Enabling Schoolteachers to Participate in the Design of Educational Software

Abstract

The introduction of new hardware and software can change the way that teachers do their jobs, yet teachers are often neither enabled nor permitted to participate in the design of the new technology. This paper looks at the barriers that keep teachers from such participation and suggests one approach to overcoming them. The approach is to provide a translator who is familiar with the work and workplaces of both teachers and software developers and who can bridge the inter-occupational communication gap. A case study in the participatory design of educational software using a translator is presented. StUdying translation for clues to what a translator does and how he or she does it may yield information that is useful to design team members who do not have the benefit of working with a translator. Such information would be useful for design efforts beyond the realm of educational software. S