Assistant Professor Indiana University Bloomington (IUB), United States
Program Abstract: This innovation/ideation session will introduce Terracotta, a new plug-in to the Canvas learning management system that makes it possible to conduct rigorous, responsible experiments within course sites. To test whether education reforms exert a causal influence on student success, the most compelling research method is to conduct an experiment. However, experimentation is increasingly rare in the STEM educational research literature, and to date, researchers have argued it is prohibitively expensive and difficult to conduct experiments in classrooms. Terracotta seeks to reverse these trends and to increase the quality of evidence on improving student outcomes by showing what works, for whom and in what contexts. This session will offer an overview of this novel tool, examples of how it can be employed in STEM classrooms, and ample opportunity for discussion of its utility in identifying teaching and learning practices with reliable causal benefits within these contexts.
