Breanne Litts

Breanne K. Litts is an Associate Professor in Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences and director of Learn Explore Design Lab at Utah State University. She investigates how people learn through making, designing, and producing at the intersection of physical and digital worlds. Dr. Litts conducts this work in collaboration with Indigenous communities, formal and out-of-school educators, and other community organizations. Together they examine how young people construct their identities through place and story, how to use technology to bring people together in cross-cultural contexts, and how people collaborate across disciplines, communities, and cultures. Specifically, they examine how to leverage place-based storytelling to engage young people in cultural and civic issues as well as computational and technological design practices. This work has received funding from the Spencer Foundation and the National Science Foundation, including an NSF Faculty Early Development (CAREER) award (#1943630). Dr. Litts’ work appears in journals such as Teachers College Record, Harvard Educational Review, and British Journal of Educational Technology.

Projects

Daigwade

Centering Culture

Cultivating Connections

Community Research Trainings

TEACH Training

Braiding Knowledge

Teaching Online During COVID-19

Culture-&-Trauma-Informed Training

Reality Media and the Anthropocene

Culture, Technology, & Representation

Publications

Selected Publications

Computing for all?

Litts, B. K., Searle, K. A., Brayboy, B. M., & Kafai, Y. B. (2021). Computing for all?: Examining critical biases in computational tools for learning. British Journal of Educational Technology, 52(2), 842-857. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13059

Design Scaffolds

Litts, B. K., Searle, K. A., Kafai, Y. B., & Lewis, W. E. (2021). Examining the materiality and spatiality of design scaffolds in computational making. International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, 30, 100295. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcci.2021.100295

Culturally Disruptive Research

Litts, B.K., Tehee, M., Jenkins, J., Baggaley, S., Isaacs, D., Hamilton, M.M. and Yan, L. (2020), "Culturally disruptive research: a critical (re)engagement with research processes and teaching practices", Information and Learning Sciences, Vol. 121 No. 9/10, pp. 769-784. https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-02-2020-0019

Pair Physical Computing

Lui, D., Kafai, Y., Litts, B., Walker, J., & Widman, S. (2020). Pair physical computing: high school students’ practices and perceptions of collaborative coding and crafting with electronic textiles. Computer Science Education, 30(1), 72-101. https://doi.org/10.1080/08993408.2019.1682378

Cultivating Staff Culture Online

Justis, N., Litts, B.K., Reina, L. and Rhodes, S. (2020), "Cultivating staff culture online: How Edith Bowen Laboratory School responded to COVID-19", Information and Learning Sciences, Vol. 121 No. 5/6, pp. 453-460. DOI: 10.1108/ILS-04-2020-0136

Engaging Youth in Computational Thinking Practices

Litts, B. K., Lewis, W. E., & Mortensen, C. K. (2020). Engaging youth in computational thinking practices through designing place-based mobile games about local issues. Interactive Learning Environments, 28(3), 302-315. DOI: 10.1080/10494820.2019.1674883

Mobile Augmented Reality

Litts, B. K. & Lewis, W. E. (2019). Mobile Augmented Reality: Exploring a new genre of learning. GetMobile: Mobile Computing and Communications. 22. 5-9. 10.1145/3308755.3308757. DOI: 10.1145/3308755.3308757

Stitching Codeable Circuits

Litts, B. K., Kafai, Y. B., Lui, D. A., Walker, J. T., & Widman, S. A. (2017). Stitching codeable circuits: High school students’ learning about circuitry and coding with electronic textiles. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 26(5), 494-507. DOI: 10.1007/s10956-017-9694-0

Maker Studio Model

Litts, B. K., Widman, S. A., Lui, D. A., Walker, J. T., & Kafai, Y. B. (2019). A Maker Studio Model for High School Classrooms: The Nature and Role of Critique in an Electronic Textiles Design Project. Teachers College Record, 121(9), 1-34. https://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentId=22784

Debugging Open-Ended Designs

Searle, K. A., Litts, B. K., & Kafai, Y. B. (2018). Debugging open-ended designs: High school students’ perceptions of failure and success in an electronic textiles design activity. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 30, 125-134. DOI: 10.1016/j.tsc.2018.03.004