Researchers
At NLabs we aim to integrate learning research and practice by providing transdisciplinary researchers with anonymized and consented longitudinal datasets from millions of learners and educators implementing Navigator.
A Research Collaborative
At NLabs we run a research collaborative. The collaborative facilitates research across neuroscience, cognitive science, psychology, learning science, data science, and computer science, using data from millions of Navigator users across disciplines and geographies.
This research collaborative is co-led by Dr. Nancy Songer, Dean of the College of Education at the University of Utah; Dr. Teya Rutherford, University of Delaware; Dr. Edith Gummer, former Program Director at National Science Foundation; and Dr. Prasad Ram, Founder, and CEO of Gooru.
Navigator is a learning data backbone with dedicated applications that provide real-time actionable insights for every ecosystem player – learners, instructors, guardians, school leadership, content providers, IT admins, tool developers, and researchers. Navigator aggregates all available data to locate each learner in terms of their knowledge, mindsets, and community. We provide this data to Researchers with funded projects to support their study and in turn integrate the researchers validated innovations like content, tools, and algorithms with Navigator to reach millions of learners.
Why have a Research Collaborative?
Experts from other sectors have made a compelling case that research that influences practice often begins in practice settings and through observations of the unexpected, can generate new ideas and theories. Exposure to routine practice also provides opportunities to identify ways in which research knowledge can be crafted into improvements in practice. Also, problems of practice do not know disciplinary boundaries. Tackling those problems effectively requires a practice context in which researchers with a variety of areas of expertise can work collaboratively to solve problems.
Link to Research Papers
Uniqueness
Navigator is a “GPS for Learners” that uses available data to dynamically locate learners’ knowledge and mindsets for every competency and to recommend personalized learning pathways. Navigator provides an adaptive learning framework where researchers can plug in their innovations including content, tools, or algorithms; validate their effectiveness with specific cohorts; and integrate the validated innovations to reach millions of users.
Our research collaborative is unique in that it provides:
- Access to Rich Data Sets: Researchers can select their cohorts, the duration of the longitudinal data, and access consented anonymized data of users from institutions that want to participate in research.
- Adaptive Learning Framework: Navigator provides a comprehensive framework for researchers to plug in their tools for students, teachers, and classroom practices. Navigator includes a developer site for researchers to use APIs to integrate their tools, content, and algorithms.
- Learning Maps: Researchers can leverage the open, curated learning activities catalog from a variety of providers to support their programs. The learning activities are curated with descriptive metadata; content metadata like transcript, summary, competency, and lexile levels; and efficacy metadata such as relevance, engagement, and outcomes. The Learning Maps include complete courses for learning US K12 Mathematics from grades 2 to high school, middle school science, and middle school ELA.
Researchers Plug Content, Tools or Algorithms into Navigator’s Adaptive Learning Framework
Come join the Research Collaborative!
Get started by following this Getting Started Guide. Here, you can identify the data you need and request data from appropriate cohorts. Once approved, the anonymized data will then be made available to you via the Research portal.
Example Data: Here is a knowledge base article that showcases the type of data recorded and some sample reports.