IU School of Education, Center for Research on Learning and Technology

Call for Jacobs Educator Award 2024-25!

Do your colleagues come to you for advice on exciting ways to integrate new technology into their classrooms? Have parents or administrators complimented your innovative use of technology? Would you like to be a part of a group of educators that share ideas about using technology with Indiana K-12 students in the state of Indiana – and get compensated for it? If so, we want to encourage you to apply for the Jacobs Educator Award for 2024-2025!

Each year outstanding teachers from across Indiana who are at the cutting edge of integrating technology in K-12 classrooms are encouraged to apply for the IU JACOBS EDUCATOR award. This year, the Jacobs Educators award will focus on educators in the state of Indiana and will showcase their expertise in the integration of new and exciting technology into their classroom contexts. This includes, but is not limited to, the use of programming, modeling tools, AI, Augmented or Virtual reality, games, simulation, and whatever else you feel helps leverage technology to provide unique opportunities for learners. This year, award winners will come together for two virtual panel discussions in the Spring to share their strategies and stories from their own classrooms, and offer advice to both teachers and researchers. Award recipients will receive $2000. While we encourage K-12 teachers to apply, technology coaches and those working with K-12 teachers will also be considered. Applications will be due December 15, 2024: 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time.

For more information and the link to apply:

drive.google.com

Hello and happy Monday!

The first CRLT Speaker Series event is happening in one week! On Monday October 7th Dr. Sarah Smith-Robbins will be giving a talk titled "Navigating the Resistance to Research-Informed Learning Technologies and Design in Higher Education." An abstract is included below. The talk will take place in ED 2140 (a zoom link is also available for anyone who'd like to attend virtually) at 11am and will be followed by lunch. Please use this link to register for the event: https://events.iu.edu/educationiub/event/1610395-crlt-speaker-series-dr-sarah-smith-robbins?_gl=1*d1s83n*_ga*MTg2MzYxMjQxNy4xNzI2NTExMDUx*_ga_61CH0D2DQW*MTcyNzY5Nzg1OS4xOS4xLjE3Mjc2OTc4NjMuNTYuMC4w

Navigating the Resistance to Research-Informed Learning Technologies and Design in Higher Education

Instructional technologists and designers often recommend and justify best practices based on theory and data. However, educators and administrators frequently resist implementation due to misconceptions or perceived difficulties. Additionally, the phenomenon of "technology in search of a problem" arises when designers are compelled to implement novel tools primarily for their novelty or potential to attract learners, rather than their proven impact on learning outcomes, is also all too common. As is a demand for “innovation” without a clear sense of the problem the new approach is intended to address.

Acknowledging the tension between informed learning design and stakeholder resistance is crucial for instructional experts striving to successfully improve learning. Understanding how to overcome that tension often requires trial and error, persuasion, and empathy.

This session examines the strategies and tactics employed by the Learning Technologies team at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University Bloomington, to address this ongoing challenge. Via their work designing learning experiences for diverse cohorts—including residential and online undergraduate and graduate students, executive education partnerships with corporations, and graduate courses on third-party platforms—the team navigates unique technological challenges, learner needs, and stakeholder perspectives. From Canvas templates to virtual reality, we’ll discuss both successful and unsuccessful approaches and share what we’ve learned that might benefit other technologists.

Sarah Smith-Robbins, PhD has been the Director of Learning Technologies at the Kelley School of Business for over a dozen years. Her research focuses on the intentional application of technologies in higher education and continuing education. She leads a team of instructional technologists and media developers to support over 450 faculty at Kelley.

Hope to see you there!

IU Bloomington School of Education Calendar

https://digitalpromise.org/2024/06/14/how-researchers-and-coaches-are-working-together-to-innovate-stem-education/

How Researchers and Coaches are Working Together to Innovate STEM Education – Digital Promise Researchers and VILS coaches partner to co-design STEM innovations

Congratulations to Zach Ryan for a best ICLS paper: Playful frameworks of research: Play and its potential in researching learning alongside youth

Best Papers | ISLS Annual Meeting 2024 Outstanding Papers Outstanding Paper Nominations & Awards ICLS Awards ICLS Outstanding Long Paper Nominees (7 nominated, 3 selected winners) D Teo Keifert. Contextualizing Moments of Learning: Entangled Practice Suraj Uttamchandani, Tanner Vea, Joe Curnow and Déana Scipio. Representational Politics...

