Complexities in development of educational collaboratories as a socio-technical system: A situated study of the GK-12 Edgrid graduate teaching fellowship program
Year: 2002
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: Little is known about the role of educational collaboratories as information systems for management of social (human) and technical (technology-related) factors in interdisciplinary contexts. Within a milieu of interdisciplinary issues in education, science, and technology, this paper takes a situated approach towards identification of complexities in the development of educational collaboratories in the GK-12 EdGrid Graduate Teaching Fellowship Program (GK-12 EdGrid Program). A situated approach calls for recognition of multiple context of use of innovative technologies in educational settings. The GK-12 EdGrid Program is a three-year National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded project to support University of Illinois graduate students in the sciences, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET) disciplines. Selected graduate students collaborate with campus faculty and participating K-12 teachers to integrate the use of computer-based modeling, scientific visualization, and informatics in science and mathematics education. Based on initial experiences at four participating high schools across Illinois, this paper draws attention towards a range of factors that are being negotiated for successful progress and implementation of GK-12 EdGrid Program’s educational collaboratories during the project’s first year. Such a research endeavor will be helpful in two ways: First, it will help to understand how the formation and evolution of an educational collaboratory determines achievement of particular short-term and long-term goals. This may lead to formulation of an agenda for their future application in other similar contexts. Second, such a strategy will provide a clue towards how development of an educational collaboratory takes place as an outcome of negotiation between multiplicity in perceptions, cultural practices, work ethics, and personal preferences. This will help to understand the multifaceted dynamics that take place in the development of educational collaboratories in interdisciplinary contexts.
Language: English
Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
Funder: National Science Foundation
OpenAlex ID: W1572086757