Feedback and Adaptation Within a Complex Systems Approach to Designing for Scalable and Sustainable Professional Development

Abstract

This paper reports on the efficacy of a professional development framework premised on four complex systems design principles of which two are detailed here--feedback and adaptation. The framework is applied to the design and delivery of the first two years of a three- year study aimed at improving teacher and student understanding of computational modeling tools. We demonstrate that structuring a professional development program around these principles facilitates the development of important strategies such as the identification of salient system variables, effectively distributing expertise, and constructing curricular adaptations. We discuss two meta-level themes that may account for the success of the principles: attending to structure vs. agency and setting short-term vs. long-term goals. Each illustrates the tension existing between competing variables that need to be considered to effectively program for professional development around educational technology with the goal of sustaining and scaling innovations in real world complex educational systems.