Creating a Framework for Research on Systemic Technology Innovations

This article examines why cognitively oriented technology innovations, designed to foster deep thinking and learning, have not become widespread in K–12 schools. We argue a key reason is that most design-based research does not explicitly address sys-temic issues of usability, scalability and sustainability. This limitation must be over-come if research is to create usable knowledge that addresses the challenges con-fronting technology innovations when implemented in real-world school contexts. This is especially important in an era when political forces push schools away from the cognitively rich, inquiry-oriented approaches espoused by the Learning Sciences. We suggest expanding our conception of design-based research to include research on innovations in the context of systemic reform as a potential solution to the prob-lem. To that end, we introduce research questions and issues arising from our own ex-periences with a technology-rich innovation in the context of a systemic reform ini-tiative as a starting point in the creation of an expanded design-based research agenda. These questions and issues have important implications for both the contin-ued viability of research on technologies for learning and on the future of technology use in schools that stems from such research. Over the past decade, the Learning Sciences have built on knowledge of how people learn (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999) and made major investments in the de-sign and development of learning environments that employ technology to foster