The design process of a collaborative orchestration tool and its implications for instructor uptake

As design-based research becomes a widely used methodology in the Learning Sciences, research is needed to understand how this methodology is applied in practice. The present study responds to calls from the field, for researchers to disseminate the design processes when conducting design-based research studies. In this dissertation, I explored how an interdisciplinary team designed a collaborative orchestration tool and analyzed how it was used in the classroom by engineering instructors. The study broadens our understanding of how design-based research processes are enacted to explore this form of learning among researchers. This qualitative study explores interactions within a design brainstorm meeting of eight team members from four disciplines using an analytic technique called linkography. This analysis reports on the emergent design discourse and discusses the interplay between collaboration, connectedness of conversations, and critical moves to understand how ideas were generated among the interdisciplinary team. Findings from this identify interactions that lead to high quality discussions and reports outcomes from this process in the form of the final orchestration tool. The findings from the design phase are reported and followed by the investigation of the classroom implementation. While these findings share how the design emerged, it is not enough to solely present conclusions of the design process. Researchers must also articulate how the final design was implemented and how it impacted interactions in the classroom. In the classroom implementation, eight instructors who used the orchestration tool were studied through interviews and video and log file data. This analysis explores how instructors used the orchestration tool to support their interventions with students and report their perceptions from using the tool. The results of this study suggest that the interdisciplinary team achieved the highest quality collaboration and ideas during intersected, convergent discussions. Using a sociocultural framing, the study describes these collaborative interactions and what lead to different kinds of idea generation. Through this analysis, I present recommendations for future iterations of this tool, as well as suggestions for others engaging with this methodology. The primary finding from the implementation phase was that instructors who used the tool and implemented prompts had productive interventions where the instructor sparked discussion among group members. However, there were few instances where prompts were used, showing that the degree of integration profoundly impacts the use. Outcomes from this study can be used to iterate on this project and lay the groundwork for others doing similar work. Future directions for scaffolding interdisciplinary design processes and designing orchestration tools are discussed.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Curriculum and Instruction

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2021

Author dc:creator

• Lawrence, LuEttaMae

Contributors dc:contributor

• Mercier, Emma
• Lindgren , Robb
• Tissenbaum , Michael
• Paquette, Luc
• D’Angelo, Cynthia

• design-based research
• design process
• linkography
• orchestration
• interdisciplinary
• collaboration

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2020 LuEttaMae Lawrence

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/109334

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/109334