Abstract:
The goal of this research study was to observe and describe changes that occurred in student and teacher skills, conceptual beliefs and actions as students designed a series of multimedia projects for authentic audiences. Furthermore, the research was designed to explore the scaffolding of events and actions of sequence of five design environments. In each environment, an instructor and his students worked toward creating integrated, collaborative curriculum projects. HyperStudio authoring software was used as a construction tool and publishing medium for student artifacts.
Results of this study indicate that both teacher and students need to have an active role in the design process. Working as ’student designers’ is a collaborative process that is both time-consuming and complex. Overall, both the teacher and his students were receptive to the process of design and felt it provided valuable benefits when compared to the traditional learning process. While this study did not address the issues of content knowledge acquisition or performances of standardized test, it does provide some practical recommendations for teachers working with students in a design environment.