Education Commons^™

"The Village That Learns": A Learning Journey Across Intraventions And Domains Over Two Decades In A Rural Thai Community, Deborah A. Fields, Luis Morales-Navarro, Paulo Blikstein

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

What does it mean to become a village that learns? In this paper we document the transformative learning journey of a small Thai village over 24 years, becoming a community that identified, tackled, and iterated on problems, altering their everyday practices and lives. In that process the village shifted from a subsistence agricultural community staggeringly in debt to one known for its sustainable environmental, agricultural, and financial initiatives. To understand the village’s learning journey, we consider the village itself as the primary unit of analysis, applying an iterative case study approach, with chronological sequencing, thematic, and biographical narrative analysis …

An Assessment Instrument Of Technological Literacies In Makerspaces And Fablabs, Paulo Blikstein, Zaza Kabayadondo, Andrew Martin, Deborah A. Fields

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Background

As the maker movement is increasingly adopted into K‐12 schools, students are developing new competences in exploration and fabrication technologies. This study assesses learning with these technologies in K‐12 makerspaces and FabLabs.

Purpose

Our study describes the iterative process of developing an assessment instrument for this new technological literacy, the Exploration and Fabrication Technologies Instrument, and presents findings from implementations at five schools in three countries. Our index is generalizable and psychometrically sound, and permits comparison between student confidence and performance.

Design/Method

Our evaluation of distinct technology skills separates general computing, information and communication technology (ICT), and exploration and …