Grounded design for a learning environment for graduate student researchers

Using grounded design this paper describes an online learning environment for graduate students in education called GRAIL (Graduate Researchers Academic Identity onLine). The overall goal of this project is to develop a set of social and technical tools that support the formation of an online community to engage students throughout their program in activities related to educational research across course boundaries. Grounded design is used to explore the psychological, pedagogical, technological, cultural, and pragmatic implications on a learning environment within the theoretical framework proposed by Communities of Practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998). The design elements of the GRAIL learning environment currently under investigation are described. The presentation will detail key issues relating to design and learning that emerged during this first year of the project.