Understanding Problems of Practice: A Case Study in Design Research

Today, K-12 practitioners are challenged to become educational innovators.  Yet, little is available to the practitioner to guide their reflection about the design, development, and implementation of these innovations in their own practice. This brief approaches such problems of practice from the perspectives of design research. Although design research typically centers on the partnership between researchers and practitioners in real-world settings, relationships between researchers and practitioners are not always practical.  In this brief, the authors explore how the design research process can make the goals, assumptions, processes, methods, and outcomes of design research uniquely accessible to the practitioner.  In clear, explicit language, it introduces design research to practitioners using both expository discussions and a robust narrative case study approach that ably guides the reader through the phases of design research, namely:

• Theory to innovation to practice
  
• Understanding problems of practice
  
• Creating a design solution
  
• Assessing the design solution
  
• Evaluating learning outcomes
  
• Capturing lessons for practice

Understanding Problems of Practice is a singular resource for teachers and practitioners enrolled in graduate research courses or courses on teacher leadership.  It also lends itself well as a supplement to professional development activities and studies at the district, school, and professional learning community levels.

Priscilla Norton is a Professor in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University.  She has been involved with educational technology since the late 1970’s, working with teachers to understand the role of the electronic technologies to support teaching and learning.  Dr. Norton is Director of the Designing Digital Learning in Schools Master’s and certificate programs as well as a faculty member with the Learning Technologies Design Research doctoral program.  Dr. Norton has been designing, developing, and studying e-learning environments for teachers and high school students resulting in part in The Online Academy – a virtual high school. This program was awarded the 2006 Governor’s Technology Award (COVITS) for Innovative Use of Technology in K-12 Education.  In 2007, Dr. Norton was selected as a recipient of the Virginia Outstanding Faculty award sponsored by the State Commission on Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV) and Dominion Power.  She is the author of numerous articles and two books – Teaching with Technology (Norton & Wiburg, 2003) and Technology for Teaching (Norton & Sprague, 2001).  More recently, she received the AACE E-Learn outstanding paper award (2014) and the AACE SITE outstanding paper award (2015), both co-authored with Dawn Hathaway.  Her research interests include design strategies and processes as they influence technology teacher education, online learning environments for both teachers and high school students, and the design of K–12 digital learning in schools.