Spring 2021 Member Spotlights

Dr. Enilda Romero-Hall

Research Agenda

My research agenda has focused primarily on investigating emerging online learning experiences centered on populations within higher education and industry settings. I explore topics related to (a) the design and development of interactive multimedia, (b) faculty and learners’ digital preparedness and experiences, and (c) networked learning in online social communities. Other research areas include innovative research methods in learning design and technology; culture, technology, and education; and feminist pedagogies. Two of my most recent projects are a collaboration with colleague Maria Luna-Thomas on a book chapter titled “La Clave: Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in Digital Praxis” that will appear in the book Critical Digital Pedagogy: Broadening Horizons, Bridging Theory and Practice edited by Suzan Koseoglu, George Veletsianos, and Chris Rowell and a research project focused on the intersection of feminist theories and the learning design and technology field.

Research Trajectory

When I was in my doctoral program, I started researching the use of animated pedagogical agents in simulations and games. I worked as a research assistant for Dr. Ginger Watson, who led a research lab at the Virginia Modeling Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC). I became interested in the design of multimedia within simulated environments and, in particular, the use of the facial expression of emotions in animated pedagogical agents.

When I first joined UT, the university did not have online teaching and learning practices or infrastructure. The Instructional Design and Technology program, in which I teach, became one of the first programs to be allowed to teach in a blended format. Many of my investigations focused on implementing blended and HyFlex practices at our institution to better understand the learners' and instructors' experiences. Similarly, my interest in online social communities and social media in education resulted from my interest in gaining insights into my graduate students' experiences. These investigations then evolved into the exploration of networked learning in other settings and populations.

Right now, I am particularly interested in research related to culture, technology, and education, and feminist pedagogies (as previously mentioned). This is partly due to my own experiences in higher education and the need to increase awareness about social issues.

Theories

Just as my research topics have changed over the years, the theories that have guided my investigations have also changed. The cognitive theory of multimedia learning and the facial expression of emotion theory informed my research on animated pedagogical agents' design. The sociocultural theory of cognitive development, connectivism, and the Community of Inquiry theoretical frameworks guided my research on online learning, networked learning, online social communities, and social media in education. I have recently informed the framework of recent publications using feminist theories that establish arguments for equality, cultural responsiveness, and inclusiveness in the learning design and technology field. I am currently working on research that will continue to push forward with frameworks guided by feminist theories while also integrating critical race theory. I plan to continue exploring topics related to culture, technology, and education, and online instruction. My work contributes to theory-building by validating existing constructs and determining how these may or may not apply in specific contexts.

Emerging Methodologies

There are two methodologies that I would like to highlight. These are not emerging methods, but they are often overlooked. These two methodologies are autoethnography and art-based methods. In one of my writing projects, my colleagues and I used autoethnography to:

1. Understand the lived experiences of real people in context.

2. Examine social conditions and uncover oppressive power arrangements.

3. Fuse theory and action to challenge dominant processes.

Art-based methods are still new to me. I have enjoyed reading recent work in the learning design and technology field that incorporates art-based techniques such as Sonia Tiwari and Yu-Chen Chiu's work on learning environments' visual mappings. I have also read research that combines art-based methods with other methodologies such as ethnography, referred to as Critical CineEthnography by Johnathan Gratch and Scott Warren, to analyze video, personal artifacts, and images to explore the complex learning experiences of learners.

Dr. Dirk Ifenthaler

Research Agenda

My current research agenda focusses on supporting lifelong learning through advanced and data-informed analytics systems. This includes the development of interrelated programs to explore philosophical and pragmatic implications of the integration of human and artificial intelligence in augmenting human-machine-collaboration. One of the main areas that requires further attention relates to learning and information processing as well as how to adapt to changes of individual dispositions, changes in the context of learning, and the dynamics of required competences. Hence, the importance of understanding how artificial intelligence as a peer may select and construct data in the process of learning, how artificial intelligence can learn to process and forget information, and how acritical intelligence can share knowledge with human collaborators are of central interest. Another related area of my research focuses on holistic learning analytics applications for supporting organizational change, curriculum development, and near real-time support of learning and teaching processes. Both research areas are supported by questions toward ethical principles for artificial intelligence in education as well as data privacy issues for all involved stakeholders.

Research Trajectory

The full story of my research trajectory is well documented in my chapter titled “Participating in the Gran Fondo of Science” (Ifenthaler, 2019). My early career was inspired by concepts and theories of change in educational organizations which led me to programming a simulation for teacher education and school development. Further, I was involved in projects focusing on complex problem-solving and the influence of individual dispositions in learning processes. My later career evolved toward cognitive processes and questions of assessment and feedback. Here, advanced data analytics, such as natural language processing, opened up further opportunities to build and empirically test automated assessment and feedback systems. Following my interest in simulations for learning, another line of my research developed toward game-based learning and assessment. For the past ten years, my research focus has developed toward holistic learning analytics for supporting lifelong learning.

Theories

My epistemological foundation is based in the understanding of human learning through the lens of information processing. The concept of mental models has been a central theoretical construct. Mental models are considered qualitative mental representations which are iteratively developed by humans on the basis of their available world knowledge aiming at solving problems or constructing competence in a specific domain. Hence, my research is guided through an analytic-empirical-positivist paradigm which focusses on producing empirical evidence through adequate methods guided by theory-informed research questions.

Emerging Methodologies

Given the increasing availability of data from vast interconnected and loosely coupled systems of administrative, academic, and personal information flowing within and across organizations and businesses, the challenge of data management, analysis, visualization, and interpretation, which is integral to advancing knowledge and understanding in the arts and sciences, is constantly evolving. This assumption highlights two concepts at the heart of emerging methodologies: complexity and the role of large amounts of dynamic evolving data in scientific modeling and theory formation. Therefore, the current tools and processes for the preparation of researchers in many fields are inadequate for facing both complexity and big data which requires an advanced methodological foundation for current and future research.