The proposal supports a workshop for early career and doctoral student researchers in the learning sciences, in conjunction with the 11th International Conference for the Learning Sciences, to: (1) define productive programs of research; (2) develop strong evidence-based arguments in research projects; and (3) identify approaches for creating strong partnerships with practitioners and education leaders.
In a prior funded 2010 ICLS workshop for post-doctoral and early career researchers, on-line surveys were developed. The surveys will be administered to this set of workshop participants as well, to compare outcomes across workshops and gain a sense of how the workshop affects learning and community building. The workshop includes a small number of international participants.
The workshop builds research expertise of the participants and enables young researchers to participate in networks with mentors in ways that will be productive for their careers and for the field of the learning sciences.
The overarching goal of the ICLS Early Career and Doctoral Consortium (EC/DC) is to support emerging scholars in the learning sciences in developing approaches to studying the intersection of learning and becoming in STEM fields, articulating clearer standards of evidence for warranting claims in research, and cultivating and sustaining long-term partnerships between researchers and practitioners. The workshop was organized as two concurrent, but intersecting tracks, one for doctoral students in the latter stages of their graduate studies and another for early career researchers. The Doctoral Consortium hosted 15 PhD students who were grappling with their dissertation research, while the Early Career track hosted 16 recent PhDs (post-docs, faculty in early tenure track, and others) who were in the process of shaping career paths. The workshop was held in conjunction with the 2014 International Conference of the Learning Sciences, a flagship conference for scholars in this area of work, to give the workshop participants further access to new research, other researchers in the field and prospective employers, and revitalize the community with fresh faces and ideas. The EC/DC workshops were held at the University of Colorado on June 16 (full day) and June 17 (half day), just prior to start of the technical program of ICLS 2014. The objectives and activities were informed by the overarching goals listed above, the evaluation results from previous ICLS EC/DC workshops, and NSF priorities. The Doctoral Consortium was designed to provide an opportunity for Ph.D. students from around the world working in learning science-related areas to discuss their dissertation work among themselves and with more senior mentors. Participants were advanced doctoral students, at a stage in their work where the consortium participants may be of help in shaping the research or analysis activities. The Early Career Workshop was designed to provide an opportunity for researchers from the U.S. and around the world who have already completed their PhD programs in Learning Science-related areas to discuss their research programs and career trajectories with peers and senior researchers in the field. Participants were young researchers in post-doctoral positions or in the early years of positions at universities, informal learning institutions, research laboratories, and the like. Several themes emerge from an analysis of the 2014 EC/DC participant responses: Attendees at the two workshops endorsed participation for future potential attendees. NSF support has played a critical role in enabling both U.S. and international PhD students and early career researchers to attend the workshops. Attendees stated that the workshops helped them integrate into the research community and perspectives of the Learning Sciences. The opportunities for small-group and informal discussions are viewed by participants as the most important components of the workshop designs. With this NSF grant, EC/DC participants received full or partial financial support to attend these workshops. Five respondents to the survey indicated that they would not have been able to attend the workshop without this support.
