Research in Distance Education Fellowship

1

Application for:

Research in Distance Education Fellowship 10/27/2007

ANDREA BOWE

816 5TH STREET

ANACORTES WA 98221

360-293-6229

Email Address:

DESIGN BY TEAMS METHODOLOGY

Amount Requested: 10,000

Project involves the use of human participants who will remain anonymous, as no names will ever be taken in these Workshops offered as a new paradigm in action research, using systems science, constructivism and multi-generational learning centers.

IRB approval had been applied for, and will also be included as the Application Section of a KAM, as well as a class assignment in the Quantitative Research Class being taken this Winter Quarter by the student.

No outside reviewer has been solicited.

ABSTRACT

Teachers apply technology to facilitate a variety of effective assessment and evaluation strategies. Such strategies apply multiple methods of evaluation to determine students' appropriate use of technology resources. By applying a variety of assessment techniques, Design by TEAMS Methodology will free both the student and the teacher to become teammates on a lifetime voyage of discovery. Using diverse techniques for reaching even non-literate users, this online research will be a simple quantitative type of survey data, maintaining anonymity by never taking any names. In a short Workshop supplied with pre-designed variables and roles, computer-generated technology will collect and analyze data, interpret results, and communicate feelings, by using principles of systems science and feedback loop. To improve instructional practice and maximize student learning, unique standards of assessment that can be applied in any situation, or in any culture or language group, because they transcend barriers of language, age, and status levels will create a significant and meaningful change in both local and global academic and social communities and will generate new knowledge and improve social conditions with a commitment to positive social change.

DESIGN BY TEAMS METHODOLOGY

Amount Requested: 10,000 or any portion thereof

Project involves use of human participants who will remain anonymous, as no names will ever be taken in these Workshops offered as a new paradigm in action research, using systems science, constructivism and multi-generational learning centers based on the principles of the Old School Kid’s Club.

IRB approval will be applied for before any action research begins.

No outside reviewer has been solicited.

BUDGET

Research and Development, including development of software

for simulation games that teach TEAMS ______7000.00

Data Analysis______1500.00

WebPages_for Design by TEAMS______1500.00

Print & Advertising (Radio, DVD, Internet , etc) _____ 10,500.00

Hardware for documentary and film school production______5000.00 __(In addition to that already being utilized by the investigator whose personal loan of 20K may also be considered a matching fund resource)______20,000.00

Asking fellowship contribution to budget whatever portion of money may be allocated toward social change goals ______25,500.00

Total Resources needed for dissertation research and data dissemination for DESIGN BY TEAMS______50.500.00

Narrative:

You are a teacher who has decided to document as action research a proposal to introduce Design by TEAMS Methodology to their school.

You set up a chat room and Discussion Board on your home webquest page.

This will come pre-designed in the Design by TEAMS Format to save the teacher time, with "built-in" features that allow statistical data analysis with the click of the mouse, using sign-in features, number within the intranet matrix to preserve anonymity in research. No name will ever be taken.

You send out a general invitation via email and/or snail mail, asking any administrator, student, parent, community leader or other teachers who may be interested to log on to your page and "sign-in" to participate in your research Project, promising free information, feedback loops, and data analysis as part of the reward.

On the page, each user checks agree or disagree to a short consent form, then takes a short survey with graphics, voice interfaces, clickable hyperlinks for non-literate users.

This survey will determine the interest and talent of the user and help to match them with those who have similar or complementary interests to create a TEAM. For only one user, the computer can simulate the other team members, according to what role the user picks in the team. Intra-net or internet capabilities are necessary for this simulation to be effective and more technology is required for XML and learning- disabled interfaces.

Here is a sample list of questions you may include in this survey:

1. Have you ever participated in a Design by TEAMS Methodology Workshop?

Note: If this answer is yes, a different set of survey questions appear to aid in feedback loops generated by the Matrix called Teams.

2. Have you ever done any PBL (Project-Based Learning)?

3. Have you ever worked as a team on any Project?

4. Have you ever taught or tutored young children (including siblings)?

5. Have you ever designed Looping and/or Feedback?

6. Have you ever created an online Portfolio?

7. Have you ever created a Web Page or a Web Quest?

This Survey will let the user select a screen name and homepage for anonymous input,

to analyze data quickly and keep anonymity.

With a simple match up like dating services use, the software will create and choose a selection of Learning Centre Workshops matched to the user's interests and preferences in the second part of the survey.

Involving hands-on real-world Projects increases student interest and motivation and increases self-esteem due to the Design by TEAMS approach to teaching and learning. Any teacher or student can create a Model Project.

Will only one experience of a Design by TEAMS Workshop, whether online or in person, positively affect self-esteem and metacognitive thinking skills in the participant population?

The timeline for the study will become longitudinal over time by initiating user numbers that will guarantee feedback loops, but the initial phase will be targeted at three months of data gathering through online formats and in voluntary and anonymous feedback from participants over 18.

The research methodology to be employed will be quantitative in Phase One.

