Presented by Dr. Savitha Moorthy, Director of STEM Equity Research, Digital Promise; and Sierra Gibson, Research Associate, Digital Promise
Sponsored by Digital Promise

Watch the Recording

If you view the recording and would like a CE certificate, join the Research and Evidence in Edtech  community and go to the CE Quizzes link in the Community Toolbox.

In this presentation, learn how to identify techniques to improve students’ learning experiences and outcomes. In this edWebinar, Digital Promise’s Director of STEM Equity Research, Dr. Savitha Moorthy, and Research Associate Sierra Gibson highlight how educators, researchers, and developers can effectively leverage research to improve students’ learning experiences and outcomes, enhance the design of edtech products, and assess the quality of edtech products. They answer the following questions:

• How might educators and district leaders assess the quality of an app or edtech tool?
• How can tech developers work with researchers effectively at all stages of development?
• How can researchers communicate with technology developers so as to improve the use of research in product design?

Dr. Moorthy and Sierra Gibson delve into the significance of feedback loops and their role in efficacy research. This session shares important elements that educators, district leaders, and students should communicate to the developer to create a product that best meets their needs.

They also discuss how developers can incorporate research from the learning sciences into all stages of the development process. In particular, they identify how developers can collaborate with researchers while developing prototypes and conducting usability studies in addition to efficacy studies that uncover the product’s impact and the conditions under which the product improves teaching and learning.

Finally, the session considers how researchers can communicate and interact with technology developers, and the specific strategies they can employ to expand the role and use of research evidence in the development process. Dr. Moorthy and Sierra Gibson discuss high quality efficacy research, including the value of rapid cycle studies and non­traditional metrics to determine effectiveness. This recorded edWebinar will benefit researchers, edtech developers, educators, and administrators.

About the Presenters

Dr. Savitha Moorthy is the director of STEM equity research at Digital Promise. Her work focuses on science and mathematics education, and on improving experiences and outcomes for educationally disenfranchised populations, including low-­income families, English Language Learners, and students and teachers in diverse, urban school districts. Signature projects in Dr. Moorthy’s portfolio include a research-­practice partnership with Clark County School District in Las Vegas, NV aimed at improving elementary English Learners’ science-learning experiences and a collaboration with the Jim Henson Company aimed at developing an app to promote science talk and science learning among families.

As a research associate at Digital Promise, Sierra Gibson focuses on building districts’ and educators’ capacity to make evidence-­based decisions around innovative programs and practices. In addition to conducting and supporting edtech pilot studies in collaboration with districts across the country, Sierra is also working on a research project studying technology integration in low­-resourced schools throughout America. Prior to joining Digital Promise, Sierra was an applied behavior analysis instructor and curriculum coordinator at an autism center in New York. While working on her master’s in education policy and management from Harvard Graduate School of Education, she also served as project manager and policy analyst for a nonprofit creating hybrid academic and SEL courses for students with dyslexia and ADHD. Sierra received her B.A. in government from Claremont McKenna College.

Join the Research and Evidence in Edtech community to network with educators, participate in online discussions, receive invitations to upcoming edWebinars, view past edWebinars, take a quiz to receive a CE certificate for a past edWebinar, and access free resources.

Digital Promise was created with the mission to accelerate innovation in education to improve opportunities to learn.