Search for: All records

Knowledge brokers play an essential role in bridging research and practice and mobilizing knowledge. Yet, literature offers little guidance and few examples for people and organizations engaging with educational systems in this capacity. Drawing on literature and our extensive knowledge brokerage experience, we address this gap and introduce the Learn, Illuminate, Nucleate, and Communicate (LINC) knowledge mobilization framework for knowledge brokers. We explain framework components and give examples from our project. 

Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) is effective in improving students’ learning outcomes, yet CSCL research is rarely translated to classroom practice. To identify key CSCL research topics for K-12 STEM practice, we conducted a modified Delphi method study with a panel of practitioners and researchers. We relied on a knowledge mobilization framework to draw on expertise from both researchers, who produce new knowledge, and practitioners, who combine it with their pedagogical wisdom and use it in classrooms. We used the Delphi method because of its potential to address the power imbalances among panelists and modified it to facilitate knowledge mediation between knowledge production and use. The panelists identified seven key CSCL topics for translation from research into practice: Classroom discourse; Diversity, equity, and inclusion; Teacher preparation and professional development; Socially shared regulation of learning; Argumentation; Classroom orchestration and scripts; and Student and teacher identities. We also investigated panelists’ ideas on effective practitioner-researcher partnerships to inform the next stage of our project, where researchers and practitioners will jointly translate research from selected topics into practical guidance. We discuss our findings and the affordances and limitations of the Delphi method in knowledge mediation. 

This study explored how researcher–coach dyads collaborated to create research-based briefs for classroom use. Data from a two-day workshop and dyads’ final products were analyzed using interaction analysis. The dyad’s work illuminated how products and relationships evolved together, fostering ownership and collaboration. These findings inform future researcher–practitioner partnerships and guide facilitation of effective collaborations by highlighting relationship building, agency, and ownership to shape joint work. 

This study examines researcher-practitioner collaborations in educational research, using Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) to analyze interactions between STEM coaches and researchers. It explores a two-day workshop focused on practitioner-identified challenges. The research highlighted the need to shift from researcher-centric approaches to balanced, collaborative methods. This study provides insights for developing bidirectional learning models that center practitioners' perspectives, aiming to bridge the gap between research and educational practice through more equitable and transformative partnerships. 

Effective researcher-coach relationships need reciprocal learning, which allows practitioners to share valuable contextual knowledge while researchers share evidence-based ideas. Nevertheless, these collaborations encounter obstacles due to power imbalances, which frequently establish researchers as authorities and reduce the role of practitioners as co-creators. Therefore, this study examines power dynamics in researcher-coach partnerships within educational contexts, emphasizing equitable collaboration strategies. Using Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) as a framework, this study analyzes video data from a writing intensive to explore interactions between two participants, Ashley and Russell. Findings reveal that initial tensions foster deeper understanding through negotiated power exchanges. The study underscores that openness, mutual trust, and reflective dialogue are essential for sustainable partnerships, advancing the understanding of power dynamics in researcher-coach collaborations. 

We brought researchers and educators together to participate as panelists in a Delphi Method study and rate the importance of research topics in computer-supported collaborative learning for K12 STEM practice. At the end of the Delphi Method, researchers and practitioners converged on seven key topics. Researchers and practitioners will further explore these topics in the next project phase to develop resources to connect research to practice in classrooms. 

We brought researchers and educators together to participate as panelists in a Delphi Method study and rate the importance of research topics in computer-supported collaborative learning for K12 STEM practice. At the end of the Delphi Method, researchers and practitioners converged on seven key topics. Researchers and practitioners will further explore these topics in the next project phase to develop resources to connect research to practice in classrooms. 

Abstract: The objective of this research was to explore how educators and researchers can collaborate to create research-to-practice briefs that make research accessible for classroom implementation. Specifically, we examined the benefits, opportunities, and difficulties of working together. While there were challenges, our findings suggest that both researchers and teachers can benefit from collaborating. This pilot research is shaping future work to further bridge the gap between research and practice. 

Abstract: New digital technologies can help create equitable educational outcomes. We used bibliometric methods, a powerful tool for analysis of large bibliographic datasets, with an open-source software to map the computer supported collaborative learning literature. Applying a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens, we considered strengths and weaknesses of this method and analyzed the resulting literature map. We offer recommendations to researchers using similar approaches and re-envision the transformational potential of bibliometric analysis.