Making Citizens: Using Design-Based Research to Transform Civic Learning (original) (raw)
Democracy in action: students as design partners
Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, 2021
The challenge As part of our institution's Covid-19 response, a decision was made to pre-record all lectures and to only deliver seminars live online. This posed a challenge for two third-year Law modules scheduled to be delivered as weekly, face-to-face, two-hour sessions
Design Research in Social Studies Education: Critical Lessons from an Emerging Field, 2019
In the past decade, researchers in the learning sciences have begun to grapple with the social, cultural, historical, and political dimensions of design research. The trans-formational aims of DBR, intended as they are to contribute to significant change in educational practice, call out for a grounding in the concerns of critical theory (i.e., Freire, Gramsci) so as not to replicate the inequalities that have marked educational settings. In her 2011 AERA Presidential address, Kris Gutiérrez proclaimed: in light of the demographic imperative and growing of inequity, we simply cannot continue to rely on efficiency and market-driven models for education that are certain to bankrupt the future of our nation's youth. We need models for educational intervention that are consequential-new systems that demand radical shifts in our views of learning and in our perceptions of youth from non-dominant communities so that they can become agents of newly imagined futures. (2016, p. 187) This critical epistemological approach to design-based research foregrounds the transformative possibilities of education, seeking to put young people and their communities on equal footing with practitioners, scholars, and researchers "as knowledge producers and change agents for social justice" (Caraballo, Lozenski, Lyiscott, & Morrell, 2017, p. 312). A critical epistemology, in relation to design research, challenges traditional understandings of who holds and generates knowledge and centers the experiences and ideas of youth and adults from historically marginalized communities. A variety of new terms have been used to describe such approaches: social design experimentation, participatory design research, critical design ethnography, and
JOURNAL OF DIGITAL LEARNING AND DISTANCE EDUCATION
Learning design models are used so that learning activities run smoothly and are varied. Most teachers still have not implemented learning models, so teachers are less able to stimulate students in finding and solving problems contained in learning material. This study aims to determine the Civics and Social Studies learning design models that are often used in Indonesia and in various countries at the elementary school level. Writing this article using qualitative research with a descriptive approach. Data collection was carried out by means of a literature study. The results of the study found that without designing and using the right model, learning activities could fail, even though the material prepared was as interesting as possible. The selection of learning design models can be seen from the conditions, needs, nature of teaching materials, characteristics of students, and learning media. In Indonesia, the learning design models that are often used are the ADDIE, ASSURE, and...
"It's Going to Go Beyond These Walls": Toward a More Expansive Vision of Civic Learning
Teachers College Record, 2024
Background: Over the past several decades, understandings of civic knowledge and engagement have been enlarged in productive ways; the field has been transformed by contributions rooted in and showcasing critical, cultural, transnational, activist, and participatory approaches to the civic. Civic action research fits neatly amid these new articulations of the civic; multiple studies attest to its potential for creating civic learning experiences that build on young people's strengths and provide space for critical analysis and informed action. In this social design project, civic action research investigations conducted by youth in communities impacted by structural inequality catalyzed densely interwoven, affectively infused networks of cross-district interaction and action: critical ecologies of civic learning. Focus of Study: This article retheorizes civic learning in light of findings from a research initiative rooted in the question: "How might civic inquiry be used to create school district practices that nurture and integrate the civic voice of youth?" Research Design: In this 18-month-long social design collaboration between a university-based research team and two public school districts in the northeastern United States, youth in five participating schools-two high schools and three middle schools-carried out civic inquiry projects under the guidance of experienced social studies teachers. In these projects, young people examined their communities, selected issues to investigate, designed and carried out research, analyzed data, communicated findings, and took action. Data collected by the adult researchers included observations of club sessions, focus groups with students, interviews with adult stakeholders, and observations of "civic voice events" involving both youth and
JOURNAL OF DIGITAL LEARNING AND DISTANCE EDUCATION
Learning design is the design of a lesson that will be used in learning as a teacher's guide. With more and more teacher knowledge about how to design learning, it will also have a good impact on the learning that is carried out. There are still many teachers who have not designed learning properly to stimulate students. Especially now that the world of education has developed in line with technological developments. Of course, there are many choices for teachers in designing learning by integrating learning with technology. This study aims to determine the needs of Civics and Social Sciences learning designs based on technology, information, and communication. Writing this article using qualitative research with a descriptive approach. Data collection was carried out by means of a literature study. The results of the analysis of various journals and books found show the need for creative Civics and Social Studies learning designs and a positive influence on the use of ICT in le...
Democratic Design: Creating diagrams to draw young citizens together
2018
This research explores the possibilities of a democratic design process, in which technology is not treated as a solution to the civic apathy of young people, but a social construction with embedded values that young people negotiate with their own, as a way to draw themselves together as publics. This will be explored by creating a participatory multimedia-making program for young people, in which critical literacy around data and diagram production is fostered as a form of representation they can consider for articulating civic concerns relevant to them. The resulting program, Rise and Visualize, included eight young people and was hosted in partnership with For Youth Initiative between November 2017 to February 2018. The focus is on the engagement process and issues in design participation, therefore the design prototype being presented is the resulting process framework and case study, rather than artifacts created by the young people in the program.
Tools and Biases: Student Research and Outreach Methodologies in Public Interest Design Education
This paper outlines the difference in research methodologies undertaken by architecture students in traditional design studio courses, as opposed to courses engaging in Public Interest Design (PID). An introduction is provided into the principles of PID, the primary characteristic of which is described by the recipients of the 2011 Latrobe Prize as work that “serves the public in some way, and that is not created for private interests alone.” There has been increasing emphasis on this mode of practice in schools of architecture, and the paper outlines the curriculum of a research-intensive public interest design studio course at Lawrence Technological University, where students develop and test their own tools for community based research and engagement. In traditional studio contexts, students are frequently presented with projects lacking real ‘clients’, and only an abstract interpretation of potential users. This creates a level of disconnect to the project. Given that direct user input is essential to PID work, student research must move beyond typical ‘abstract’ analysis of site, program, context, etc. By analyzing internal case studies exploring the comparative impact of various tools utilized by students to gather information and facilitate dialogue with community partners, this paper explores the biases inherent in some of these methods. Reflection from both the instructor and some of the approximately 110 students who have participated in this course over a ten-year period reveals moments of both success and failure. This paper underscores the importance of inclusive processes, the ethical imperative behind such research methods, and the need to select appropriate research tools to reduce bias and maximize impact.
An Examination of Participatory Design Framework in a Class Project in Higher Education
2018
This study seeks to describe and examine the experiences of persons in a participatory design project between a university and a not-for-profit charitable organization in a large urban center in Canada. In many design programs in higher education, the pedagogies of participatory design create experiential learning for, and with a community to produce mutual, beneficial outcomes. The data was collected by interview, visual research of course work and observations conducted with university students, leader of a women’s sewing collective, a course instructor, and a staff of a not-for-profit organization. At the conclusion of this study, a revised framework for participatory design is proposed. This study suggests that at the intersection of design for social innovation is where power dynamics can be challenged to imagine new ways of thinking to solve complex problems through participatory design.