Group-Based Cloud Computing

Project Team

PI: Walter Stroup (UMass Dartmouth)
Co-PIs: Uri Wilensky (Northwestern University)
Tony Petrosino (UT-Austin)
Corey Brady (Vanderbilt University)

Funding Source

 

Website

Project Aim

Group-Based Cloud Computing (GbCC) is agent-based modeling program, powered by NetLogo Web, that allows learners to work collaboratively to participate in, author, and share models. Models developed in NetLogo Web cover a range of domain content including, but not limited to: disease transmission, population dynamics, physical phenomena, and social stratification. GbCC provides network supported, generative design based learning and teaching opportunities. This project seeks to use GbCC technologies to encourage teachers and students to participate more fully in socially mediated learning and teaching to broaden and deepen interest in authentic STEM fields, learning, and careers. The goal of the project is to use the browser-based GbCC capabilities to advance participatory and more fully socially mediated approaches to learning and teaching in STEM classrooms as a vehicle to broaden and deepen the involvement and engagement of all students with in-depth understanding of STEM domains and their possible STEM-related careers.

Research Questions

  1. How can the integrated GbCC environment be shown to be capable of supporting participatory and more fully socially mediated forms of classroom activity through use in an innovative, STEM-focused pre-service program?
  2. Can we develop ways of understanding how teacher capacity building presents a credible strategy for transforming student understanding and potential career trajectories by attending to what issues are raised, and how they are addressed, relative to the implementation of innovation both of the specific sort advanced in this project; but also, plausibly, in support of attempts to introduce similar, group-oriented, technological innovations in STEM education?

Project Goals

1. Utilize The University of Texas at Austin’s UTeach program to pilot and train teachers on teaching and implementation of GbCC curricula to refine the GbCC framework.

2. Produce a fully-functional browser-based GbCC learning environment, model lessons, documentation for existing lessons, ideas for how to author new lessons, and professional development insights.

Past Research

  1. NetLogo (Wilensky, 1999) agent-based and aggregate modeling and participatory simulation (HubNet, Wilensky & Stroup, 1999) capabilities,
  2. The completely open standards based, group situated, device independent, and database mediated cloud in-a-bottle (CiB) network architecture (Remmler & Stroup, 2012), and
  3. The use of socially mediated generative activity design and supporting STEM focuses learning and teaching in classrooms (cf. Stroup, 2007).
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