The workshop, organized by researchers from Pepperdine University, brings leading STEM educational researchers from the US and Finland together to expand the discussion of innovation in education. The workshop brings about 40 researchers, half from each country, together to focus on technology enhanced learning, educational innovation, and learning analytics. At the heart of the workshop is a series of short presentations, followed by intense, high-level discussions. The participants will produce a series of white papers that synthesize what is known on these topics and frame future research directions.
The pairing of researchers from the US with those from Finland, a nation whose students regularly rank at the top in international measures of STEM learning, in such a workshop holds great promise as scientific communities with somewhat complementary strengths come together. The goal of the workshop is to foster international collaboration between nations and, by so doing, to spur the production of proposals at the frontiers of our knowledge of STEM learning.
This workshop (grant 1242966, the subject of this report) led to the formation of the SAVI consortium, coordinated through NSF award number:1254189, "SAVI: Finland-USA EAGER: Innovations in Learning and Education." SAVI formation was both the primary goal and the primary outcome of this project. As we noted in the final project report, this workshop grant led to the formation of the Science Across Virtual Institute (SAVI) consortium, coordinated through NSF award number:1254189, "SAVI: Finland-USA EAGER: Innovations in Learning and Education," and a series of related EAGER and supplement awards to support the eight US teams and additional funding from Finnish agencies for their partners. These eight bilateral teams collectively have contributed to impact on other disciplines, development of human resources, institutional resources, information resources, technology transfer, and policy/practice considerations in the US K12 education enterprise. This $52K workshop effort was a catalyst for these impacts, but the impacts are attributable to the followup awards, not to this grant. For tracing the intellectual merit, broader impacts, and outcomes of this family of projects, of which this workshop was the initial activity, List 1 identifies accomplishments of the SAVI partners from the first year of activities. List 2 more narrowly focuses on the outcomes of this particular grant, identifying the collaboration teams that the workshop formed, their institutions, and their PIs. List 1: Startup Year Accomplishments of SAVI Partners After one year, the projects have each collected a substantial body of empirical data corresponding to original proposals. Four peer reviewed publications have been accepted. A book draft on MOOCs and assessments related to online learning was completed by summer, 2013 and is moving to completion. Approximately twenty conference papers have been submitted with a high acceptance rate. Approximately one dozen substantial platform and instrument developments and upgrades. Over thirty separate funding proposals for the SAVI work by its project partners. Approximately one third have been funded, one-third declined, and one-third pending. List 2: First Year Participants in the Innovations in Learning and Education SAVI, formed as the outcome of workshop project NSF 124966. Collaborations that resulted in de novo grants from NSF are hyperlinked to the new grants. The other projects were supported by supplements to existing grants. All collaborations resulting from this project also won support from Tekes and the Academy of Finland, NSF's partner agencies. Brief project descriptions appear at innovationsforlearning.net WEPS: Advancing an Online Project in the Assessment and Effective Teaching of Calculus (MOOCs, data analytics, mathematics education): George Mason Univ. (A. Eamonn Kelly), Univ. of Helsinki (Mika Seppäla, joint with Florida State Univ.), Texas A&M Univ. (G. Donald Allen), Northwestern Univ. (David Uttal) ETEXTBOOK: Dynamic Digital Text: An Innovation in STEM Education: Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison (Sadhana Puntambekar), Auburn Univ. (Hari Narayanan), Virginia Tech (Cliff Schaffer), Univ. of Tampere (Roope Raisamo), VATT (Mika Kortelainen), Aalto Univ. (Ari Korhonen), Turku Univ. (Mirjamaija Mikkila-Erdmann) EAGER: Engagement in STEM Learning and Teaching with Mobile Video Inquiries and Communities (data analytics, experience sampling, science education): Michigan State Univ. (Barbara Schneider), Univ. of Helsinki (Jari Lavonen and Katariina Salmela-Aro) VIP: Expanding STEM Learning and Teaching with Mobile Video Inquiries and Communities (video authorship for STEM learning, creativity, video collaboration, science and mathematics education): Stanford Univ. (Roy Pea), Univ. of Helsinki (Hannele Nieme and Jari Multisilta), Univ. of Lapland (Heli Ruokomo), Pepperdine Univ. (Eric Hamilton) FUN: A Finland-U.S. Network for Engagement and STEM Learning in Games: TERC (Jodi Asbell-Clarke); Univ. of Tampere (Jarmo Vitelli & Roope Raisomo), Aalto Univ. (Ari Korhonen) and Univ. of Jyväskylä (Marko Kauppinen), Northern Illinois Univ. (David Shernoff and Brian Coller), WGBH (Maria Wolsky) GROMINDS: Global Cyber Tools for Improving Young Learners’ Reading Comprehension, Scientific Discourse and STEM Learning: Boulder Learning Technologies (Wayne Ward & Ron Cole), Southern Methodist Univ. (Doris Luft-Baker), Heikki Lytinnen, Univ. of Jyväskylä PDE: Studying and Supporting Productive Disciplinary Engagement in Demanding STEM Learning: Univ. of Washington (Susan Nolen), Oregon State Univ. (Milo Koretsky and Debra Gilbuena), Turku Univ. (Marja Vauras & Erno Lehtinen) UNCODE:Uncovering Hidden Cognitive Demands on Global Learners: Stanford Univ. (Renate Fruchter), Aalto Univ., Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (Satu Pakarinen), Aalto Univ. (Niina Nurmi & Johanna Koroma)
