Research Summary
Research Summary
My primary area of research is computing education both in K-12 and in higher education settings. I am passionate about effecting a lasting impact on the educational practices of teachers and faculty members by informing their practice through research.
As a research assistant (RA) in an NSF funded grant project team (DEAP), I have been involved in investigating the competencies required by computing professionals, and the design of educational resources to promote the development of these competencies. Apart from the research, I have also been involved in providing instructional design consultation to computing faculty from the pilot teams (University of Alabama and Tuskegee University) who would be the first adopters of competency-based education in computing. I have delivered multiple workshops on competency-based education to computing faculty members.
In K-12 education, my research is focused on teacher-readiness for integrating computational thinking (CT) skills. I investigate teacher-readiness through the lens of a conceptual framework based on the self-determination theory, Bandura's self-efficacy theory, and goal-relevance theory. It involves constructs such as teachers’ competence in CT, their self-efficacy, their goal-relevance perceptions of CT, and their motivations and attitudes towards CT integration.
I have also been involved in other research areas such as virtual reality (VR)-based education and online education. My research experience includes both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. The following sections summarize my research output in each of these research methods.
Richardson, J., Koehler, A., Tagare, D., Urena, L., Xu, Q., Zhang, Z., Fiock, H., Long, Y., Duha, M. S. (2023). Community of Inquiry Design Decisions Across Disciplines. American Educational Research Association, 2023.
Tagare, D. (2023). Teachers' Perspectives on Computational Thinking Skills: A Phenomenological Study. American Educational Research Association, 2023.
Tagare, D., Exter, M., & Ashby, I. (2023). The Many Hats - Accidental Roles on an Interdisciplinary Research and Implementation Project: A Collaborative Autoethnography. In B. Hokanson, M. Exter, M. Schmidt, A. Tawfik, & Y. Earnshaw (Eds.), Formative design in learning: Design thinking, growth mindset, and community. New York: Springer-Verlag.
Tagare, D. (2023). Teacher-Readiness for Integration of Computational Thinking Skills: A Phenomenological Multi-Case Study (Under Development).
Duan, S., Exter, M., Tagare, D., Sabin, M. (2022). Managerial and Professional Skills and Dispositions from Professionals’ Interviews. In Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Conference on Information Technology Education (SIGITE '22). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1145/3537674.3554751
Duan, S., Exter, M., Tagare, D., Sabin, M, Janakiraman, S. (2023). Essential Competencies for Computing Managers: Skills and Dispositions. Education and Information Technologies, special issue. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-11869-4
Tagare, D., Janakiraman, S., Exter, M., Duan, S., Sabin, M., & Tavakoli, J. (August, 2023). Dispositions that Computing Professionals Value in the Workplace: Systematic Literature Review and Interviews with Professionals. In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research (ICER '23). Association for Computing Machinery, Chicago, IL, USA. https://doi.org/10.1145/3568813.3600118
Janakiraman, S., Exter, M., Sabin, M., Duan, S., Tagare, D. (2022). Exploring the competencies required by computing professionals in the workplace: A systematic literature review. Association of Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), 2022.
Tagare, D., Tavakoli, J., Exter, M., Sabin, M., & Frezza, S. (2023). Beyond the Cognitive: Educator Readiness for Fostering Dispositions. Proceedings Frontiers in Education Conference, College Station, Texas, pp.1-5. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, doi:10.1109/FIE58773.2023.10343241.
Tagare, D. (2021). Assessing In-service K-12 Teachers’ Computational Thinking Skills in India. AERA Graduate Student In-Progress Research Gala, 2021.
Tagare, D. (2021). K-12 Teachers' Competency in Performing Computational Thinking Skills: Does Professional Development Help? Northeastern Educational Research Association, 2021.
Tagare, D. (2024). Factors That Predict K-12 Teachers' Ability to Apply Computational Thinking Skills. Transactions on Computing Education, 24(1), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1145/3633205
Lowell, V., & Tagare, D. (2023). Authentic Learning and Fidelity in Virtual Reality Learning Experiences for Self-Efficacy and Transfer. Computers & Education: X Reality, 2, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cexr.2023.100017
Lowell, V. L., & Tagare, D. (2022). Designed Fidelity of a Virtual-Reality Learning Environment: Impact on Learners. American Educational Research Association, 2022.
Lowell, V. L., & Tagare, D. (2022). Designing Virtual-Reality Learning Experiences for Authentic Learning and Fidelity and Learner Self-Efficacy and Learning Transfer. American Educational Research Association, 2022.
Tagare, D. (2022). Use of Gamification and Reflection in Teacher Training for Computational Thinking: A Design Case. Association of Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), 2022
Tagare, D. (Under Development). Gamified Computational Thinking Skills for a Community of Practice of Teachers.