professional learning with adults. When I was reading the chapters from Clark, I tried to keep in mind her approach to concepts, facts, and processes through the lens of what this would mean for an adult learner. In the context of improving instructional practice, the concepts to be learned would be abstract ideas or principles. For instance, If my question was focused on culturally responsive teaching, the concepts or big ideas might be things like equity, human needs, relationships, culture, etc. This will be helpful for me to zero in on what we’re trying to achieve and how it might connect to teacher values or what motivates them.
Similarly, in looking at processes in Chapter 6, Clark defines three types of processes, one of which is “scientific systems depicting how natural phenomena occur.” (3) She suggests that, “process knowledge contributes directly to a more meaningful application of procedures.” (4) Again in our context, looking at learning as a scientific system can have an impact on whether a teacher will want to improve or change their current practice to something that better fits the “system” of how students learn.
In studying the SITE model, I’m starting to think of questions that I will need to try to answer before designing what research might look like. What will motivate my teachers to want to try something new or deepen their understanding of a practice? How will I take into account the different levels of experience and knowledge each teacher brings to the topic? How can I tie the individual attitudes and goals to the larger context of our school goals and vision for our program? And in the Informational sub-context, I’m thinking not so much about their literacy skill level but how much time they will have to devote to new learning.
Some of the answers to these questions might be aided by the suggestions in Baggio about designing a product that takes how we learn into account. In order to meet the needs of very busy adults, I will need to think about visual approaches that lessen the cognitive load and chunk information without overwhelming the user. My next steps will be to narrow down my objective for what I want to research and why it matters to our work. I will need to start there as I begin to think about instructional design.
Similarly, in looking at processes in Chapter 6, Clark defines three types of processes, one of which is “scientific systems depicting how natural phenomena occur.” (3) She suggests that, “process knowledge contributes directly to a more meaningful application of procedures.” (4) Again in our context, looking at learning as a scientific system can have an impact on whether a teacher will want to improve or change their current practice to something that better fits the “system” of how students learn.
In studying the SITE model, I’m starting to think of questions that I will need to try to answer before designing what research might look like. What will motivate my teachers to want to try something new or deepen their understanding of a practice? How will I take into account the different levels of experience and knowledge each teacher brings to the topic? How can I tie the individual attitudes and goals to the larger context of our school goals and vision for our program? And in the Informational sub-context, I’m thinking not so much about their literacy skill level but how much time they will have to devote to new learning.
Some of the answers to these questions might be aided by the suggestions in Baggio about designing a product that takes how we learn into account. In order to meet the needs of very busy adults, I will need to think about visual approaches that lessen the cognitive load and chunk information without overwhelming the user. My next steps will be to narrow down my objective for what I want to research and why it matters to our work. I will need to start there as I begin to think about instructional design.