However, the second phase of the study will become qualitative by asking for comments from participants in an online follow-up study after an initial Workshop experience. The facilities and resources needed for the work will be supplied by the investigator. Grant writing to produce social and educational open systems will also be included as application of this research allows other social change issues to surface.

Additional Information as attachments and Appendices Follows:
DESIGN BY TEAMS METHODOLOGY: Project-Based Learning (PBL) Approach.
The components of the instructional design model in the Dick and Carey systems approach to curriculum design and planning fit together in a feedback looping model that affects the design outcome even before the final design is planned and implemented.
“Instructional design should consider all aspects of the instructional environment, following a well-organized procedure that provides guidance to even the novice learner” (Simonson, 2003, p. 145.)
Dick and Carey’s approach is the result of many years of research and uses systems thinking to model the designing phase, including feedback loops to revise instructional planning both during and after the design phase. First, the model demonstrates the principles of backward design, as it considers the goals that need to be assessed and identified. Then the model splits into two levels. One is to analyze learners and contexts and the other is to conduct instructional analysis.
After the writing of objectives for performance, assessment instruments are developed, along with instructional strategy and materials so that the final phase of conducting formative evaluation of instruction and summation of evaluation will return to a feedback loop for further modification through real experience.
In analyzing the systems approach model proposed by Dick and Carey, I would alter only the necessity of considering the learners by age groups or levels. I use my design by TEAMS to increase both feedback loops within a system and to alter the current paradigm that utilizes the teacher instead of the student as the primary motivator and guide. Students develop their own expertise in these areas as they develop teams and team learning as role models of systems thinking. Then the student as well as the teacher joins in creating rubrics (on a scale of one to ten, ten being rich and one being poor) and assessments by self-evaluations and Project Portfolios, keeping the simple steps of the design process in mind and using them to implement ever more creative and complicated designs and systems. I leave in the feedback loops but make them much more a part of the design process and, way before the evaluative or summative phase is reached in the Dick and Carey model, I increase the role of the student in the design process, letting them work backward after giving them the big picture and teaching the role of mentor and teacher in the process (Kim, 2000) If the roles within a TEAMS Matrix are clearly delineated and the goal or Project area are decided by student choice and not by grades or ages, then the mastery comes about with the exercise of the Design by TEAMS Methodology. They could produce a hypercontent web page that collects action research data at the same time it teaches a Design methodology. Working as TEAMS, kids across the nation and the globe could brainstorm on global solutions. Once the teacher has designed such a course, they only need to sit back and observe the feedback loops begin and grow and offer suggestions when students ask for help or guidance, becoming a partner in learning instead of a lecturer (Noll, 2005)
This process answers the need for scaffolding learning even for the novice teacher and the design process followed teaches systems sciences and cooperative team learning at the same time. Either by simulation or real world applications, the Project designed by a team will implement a matrix that will be more effective over time as the level of mastery of the Methodology increases and critical thinking skills manifest. (Wiggins and McTighe, 1998). To illustrate the principle of starting with an idea and using systems science methods to work backward from this idea to create the curriculum or feedback loops necessary to realize the idea as a real world Project and Portfolio assessment that may well free our children from the current paradigm of age levels and separation of masters from those who would learn mastery. (Vygotsky, 1978). The concept of the whole child has been approached in the areas of child psychology and brain-based learning but does not seem to have been used to change the paradigm we called teaching in the industrial age, where children were seen as parts of a machine, not individuals with innate rights and destinies (Jensen, 1998), (Tomlinson, 1999). Music and graphic interfaces, using continuous and effective feedback loops and modeling the TEAMS process, students will realize and appreciate their roles as future teachers and have fun doing so (Dils, 2004). In the tradition of apprenticeship, I plan backward from a finished Project or Goal to allow a team process to teach critical thinking skills and meta-cognition and to employ a method simple enough to include even a two year old in a team project.
Design by TEAMS Methodology is not only a PBL approach to learning that can be implemented in person or in an online game simulation, but may also become a tool for the ongoing development of a comprehensive theory of learning using the principles of backward design and a movement toward a constructivist pedagogy. Either by simulation or real world applications, the Project designed by a team will implement a matrix that will be more effective over time as the level of mastery of the Methodology increases and critical thinking skills manifest (Wiggins and McTighe, 1998). I believe the team will become both teacher and role maker for further exploration on the Ship of Discovery I prefer to call education.
References
Dils, A. K. (2004) The use of metaphor and technology to enhance the instructional planning of constructivist lessons. Retrieved from Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education [Online Serial], 4(2).

Jensen, E. (1998). Teaching with the brain in mind. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Kim, M.K., & Sharp, J. (2000). Investigating and measuring preservice elementary mathematics teachers’ decision about lesson planning after experiencing technologically-enhanced methods instruction. The Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, 19, 317-338. Noll, J.W., (2005). Taking sides: Clashing views on controversial educational issues. Dubuque, IA: McGraw- Hill/Dushkin
Tomlinson, C. A. (1999). The differentiated classroom: Responding to the needs of all learners. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Simonson, M., et al. (2003, 2000). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education, 2nd Ed. Columbus, Ohio: Merrill Prentice Hall

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development