In the spring of 2017, I presented at the American Education Research Association Conference in San Antonio, TX. I had a wonderful experience meeting new scholars, getting feedback on my work, and experiencing San Antonio with my peers.
I presented a round table on behalf of my peers Dr. Cassie Scharber and Tiffany Nielsen-Winkelman titled, “If You Build It, They [Don’t Always] Come”: Investigating K–12 Tech-Infused Flexible Learning Spaces. This study investigates newly designed learning spaces within three schools: one elementary, one middle, and one high school. Guided by script theory, this qualitative case study describes (1) the ways in which these spaces are being used for teaching and learning, (2) how technology tools are being used by teachers/students, and (3) the impact these spaces had on teachers’ pedagogical practices. “Underutilized potential” was evident across the three schools, most notably at the middle school. Oftentimes, spaces were empty or being used as a “pull out” space for students with special needs. While the access to technology was robust, the actual use of technologies was limited. There is little evidence of shifts to teachers’ traditional pedagogical practices.
I presented a paper with my peer Dan Bordwell titled, Empowering Students to Turn Knowledge Into Action: Development of Civic Identities Through Micro-Writing Workshops. This Design-Based Implementation Research study informs the development and implementation of a civic micro-writing workshop to help students identify and enact civic anonymous and non-anonymous identities through online discussions. Using Critical Discourse Analysis, researchers analyzed discussion boards within three ninth grade honors government classes. The results helped builded the writer’s workshop based on Kahne et al.’s Participatory Politics Framework and research on new digital literacies.
Additionally it was my first AERA officially serving as the graduate student representative for the Computers and Internet Applications in Education SIG. Here is a group photo from our business meeting:
Savor Every Byte 