Congratulations to incoming CRLT director Joshua Danish for being elected as a fellow of the the International Society of the Learning Sciences.

ISLS Fellows The ISLS Fellows program recognizes those who have made major contributions to the field of the Learning Sciences since its inception nearly three decades ago. These individuals are each highly…

Hi all!

We wanted to share that the Journal of the Learning Sciences (JLS) is currently soliciting abstracts for a 2026 special issue titled Humanizing AI for Education: Navigating Sociocultural, Psychological, and Ethical Dimensions.

The guest editors for this special issue are Dr. Megan Humburg, (current CRLT postdoc), Dr. Haesol Bae (former CRLT postdoc, now SUNY-Albany faculty), and Dr. Ingo Kollar (Learning Sciences faculty in Germany at Universität Augsburg).

You can find the call for abstracts here: https://www.isls.org/news/call-for-papers-for-a-jls-special-issue-2026-humanizing-ai-for-education/

We are very excited about this special issue, and we are trying to encourage folks from a variety of interdisciplinary teams to submit, so please share the call for abstracts with your professional networks, and we encourage you to submit an abstract by the June deadline if you are doing work that might fit the call!

If you have any questions, feel free to email Megan Humburg ([email protected]) and she will happily provide more details.

Call for Papers for a JLS Special Issue (2026): Humanizing AI for Education Proposals are solicited for a special issue of the Journal of the Learning Sciences entitled, “Humanizing AI for Education: Navigating Sociocultural, Psychological, and Ethical Dimensions.

The 2024 AERA Annual Meeting begins in a few days and we'd like to highlight some of the work being presented by CRLT people. Below is a list of presentations later this week and over the weekend.

https://digitalpromise.org/2024/04/03/using-data-visualizations-to-boost-student-engagement-in-humanities/

Using Data Visualizations to Boost Student Engagement in Humanities – Digital Promise An educator integrates data literacy to provide students with opportunities to express their interests.

Please join us on Monday, April 1st for speaker Camillia Matuk in person or virtually for our Speaker Series.

She will be presenting her paper "Data Inquiry through Storytelling and the Arts."

For more info and to RSVP, please head to the SOE event calendar: https://events.iu.edu/educationiub/event/1375939-crlt-speaker-series-dr-camillia-matuk?_gl=1*1i7qlff*_ga*NDA4MDA1MzUyLjE3MDE3OTU0NzA.*_ga_61CH0D2DQW*MTcxMTA0MjIxMy40Ny4wLjE3MTEwNDIyMTMuNjAuMC4w&_ga=2.75825237.1102932515.1711032495-408005352.1701795470

Please consider joining us on Monday, Feb. 5th for speaker Chandra Orrill in person or virtually for our Speaker Series.
She will be presenting her paper "Supporting Mathematics Teacher Knowledge of Proportions in Playful Professional Development."
For more info and to RSVP please head to the SoE calendar:

CRLT Speaker Series: Dr. Chandra Orrill Join us for a talk by Dr. Chandra Orrill. Chandra Orrill, Ph.D., is the Executive Director of Rethink Learning Labs. She is a mathematics educator ...

Winter Newsletter Highlights

Recently awarded grants include:
SCALE K-12 was recently awarded to Anne Leftwich CO-PI and Gamze Ozogul CO-PI.
Hearing Each Other’s Voices was recently awarded to Cindy Hmelo-Silver PI.
Integrating Students Interests, Identities and Ways of Knowing with Network Visualization Tools
to Explore Data Literacy Concepts was awarded to Joshua Danish PI, Cindy Hmelo-Silver CO-PI
and Kalani Craig CO-PI.
Collaborative research: Promoting epistemic critique and revision with the Model and Evidence
Mapping Environment was awarded to Joshua Danish PI and Cindy Hmelo-Silver CO-PI.

Upcoming events include:
CRLT Speaker Series on February 5th, March 4th, and April 1st.

This newsletter's spotlight is on post doc Megan Humburg.