Preparing Teachers for Connected Learning
Panel Abstract
While connected learning has its roots in informal learning in children’s and teens’ out-of-school spaces, there is a growing interest among teacher educators in the potential for connected learning to serve as a framework for developing learning experiences that enhance pre-service teachers’ agency around their own learning. At the same time, connected learning has the potential to transform teacher learning and professional development (Garcia et al., 2014; Smith et al., 2016). The connected learning framework’s three spheres of learning - peer supported, interest powered (student-designed), and academically oriented (Ito et al., 2013) - are powerful design elements when put to use with teachers. Connected learning environments such as CLMOOC, for example, position teachers as “designer[s]-in-context” (Garcia et al., 2014, p. 5) who collaboratively co-design classroom instruction, equitable and motivating learning environments for students, and their own professional learning.
This panel highlights research on teaching and learning through and with connected learning in a variety of contexts related to teacher preparation, including pre-service teacher education, faculty professional development, and in-service professional learning. The projects offer insights into the ways in which the connected learning framework can be applied in practice, as well as point to challenges for applying the existing connected learning framework within the context of higher education. Taken together, these presentations provide a snapshot of the current research around connected learning and teacher preparation, and point to implications for future research, theory development, and practice.
Presenters and Presentation Titles
Pre-service Teacher Experiences in the Connected Technology Education Classroom
Sarah Lohnes Watulak (Towson)
What does “Participation” Mean in a Connected Learning Classroom? Translating Theory into Practice in an Openly-networked Teacher Education Course
Kira Baker-Doyle (Arcadia), Latricia Whitfield (Arcadia), Katie Miller (Arcadia)
From Connected Learning to Connected Teaching: Toward a New Model of Digital Literacy Teacher Education
Nicole Mirra (Rutgers)
Connected Learning in Higher Education through Professional Learning Networks
Torrey Trust (UMass Amherst), Jeffrey Carpenter (Elon), Daniel Krutka (Texas Woman’s U.)
When Open is not Enough: Participatory Design for Connected Learning
Anna Smith (Illinois State), Christina Cantrill (NWP), Mia Zamora (Kean), Stephanie West-Puckett (East Carolina U)
References
Garcia, A. (2014). Introduction: Teacher agency and connected learning. In A. Garcia (Ed.), Teaching in the Connected Learning Classroom (pp. 6-9). Irvine, CA: Digital Media and Learning Research Hub.
Ito, M., Gutierrez, K., Livingstone, S., Penuel, B., Rhodes, J., Salen, K., Schor, J., Sefton-Green, J., & Watkins, S. C. (2013). Connected learning: An agenda for research and design. Irvine, CA: Digital Media and Learning Research Hub.
Smith, A., West-Puckett, S., Cantrill, C., & Zamora, M. (2016). Remix as professional learning: Educators’ iterative literacy practice in CLMOOC. Education Sciences, 6, 1-12. doi:10.3390/educsci6010012
