About

This blog is a public record of the LEADing Techquity project, a research practice partnership begun in the spring semester of the 2015-16 school year between the Aurora Public Schools (APS) Educational Technology Department and Dr. Remi Holden of the University of Colorado at Denver (UCD). This digital record will support stakeholders in APS in understanding how the partnership was formed and what processes this project has employed to engage stakeholders in professional learning. Externally, this record might act as a toolkit for other educators to replicate or iterate upon the work of LEADing Techquity.

Definition

Techquity, as we conceive of it, is a noun that describes practices at the classroom, school, and district level that leverage technology for more equitable and culturally responsive education.

Partnership Proposal 

The proposal for the project was developed to name the scope of work, identify the financial component of the partnership, as well as establish the work as a collaborative, iterative research partnership.

Utilizing design thinking and design-based research methods, stakeholders will draw upon and analyze field notes, audio recordings, interview and focus group data, design documents, other learning artifacts to identify promising techquity practices, share models with other schools and leaders, and inform future instructional design efforts.

The excerpt above explains that design thinking and design-based research methods would be used throughout the project.  The graphic below, borrowed from the Stanford d.school, shows the components of a design process; the same components that inform the organization of this blog record. 

Guide Map

The guide map below, taken from the Research + Practice Collaboratory, served as tool for helping project leaders understand the stages of the work. This Google doc shows how the map supported the planning of the first semester of the project.