Ten interdisciplinary research teams at the Urbana campus have been awarded grants under the first phase of the Illinois Learning Sciences Design Initiative’s seed funding program.
The teams, which comprise 55 faculty members and students, were awarded about $4,000 each to found a seminar or colloquium culminating in a research, development or design proposal and a white paper.
The white papers will be used to identify key themes that will define and guide the initiative’s future efforts.
Led by the College of Education, ILSDI is part of the college’s broad-based mission to revolutionize teaching and learning across contexts and the lifespan by developing and commercializing cutting-edge technological platforms and tools.
“Through ILSDI, we want to reinvigorate the PLATO tradition, where, in the 1960s, scientists at Illinois created new technologies that generated numerous innovations in teaching and learning,” said Fouad Abd-El-Khalick, the associate dean for research and research education in the college.
“As educators, we want to get back into the business of producing the tools, technologies and spaces that transform kids’ learning experiences. We want to continue to do basic research, but also move into the design, production, dissemination and commercialization of these products,” Abd-El-Khalick said.
A “huge disconnect” currently exists between the technology that is an integral part of most people’s daily lives and the instructional activities that occur in schools and other institutions that provide formal or informal learning, Abd-El-Khalick said.
The concept for a laboratory that would nurture cross-disciplinary collaborations in teaching and learning technologies emerged from the 2013 outcomes report associated with the Visioning Future Excellence at Illinois process.
Originally called the “Illinois Learning Sciences Design Laboratory,” the initiative kicked off Feb. 27 with a lightning symposium at the Hyatt Place in Champaign organized by the college.
More than 120 faculty and staff members and students – representing 10 colleges or schools and 37 academic units, institutes or centers on campus – responded to the call for proposals, showcasing their cross-disciplinary projects in 60 presentations, posters or demonstrations.
Following the symposium, a $200,000 seed funding program was created with contributions from the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, the colleges of education and engineering, the Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research.
On Sept. 18, the Phase 1 grant recipient teams gathered for a luncheon at the College of Education to share synopses and explore synergies across the funded projects.
Later this fall, ILSDI plans to issue a second campuswide call for proposals, and award Phase 2 grants, ranging from $15,000 to $40,000, to a small number of projects. Those grants will support the selected teams in demonstrating proof-of-concept, increasing their chances of securing external investors.
An advisory board, which includes the deans and directors of the units that contributed seed funding, oversees ILSDI. The initiative’s operations are managed by a steering committee, chaired by Abd-El-Khalick, that includes faculty members from each of the partnering units.
The initiative continues to recruit additional colleges, schools and centers into its campuswide effort, Abd-El-Khalick said.
The 10 projects that were awarded Phase 1 seed funding, their principal investigators and proposed themes:
- “Investigating the Neural Correlates of Learning in Cognitive Science,” Aron Barbey (Beckman Institute, speech and hearing science); using neuroimaging techniques with advanced cognitive training to understand the neural mechanisms of learning that occur during cognitive training and how they improve cognitive function.
- “Extending the Statistical Toolbox to Detect and Model Learning,” Steven Culpepper, statistics; using computerized adaptive testing, psychometrics, change-point detection and educational psychology to develop techniques for detecting acquisition of new skills.
- “Big Data Comes to School: Text Data Analysis Facilitating Coaching and Evaluation of Complex Critical Thinking,” Duncan Ferguson, comparative biosciences; using information retrieval text analysis and machine learning techniques to develop scalable assessments of sophisticated assignments that test critical thinking skills.
- “An Online Gaming Platform for Training and Education,” Wai-Tat Fu, computer science; developing an accessible online platform for digital games that allows educators and researchers to easily create, modify, share and integrate gaming elements, thereby scaling up games’ educational effectiveness.
- “Capturing, Transcribing, Searching, Analyzing, Adaptive: Learning in a Curated Classroom,” Mark Hasegawa-Johnson, electrical and computer engineering; scaling up of a prototype of ClassTranscribe, an open-source Web-based platform that produces transcripts of lectures, and educational and research media for use in undergraduate and graduate courses and research.
- “Scaffolding STEM Expertise through Game-Based Graphically-Intuitive Professional Learning Experiences,” Maya Israel, special education; developing gamified virtual internships around contemporary problems in energy sustainability to engage a broad range of learners, including people who have traditionally struggled with STEM learning.
- “How to Learn 2.0: Helping Students Make Evidence-Based Choices about Learning,” Chad Lane, educational
psychology; developing a prototype for monitoring learning and skill acquisition that occurs when youth use familiar media, such as games and YouTube.
- “Teaching and Learning in the Three-Dimensional World,” James Lowe, veterinary clinical medicine; exploring how various disciplines use 3-D content and the ways in which virtual reality, augmented reality, and 3-D printing and digitization impact students’ learning as they engage bodily with digital content.
- “Understanding and Implementing Visual Metaphor in Media for Science Education,” Matthew Peterson, art and design; begin development of proof-of-concept for a prototype that uses authentic visual imagery as stimuli in experimental science studies and disseminates them through a central website to science teachers for classroom use.
- “LAIT (Laboratory for Audience Interactive Technologies) – Large Group Learning and Experimentation System,” John Toenjes, dance; using the LAIT multi-use application system developed by Toenjes’ research team to study group dynamics and explore potential integration with super computers and mobile technologies.
For the full listing of each team’s members, email Elizabeth Niswander, eniswan1@illinois.edu.