Research

My research interests under the umbrella of ‘Educating in Everyday living’ span variety of locations: Social media, Virtual worlds, and Gaming; MOOCs and online learning; education technology in schools and colleges.  as well as the current participatory and reflexive work with the Laman Banjara community. Over the years I have worked with a variety of research methodologies, innovatively bringing in methods from different disciplines to bear on the research project at hand.

If you have questions or would like to discuss specific research ideas I am available on ResearchGate

Education Policy

Tirthali, D. and Waknis, P. (2023) The Multidisciplinary University in NEP 2020: A Conceptual Roadmap. Education and Society by Indian Institute of Education, NEP Special issue October 2023.

Community-Researcher Partnership

Anandshala Action Research: from emergency education intervention during the pandemic to a sustained effort to work with the Gormati speaking Banjara community

Publications

• Chandras J., Tirthali D., & Honwad S. (2025) (M)other Tongue Aspirations: Negotiating Banjara Language, Identity, and Education Policy in Rural India. American Anthropologist.
• Tirthali D., & Jagtap P. (2025) A Neighbourhood School Program for Marginalised Communities During the Pandemic: Qualitative Enquiry to Assess Efficacy in Rural Osmanabad. IJRAR
• Chandras J., Tirthali D., & Dabak P. (2023) Mapping Linguistic Sociality in Rural India: Children and Youths’ Perceptions of Self and Language in Space. NEOS 15 (2)
• Jagtap P. & Tirthali D. (2023) Tribal Education during the Pandemic: Can a Neighbourhood School Intervention be a Bridge back to School? Education India.

Conference Proceedings

• Tirthali D. (2025) Shifting the Lens: From Extractive to Relational Research Praxis with the Laman Banjara Community, ICCS.
• Tirthali D. (2024) Decolonizing the Banjara Education Space: A Participatory Reflexive Initiative in Rural India. Proceedings of American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, April 2024
• Chandras J., Honwad S., Tirthali D. (2023) Finding a Sense of Belonging: Linguistic and Social Marginalization in Education in Rural India, Proceedings of the 17th International Conference of the Learning Sciences-ICLS 2023, pp. 1755-1756, International Society of the Learning Sciences
• Tirthali D. & Jagtap P. (2022) Anandshala: NGO and Community collaboration to reduce educational inequity during the pandemic, Convention of National Academy of Psychology 31
• Tirthali D. (2022) Co-constructing knowledge: an NGO-community-researcher partnership in rural India. American Anthropological Association Conference [Virtual Presentation]

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

Research in Progress

• Community development in an open learning environment.

Publications

• Tirthali, D., & Murai, Y. (2021) Facilitating open online discussions: speech acts inspiring and hindering deep conversations, Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning
• Tirthali, D., & Murai, Y. (2019). Don’t Just Say Thank You: Exploration of Types of Posts Inspiring and Hindering Deep Conversations Online. AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research, 2019.
• Tirthali D. (2016). Are MOOCs sustainable? In Corte E.D., Engwall L., Teichler U. (Ed.) From Books to MOOCs? Emerging Models of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. pp115-126. Wenner-Gren International Series, Portland Press, London UK.  [Book Chapter]
• Hollands, F. & Tirthali, D. (2015). MOOCs in Higher Education: Institutional Goals and Paths Forward. Palgrave MacMillan.  [Book]
• Hollands F. & Tirthali D. (2014). Resource Requirements and Costs of Developing and Delivering MOOCs. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning.  [Journal Paper]
• Hollands F. & Tirthali D. (2014). Why Do Institutions Offer MOOCs? Online Learning. [Journal Paper]
• Hollands, F. & Tirthali, D. (2014). MOOCs: Expectations and reality. Full report. Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University.  [200+ page open access report]

Conference Papers

• Tirthali, D. & Murai Y.  (2019). Don’t just say thank you: Exploration of types of posts inspiring and hindering deep conversations online. Paper presented at annual meeting of Association of Internet Researchers 2019, Brisbane 
• Murai Y. & Tirthali, D. (2019). Discussion prompts and social interaction: social network perspective on weekly interaction in a massive open online course. Paper presented at annual meeting of American Educational Research Association 2019, Toronto, CA
• Hollands, F. & Tirthali, D. (2014). MOOCs: expectations and reality. Paper presented at annual meeting of American Educational Research Association 2014, Philadelphia, PA.

Invited Presentations

• Tirthali, D. (November 2016). MOOCs and Future of the University. In Transformation of the Research University, Brown University.
• Tirthali, D. (November 2015). MOOCs in Higher Education. Panel at Teachers College, Columbia University.
• Tirthali, D. (May 2015). MOOC Research so far. Plenary talk at Academia Europeae symposium ‘From Books to MOOCs’, Stockholm.
• Tirthali, D. (May 2015). Economics of MOOCs. Plenary talk at Academia Europeae symposium ‘From Books to MOOCs’, Stockholm.

