ED-MEDIA 1999 Proceedings Book - Association for the ...

Design of Web-based Learning Environments: Integrating curriculum,
technology, and professional development approaches
James D. Slotta and Marcia C. Linn
Graduate School of Education, University of California at Berkeley
4523 Tolman Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-1670
slotta@socrates.berkeley.edu
Philip Bell
College of Education
University of Washington
322 Miller Hall Box 353600
Seattle, WA 98195
pbell@u.washington.edu
Panel Topic Summary
An increasing number of learning environments are successfully engaging students in authentic inquiry while also
promoting meaningful learning about central concepts in a discipline. These efforts are characterized by some
common characteristics:
• Computer-based activities are embedded in curriculum sequences, so computers become a learning partner,
rather than a medium for direct instruction or a generic tool
• Instructional frameworks inform the design process and provide a connection back to our theoretical
understanding of learning
• Innovations are designed and refined through multiple iterations by collaborating design partnerships that
include teachers, educational researchers, technologists, and domain experts (e.g., scientists)
• Professional development for teachers emerges as an integral component of research and development work.
This involves new technologies and materials, and typically the creation of dedicated "on-line communities."
Over the past fourteen years, our own research program has focused on promoting middle and high school students'
integrated understanding of science through the use of carefully designed and technology-rich curriculum (Linn,
1995). This effort has resulted in a framework for designing instruction called Scaffolded Knowledge Integration
(SKI), as well as several computer-based learning environments, including:
• The Computer as Learning Partner Project (CLP) >
• The Knowledge Integration Environment (KIE) >
• The Web-based Integrated Science Environment (WISE)
The software and curriculum used within these learning environments has included on-line lab-books to support
reflection during experimentation, electronic coaches and guidance to offer conceptual hints, Internet-based
discussion tools to help students exchange ideas, on-line design libraries to support the sharing of design resources,
computer-based argument editors to enrich discussions during classroom debate activities, and any number of
different interface designs which provided procedural scaffolding to students as they progressed through these online
activities. Throughout this extensive history, the elaboration and refinement of our instructional framework has
been an enduring focus and product of the work. With every new semester in the classroom, we have continued to
refine this framework, together with our understanding of how to design effective curriculum activities, and our
knowledge of how to support teachers who wish to adopt our curriculum and technology.
This panel examines the principles of this framework, describes how they are being applied to design new formats
for Web-based instruction in science, and explains how the framework can promote professional development for
both pre-service and in-service teachers. Technology can be used catalyze a shift toward new instructional practices
in classrooms, but not without careful attention to issues of curriculum, assessment, and learning.