OPEN and QA Compliance Information

One Planet Education Network (OPEN)
[Title I Research Criteria]

 

Published Articles

Developing Critical Implementations of Technology-Rich Innovations: A Cross-Case Study of the Implementation of Quest Atlantis.

       Thomas, M.K., Barab, S.A., Tuzun, H., J. Educational Computing Research, 41(2) pp. 125-153, 2009.

  • Title I COMPLIANCE
             One Planet Education Network (OPEN), through its design and research collaboration with Quest Atlantis (QA), submits all its 3D virtual learning environments to rigorous empirical design studies. Before a QA learning mission can be made available to students it first is tested in numerous classrooms, in a variety of demographic settings, and must show evidence of significant gains in areas including learning, motivation, domain content and domain tasks, as well as qualitative and affective measures.

             Quest Atlantis systematically employs empirical methods in its data collection and research implementations. This includes rigorous data analyses that are adequate to test the stated hypotheses and justify the general conclusions drawn. The attached research summary demonstrates our rigorous research methodologies, which provide reliable and valid data across evaluators and observers. In the case of qualitative or ethnographic research elements, observations are documented in multiple modalities (including video, audio, interviews, document analysis, etc), coded systematically, and submitted to inter-rater reliability across multiple measurements and different investigators.

             Our research methodology is typically either an experimental or quasi-experimental design (due to intact nature of school classrooms). In the case of intact classrooms, all students within that class are randomly assigned to different conditions, and control classrooms or groups are used where that is non-detrimental to student learning and outcomes. Quest Atlantis research is consistently published in the highest peer-reviewed journals, and authored by some of the brightest researchers in the field. We include ample evidence to meet the high rigor of the academic scientific community, to allow for replication, and to promote the building of sound theory and its application to learning contexts.