Nominations are now open for the Year 2003 Jan Hawkins Award for Early Career Contributions to Humanistic Research and Scholarship in Learning Technologies of Division C of the American Educational Research Association. The award carries a stipend of $500 and the expectation that the award winner will present a talk at AERA in the following year. Please note that criteria for the award are broader than they have been in previous years.

This award recognizes an individual or small collaborative team that is engaged research that is combined in some way with practice and advocacy. While research must play a central, informative role in the work of the applicant, the applying individual or group may include practitioners, directors of innovative educational programs, or individuals in informal or non-traditional educational environments who are blending research, practice and advocacy. The award is intended to recognize a body of work that:

• explores and demonstrates powerful new ways to think about technologies in contexts of learning and education, and uses innovative research techniques to understand the impact of those technologies;




• places young people and/or practicing educators at the center of the problem-solving process by making their meaning-making process, their needs and constraints, and their priorities central to the project of making technology useful to teaching and learning;




• strikes an effective balance between innovation---inventing new approaches to K-12 learning with technologies-- and understanding-examining existing educational environments and the processes of change that they undergo when technologies are introduced or used in new ways;




• uses technology to bring about broad improvements in educational systems with a focus on issues of diversity, equity, and learning for all; and




• is an early career contribution with the above orientations (the award will emphasize recognition for those individuals who are at the pre-tenure stage in academic careers, or pre-tenure-level equivalents in non-university contexts)

Dr. Jan Hawkins was a developmental psychologist with a cognitive, cultural, and social-interactionist orientation, and was well known for her respectful, humanistic conceptions of appropriate roles for using technology in K-12 learning environments. Her work illustrates the balance that can be achieved in recognizing the innovative, emergent properties of new technologies while simultaneously respecting the individuals and conditions of the learning environments in which these new technologies are being used. She also was concerned with how complex social systems interact with emerging technologies to provide or prevent access to information for various groups of people based on gender, race, and cultural and ethnic background. Her work helped researchers, practitioners, and policy makers alike to think critically about technologies and learning, encouraging them not to seek out technology as a panacea or avoid it as a deterministic influence. She was also exemplary in her nurturing of young research scholars in learning technologies, and has been a model for them through her research and leadership.

Any member of Division C may make a nomination, including a self-nomination. The recipient of the award need not belong to Division C. A nomination may take one of two forms:

1. The nominator may send a letter containing the complete bibliographic citation of a single publication within the last two years designated by the nominator as illustrative or representative of the nominee's larger research program, along with complete bibliographic citations of up to five additional relevant publications of the nominee within the last three years (or in press). The nominator should also submit copies of the representative publications.




2. The nominator may send a brief portfolio describing the body of work that qualifies the nominated party or parties for this award. This portfolio may include unpublished research reports, materials describing or reporting on programmatic work with youth or educators, links to web-based materials, or curricula. The portfolio should both make clear the key contributions of the work and the most recent developments or contributions made by the individual or small group. The portfolio must make clear the role that research plays in the work.

In addition, all nominations should include a supporting statement of no more than 300 words, and the vita of the nominee.

The submission deadline is February 15, 2003. Please send all nominations (including self-nominations) to:

Laura Sanderson
Assistant to the Director
EDC Center for Children and Technology
96 Morton St., 7th Fl.
New York, NY 10014.

For additional information and queries, contact Andee Rubin (Andee_rubin@terc.edu)

Georgia Tech University Professor Wins 2002 Hawkins Award