Abstract
This chapter explores the processes of research-informed educational intervention and change at a time when much teaching and learning is pervasively mediated by digital tools and environments. Drawing on theories and practices of design research and agile research, we propose a model that we term ‘cyber-social research’. For this, we draw inspiration from ‘agile’ software development processes, adapting these to interventionist projects designed for education reform in the postdigital era. We outline a theory of agile research and present a case study of an educational intervention that uses agile, cyber-social research methods. For this, we describe a project that designs and evaluates the effectiveness of an innovative, browser-based concept mapping and peer review tool. This example demonstrates the significance of cyber-social research methods that harness the affordances of the digital, integrating agile and design research principles for learning in the postdigital age.
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Notes
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US Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences: ‘The Assess-as-You-Go Writing Assistant’ (R305A090394); ‘Assessing Complex Performance’ (R305B110008); ‘u-Learn.net: An Anywhere/Anytime Formative Assessment and Learning Feedback Environment’ (ED-IES-10-C-0018); ‘The Learning Element’ (ED-IES-lO-C-0021); and ‘InfoWriter: A Student Feedback and Formative Assessment Environment’ (ED-IES-13-C-0039). Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: ‘Scholar Literacy Courseware.’ National Science Foundation: ‘Assessing ‘Complex Epistemic Performance’ in Online Learning Environments’ (Award 1,629,161); Utilizing an Academic Hub and Spoke Model to Create a National Network of Cybersecurity Institutes, Department of Homeland Security, contract 70RCSA20FR0000103; Infrastructure for Modern Educational Delivery Technologies: A Study for a Nationwide Law Enforcement Training Infrastructure, Department of Homeland Security, contract 15STCIR00001–05-03; Development of a Robust, Nationally Accessible Cybersecurity Risk Management Curriculum for Technical and Managerial Cybersecurity Professionals, Department of Homeland Security, contract 70SAT21G00000012/70RCSA21FR0000115; MedLang: A Semantic Awareness Tool in Support of Medical Case Documentation, Jump ARCHES program, Health Care Engineering Systems Center, College of Engineering, contracts P179, P279, P288.
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Tzirides, A.O., Saini, A.K., Cope, B., Kalantzis, M., Searsmith, D. (2023). Cyber-Social Research: Emerging Paradigms for Interventionist Education Research in the Postdigital Era. In: Jandrić, P., MacKenzie, A., Knox, J. (eds) Constructing Postdigital Research . Postdigital Science and Education . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35411-3_5
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