While we’d like to believe that everything that we’ve built at Grockit is the first of its kind, the core foundation of our work rests on a large body of existing research developed over several decades. Below is a brief overview of how we draw on, participate in, and contribute to the research community.

Foundations

Grockit offers learners three different modes of study: individual practice, peer group sessions (modeled as a virtual study group), and instructor-led lessons. These three modes of learning can be mapped to three corresponding subfields of research on technology in education. The tools that we build and techniques that we adopt are informed by the findings emerging from these research communities:

Solo practice

Research in Artificial Intelligence in Education and Intelligent Tutoring Systems informs the “solo practice” activities in Grockit, where the focus is squarely on creating adaptive systems and algorithms that customize the learning experience to meet the needs of the individual learner. The techniques that we use for adaptive question selection in all solo games (including our CAT diagnostics and customized challenges) draw on work in this field.

Group study

Research in Computer Supported Collaborative Learning informs the “group study” activities in Grockit, with the focus on identifying how to better facilitate and support productive collaborations among peer learners. We have several related initiatives currently under review, include a peer-tutoring program and a software agent designed to prompt discussion, questions, and explanations among peers.

Instructor-led lessons

The technologies and structures that we have built into the “instructor-led lessons” in Grockit are informed by work in the E-Learning field on how to effectively teach online. In addition to the shared whiteboard available in group study games, Grockit instructors can easily incorporate shared slides, real-time shared text editing, audio conferencing, and other synchronous collaboration tools into the Grockit experience.

Collaborations

We have begun to collaborate with several university researchers and leaders at other educational organizations.

Workshop: “Opportunities for adaptive behavior in collaborative learning systems”

We are currently collaborating with two researchers at Carnegie Mellon University on organizing a workshop focused on Opportunities for adaptive behavior in collaborative learning systems at the 10th International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems.

Florida Virtual School

We have been working closely with the Research and Discovery Team at Florida Virtual School on a study in which eight classes of students piloted the use of Grockit as a supplement to the school’s Algebra I curriculum, and have presented this work with them at several conferences.

2009/2010 Graduate Research Internship program

Grockit offers a competitive annual summer doctoral research internship program for a graduate student pursuing study in the learning sciences. In 2010, a doctoral student in education at the University of California, Berkeley with a focus on educational measurement and evaluation joins us. In 2009, a doctoral student in educational psychology at the University of Kentucky, joined us to work on applications of Item Response Theory models.

Project proposal: “QuestionLab: Using inquiry to power a community of peer learning online”

We collaborated with a researcher at Rice University on a proposal to build a collaborative question authoring activity within Grockit that interacts with a well-established Open Educational Resource repository.

Open Education

We’ve enjoyed several fruitful discussions with active participants in the growing Open Education movement — including individuals from Peer to Peer University, Connexions at Rice University, and Academic Earth — and look forward to opportunities for future collaborations.

Publications

We actively participate in a number of research communities by organizing workshops, peer-reviewing and publishing papers, and sponsoring conferences. As we develop new algorithms and techniques, we have shared our experiences and findings with others by publishing and presenting at a number of recent academic conferences and workshops.

ITS-2010

Combining peer-assistance and peer-assessment in a synchronous collaborative learning activity. [PDF] Supplementary Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS-2010), for the Opportunities for Adaptive Behavior in Collaborative Learning Systems workshop, 2010.

GLS-2010

Collaborative Learning Games in the Virtual Classroom: Piloting Grockit at Florida Virtual School A joint presentation with Florida Virtual School at the 2010 Games, Learning and Society conference

ELEARN-2009

Interaction Synchronicity in Web-based Collaborative Learning Systems. [PDF] Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2009 (E-LEARN 2009), pp. 1121-1129.

AIED-2009

Incorporating game mechanics into a network of online study groups. [PDF] Supplementary Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED-2009). Intelligent Educational Games workshop, 2009.

Applications

We have identified a few contexts in which learners might benefit from Grockit’s platform, and have actively sought out opportunities to test the platform in each environment.

With standardized curricula (e.g. state standards, standardized tests)

The first learning community that Grockit established was for individuals studying for the GMAT exam. As with the other exam-centered networks in Grockit, the GMAT network primarily consists of individuals who are working — often in isolation — towards a well-defined goal. Since the same learning goal is shared by a large number of students, Grockit’s live collaborative learning networks offer a venue for peer-assisted study and real-time assistance that is active around-the-clock.

For out-of-school learning

Learning need not be limited to the school day. Many parents and students may be interested in pursuing opportunities outside of the classroom, where there may be a lack of instructional expertise. By letting these students to study online with their peers, they benefit from a social learning environment and the opportunity to ask questions and get immediate responses. Grockit is running a Summer Academy in 2010 that includes Math and English Language Arts curricula for students in Grades 8-12.

In virtual schools

A virtual school can offer a student the ability to complete a course on their own schedule, from any location.  The challenge in providing a flexible, individualized learning environment is that students may feel disconnected from each other, and can miss the opportunity to learn from interactions with their peers. Grockit can fill this gap by extending the benefits of social and collaborative learning to the geographically-dispersed students in a virtual school. We are currently piloting usage of Grockit within the Algebra I curriculum at Florida Virtual School.

Around Open Educational Resources

With significant support from the Hewlett Foundation, the open education movement has demonstrated how less restrictive licensing can open new possibilities for learning. We are currently exploring ways to build Grockit networks that benefit from, and contribute to, OER repositories. With our recent entry to the Digital Media and Learning competition, we outline one possible path towards building a Grockit community with Connexions, built around the open educational resources.

For hyper-specialized study

In long-tail domains characterized by a small number of learners interested in a specific area of study, Grockit offers a venue for learners to meet and to author their own study materials. In 2009, a group of neuropsychologists used Grockit’s platform as a tool to help them study for the American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology’s examination.