Professional development in educational technology research requires innovative approaches to bridge the gap between practice and scholarship, particularly in rapidly developing nations like India, where educators face unique challenges in adopting and researching technology integration. The need for professional development in educational technology research among Indian educators is particularly pressing given the country’s rapid digital transformation in education. Many educators possess valuable practical experience but lack formal training in research methodology, limiting their ability to systematically study and document their innovative teaching practices. This gap between practice and research often results in missed opportunities for knowledge sharing and evidence-based improvement in educational technology implementation.
This paper presents the Practitioner Research Idea Summit (PRISm), a professional development initiative that transforms educators into educational technology researchers through structured mentorship. The programme’s distinctive feature lies in its inclusive approach, bringing together practitioners from engineering, liberal arts, and school education who, despite their teaching expertise, lack formal research experience in educational technology. This diversity creates a rich learning environment where multiple perspectives contribute to innovative research approaches. The programme is completely online, designed to be asynchronous, allowing practitioners to progress at their own pace. It spans around three to four months and includes weekly doubt-solving live sessions for additional support. The programme is divided into two distinct parts. During the first phase, learners (i.e. teachers) engage in intensive sessions covering fundamental research methods. In the second phase, learners apply their newfound knowledge to conduct research studies and write research papers.
The programme began in 2013 (Warriem, Murthy & Iyer, 2013), and early experiences showed that many teachers needed stronger foundations in both pedagogy and the effective use of educational technology. In response, a series of prerequisite workshops was introduced in 2014, 2015, and 2016 (Murthy, Iyer & Warriem, 2015). The second iteration of the programme was offered in 2016 (Warriem, Murthy & Iyer, 2017). The programme could not be continued after 2016 due to budget and logistical challenges. But it resumed in 2023 with a noticeably different design. The relaunched version introduced a revised curriculum, a tiered mentorship model, and new learning pathways. PRISm aims to address the critical need for practitioner-led research in educational technology while building a sustainable research ecosystem.
The goal of PRISm is to cultivate a community of teachers who possess the skills and mindset of inquiry, enabling them to systematically investigate the educational challenges they encounter in their classrooms. Central to this approach is action research, through which teachers engage in reflective, evidence-based inquiry that is directly relevant to their local teaching contexts. The strength of action research lies in its practical orientation; it generates insights and solutions that are immediately applicable and responsive to the specific needs of teachers and their students (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009). Through sustained engagement in such inquiry, PRISm supports teachers in progressing along the levels of inquiry outlined by Streveler, Smith, and Pilotte (2012), from everyday teaching as taught without reflection, to the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), and eventually toward more formal contributions to educational technology research.
Each batch of PRISm is structured as a research-practice partnership (RPP) in education, which emphasises the co-construction of knowledge through equitable collaboration between practitioners and researchers. In this model, authority is distributed, the aims of the research are negotiated collaboratively, and the roles of both practitioners and researchers are recognised as equally valuable. This approach challenges traditional hierarchies in educational research, where teachers are often positioned as passive subjects. In the case of PRISm, practitioners are teachers who joined the role of learners in the programme, bringing deep pedagogical and subject-matter expertise grounded in their day-to-day classroom experience. These teachers are paired with research buddies, experienced researchers from the wider educational community who volunteer to provide one-on-one mentorship. These research buddies contribute expertise in research design, methodology, and mentoring. They provide constructive feedback and help clarify concepts and processes during the programme. By drawing on this diversity of expertise, PRISm fosters a dialogic space where aims are co-negotiated and decisions are made collaboratively. This alignment with the RPP framework helps ensure that the research remains relevant to practice while also adhering to rigorous methodological standards (Coburn & Penuel, 2016). It also promotes mutual learning and supports the professional growth of both teachers and mentors.
Within this foundational structure, PRISm adopts boundary crossing (Akkerman & Bakker, 2011) as a pedagogical strategy to foster professional learning. Teachers join as learners, but over time, they engage with research buddies, navigating different forms of expertise and roles within the programme. These interactions require teachers to operate across different boundaries, between novice researcher, expert researcher, and mentor, between practitioner and researcher, encouraging them to adapt, negotiate, and gradually take on new responsibilities. As they move across these boundaries, transfer of ownership (Warriem, Murthy & Iyer, 2017) becomes a critical component of the learning process. Teachers begin to shift from externally motivated participants to self-directed members, taking initiative in shaping their research and identifying improvements in their own practice.
