Seeking Education Researchers!
CREATEd is seeking several equity-centered education policy or practice research projects that are ready to be transformed into usable, useful policy or practice resources through a co-design process led by CREATEd Fellows.
Collaborative design, or co-design as we call it, is a participatory approach to designing solutions for complex problems used in many fields and industries. A key feature of co-design is that those most impacted by decisions are treated as equal collaborators in the design process, addressing power imbalances in decision-making. Co-design has been applied in education through research-practice partnerships, curriculum development, and the design and implementation of reform initiatives to generate equitable and impactful change.
The CREATEd co-design process is an 8-step interactive process that is:
- Highly facilitated
- Allows research ideas and practice ideas to come together in real time
- Scalable
- (Will be) free and publicly available
- Leverages the knowledge and experiences of researchers, educators, communication and design experts, and other stakeholders
- Leads to resources that both draw on high quality research and are useful and relevant for achieving greater equity in educational policy and practice
CREATEd Fellows and/or staff will facilitate the co-design process by bringing together stakeholders to transform research into practical tools and resources for policy and practice. Members of the co-design team will pilot the CREATEd codesign resources and participate in a series of virtual sessions supported by CREATEd staff. Research-informed, equity centered tools and resources developed through the process will be co-owned by the co-design team, made publicly available, and mobilized to create positive change in educational policy or practice.
We are looking to identify researchers who are committed to positively contributing to a more equitable education system and are willing to engage in a process to identify ways of transforming research messages to key audiences. We are interested in engaging scholars who have generated research that:
- centers on critical issues in educational policy or practice
- uses sound, rigorous methods (all research methods and traditions are welcome)
- pays particular attention to creating more equitable opportunities, environments, and outcomes for students
- has implications or suggests actions for policy or practice
We are committed to supporting scholars who lack access to institutional or financial support for enhancing the impact of their research, scholars from marginalized communities and scholars of color, and junior scholars. Research submitted for consideration will be evaluated and selected by CREATEd staff and CREATEd Fellows for inclusion in the co-design process. Researchers submitting selected projects will be invited to participate in one of several co-design processes scheduled for Spring or Fall 2024.
This is a compensated activity scheduled for Fall 2023 and enacted through a series of virtual meetings. The co-design process typically includes about 15 hours of in-meeting work, distributed over a combination of short and extended meetings. In addition, there is some out-of-meeting work, including preparing for meetings, “homework” between meetings which is typically decided by the team, and some time for follow ups or feedback. This is variable by project and team member, but may be as much as 15 additional hours.
The co-design teams’ meetings and activities will be occurring virtually from late September through December 2023. The team will set a schedule that is mutually convenient for them.
This is a pilot trial of the co-design process. Participants will be asked to participate in a formative evaluation of the co-design process.
You will be compensated $2000 based on anticipated meeting hours and out-of-meeting work. In addition, participation is an opportunity to have your work transformed in a way that increases its potential impact, to connect with members of the policy and practice communities, and to develop knowledge and skills for co-design.
I’m interested! What do I do next?
To express your interest in participating, please send an email to irmc@udel.edu with the information at right. There will be co-design builds in the spring and fall of 2024.