To support this transition, PRISm uses a range of boundary objects (Star, 1989), including the Idea Proposal Template (IPT) and Study Planning Template (SPT). These tools help structure communication between learners, learning buddies, and research buddies, while allowing flexibility for individual interpretation. Other boundary objects include pre-recorded lectures, expert talks, exemplar research papers, and reflective tasks such as critically reviewing one’s own research ideas. Activities like sharing and responding to muddy points on the Discussion Forum, PRISm Clinics for targeted problem-solving, and individualised feedback sessions that address specific research challenges, also serve this function. Together, these boundary objects bridge the diverse experiences and perspectives within the cohort, helping participants collaborate across boundaries while gradually deepening their understanding and ownership of the research process.
Across successive years, PRISm supports teachers in taking on expanded roles, such as research buddies, teaching assistants of PRISm, instructors of PRISm, and members of the orchestration team of PRISm. This ongoing role progression reflects a long-term developmental journey, best understood through the lens of cognitive apprenticeship. As teachers begin their involvement as learners, they participate through legitimate peripheral participation (Lave & Wenger, 1991), gradually moving from the margins to more central and expert positions within the PRISm community. This process does not occur within a single batch, but unfolds over multiple years of sustained engagement. In doing so, it strengthens the depth and sustainability of the PRISm community, fostering a shared sense of purpose, identity, and collective growth.
Across its recent iterations, the PRISm has demonstrated impressive outcomes. In the 2023 batch, 20 learners completed the programme with the one-on-one guidance from 24 research buddies, followed by 49 learners and 36 research buddies in the 2024 batch. Research dissemination has also strengthened, with accepted international conference publications rising from 7 in 2023 to 19 in 2024, covering full papers, short papers, and experience reports. Another important outcome of PRISm has been the continued engagement of its participants. Four learners from the 2023 batch returned as research buddies in 2024, mentoring the next group of learners and contributing to their research process. This illustrates the programme’s success in creating a sustainable PRISm community and fostering long-term engagement with educational technology research.
Participant reflections from the 2023 and 2024 runs of PRISm offer valuable insights into the programme’s strengths and areas for refinement. Learners in 2023 highlighted the clarity of guidance provided throughout the workshop, the usefulness of resources, and the crucial role of research buddies in shaping their research topics, improving paper quality, and supporting their professional development. Participants noted that the mentorship structure enabled them to navigate the research process, from conceptualisation to writing, with confidence.
“The right guidance and support from the experts and mentors provided the knowledge and skills that were helpful in writing an effective conference paper. The workshop sessions and resources helped in the research process, including conducting research, analyzing data, and presenting the research findings.”
“This will definitely help me write high-quality research papers that can advance my career and may provide opportunities for networking and collaboration with other researchers, which can further enhance my professional development and support my Ph.D. research.”
Feedback from the 2024 cohort echoed these strengths while also identifying practical challenges. Several participants appreciated the structured assignments, personalised feedback, and support in understanding literature review, research design, and paper writing. However, they suggested aligning the workshop schedule with the academic calendar and further breaking down assignments to reduce workload intensity. These suggestions informed subsequent iterations of PRISm, leading to revisions in content organisation and scheduling.
“The workshop should be aligned with the academic calendar of participants.”
“Workshop helped me in many ways, from understanding the literature review, how to read it, how to place your idea, understanding the importance of design, etc. My only suggestion would be the length of assignments. I totally understand the exercises you need participants to do, but maybe further chunking of these assignments in some way would be better.”
Considering similar feedback from other participants, PRISm’s next runs involved a content revision incorporating the participants’ suggestions about chunking.
PRISm’s innovative approach demonstrates how online professional development can be designed to achieve concrete research outputs while building lasting professional relationships. This paper contributes to the field of professional development by presenting a replicable model for transforming practitioners into researchers, particularly relevant for developing nations seeking to build capacity in educational technology research. Research studies evaluating the programme's effectiveness through participant artefacts and narrative interviews are planned for future work.
We gratefully acknowledge the support and encouragement provided by the EdTech Society for initiating and organising the Practitioner Research Idea Summit (PRISm) programme. We also acknowledge the Centre for Educational Technology at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, for its intellectual contributions and for providing the human resources that supported the design and implementation of the programme.
We extend our sincere thanks to all the teachers who participated in the programme as learners and contributed their time, insights, and commitment to practitioner research. We also appreciate the valuable mentorship offered by the EdTech Society members, whose guidance played a key role in supporting the learners throughout the programme.
We express our sincere gratitude to Dr. Sahana Murthy and Dr. Sridhar Iyer, who served as advisors to the programme. Their vision, guidance, and continued support were instrumental in shaping the direction and quality of the initiative. We also acknowledge Dr. Sameer Sahasrabudhe, who served as one of the programme coordinators alongside the authors, and whose efforts were central to the effective planning and execution of the programme.
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