Social Media, Social Networking Sites, Virtual Worlds, Games & Everyday educating

Research interest

• Nationalism and Rashtrabhasha discourse in Social Media
• Fake news and fact-check on Twitter

Invited Presentations

• Tirthali, D. (October 2012). Education into disability: diabetes education in everyday life. Presented in the course Ethnography of education, Columbia University
• Tirthali, D. (March 2009). Diaspora in Second Life. Presented in the course Possibilities of Virtual Worlds, Teachers college, Columbia University

Conference Proceedings

• Tirthali, D. (2012). Educating About Diabetes: Conversations on a Social Network Site. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 46, 3732-3737.
• Adinolf, S., Turkay, S., & Tirthali, D. (2012). In torpor, not dead: A look at a collectible card game that sticks around. In K. Squire, C. Martin, & A. Ochsner (Eds.), Proceedings of the Games, Learning, and Society Conference: Vol. 2. Pittsburgh PA: ETC Press.
• Turkay, S., Adinolf, S., & Tirthali, D. (2012). Collectible Card Games as Learning Tools. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 46, 3701-3705.
• Turkay, S. & Tirthali, D. (2010). Youth leadership development in virtual worlds: A case study. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2(2), 3175-3179

Conference Papers

• Tirthali D. (2017). How to be a diabetic: deliberations on a social networking site. American Anthropological Association Conference. November 2017
• Tirthali D. (2013). Diabetes education in everyday living. Paper presented at the Internet Research 14.0, Denver, CO, October 2013.
• Turkay, S., Adinolf, S., & Tirthali, D. (2013). I am sorry my friend, I love you, but I don’t trust you”: Social dynamics in a multiplayer collectible card game. Paper presented at the Games, Learning and Society Conference, Madison, WI.
• Tirthali, D. (2012). Hanging out in Desi: straddling multiple universes through second life. In the symposium: Affordances and Constraints of Virtual Worlds for Formal and Informal Learning. Paper presented at annual meeting of American Educational Research Association 2012, Vancouver, CA.
• Adinolf, S., Turkay, S., & Tirthali, D. (2012). In torpor, not dead: A look at a collectible card game that sticks around. Paper presented at Games, Learning and Society Conference, Madison, WI.
• Tirthali, D. (2010). Indian Diaspora in Second Life: Ethnography in a Virtual World. Paper presented at TCETC 2010: Technology, Media & Designs for Learning, New York, NY, May 2010.
• Turkay, S. & Tirthali, D. (2010). Using Virtual Worlds to Engage Youth in Social Initiatives: A Case Study. Poster at annual meeting of American Educational Research Association 2010, Denver, CO.
• Turkay, S. & Tirthali, D. (2009). Effectiveness of Virtual Worlds in Youth Change-making. E-Learn 2009–World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education, Vancouver, Canada.

Educational Technology

Conference Proceedings

• McKay, M., Lowes, S., Tirthali, D., & Camins, A. (2015). Student Learning of STEM Concepts Using a Challenge-based Robotics Curriculum. American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exhibition, Seattle, WA, June 2015.
• McKay, M., Lowes, S., Tirthali, D., McGrath, E., Sayres, J. & Peterson, K. (2013): Transforming a middle and high school robotics curriculum from formal Classrooms to an informal learning environment:  strategies for increasing impact in each. American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA, June 2013.

Workshops offered

• Tirthali D., Zabriskie C., & Bell G. (2017) Rethinking Academic Technology. Day-long workshop in the NERCOMP Workshop Series, June 2017
• Tirthali D. (2015). Flipped Classroom.
• Tirthali D. (2014). Creating Sharable Media-Rich Learning Modules. Core Series in Medical Education, Program in Educational Faculty Development at Alpert Medical School, Providence, RI.
• Tirthali D. & Waknis. P. (2013) Teaching to think like an economist: Relating theory to reality using Wikispaces. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Professors’ Conference, November 2013, St. Louis, MO.

Conference Papers

• Macalalag, A.Z., Lowes, S., Tirthali, D., McKay., M., & McGrath, E. (2010). Teacher Professional Development in Grades 3-5: Fostering Teachers’ and Students’ Content Knowledge in Science and Engineering. American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference, Louisville, KY, June 2010.
• Macalalag, A.Z., Lowes, S., Guo, K., Tirthali, D., McKay., M., & McGrath, E. (2010). Advancing Science and Engineering in Elementary Schools: Fostering Teachers’ Knowledge and Scientific Inquiry. National Association for Research in Science Teaching Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA, March 2010 [Conference paper]
• Tirthali D. & Goldstein M. (2009). A Student-Faculty Comparison of Technology Use in Medical and Dental Schools in session: The Pixel Tower: Research on the Integration of Web 2.0 Technologies in Higher Education. Paper presentation at annual meeting of American Educational Research Association 2009, San Diego, CA
• Hoffman, D., Paek, S., Tirthali, D., & Gregory, B. (2009, March). Lyrical Trends in Hip-Hop: A New Visualization Tool to Promote Media Literacy. In Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (Vol. 2009, No. 1, pp. 3410-3415).
• Joo P., Krackov S., Hall M.V., Figueroa E., Tirthali D., Lin S. (2009). A Web-based Approach to Enhance Preventive Medicine Education Outcomes for Third Year Medical Students, STFM Conference Jan 2009 Savannah, GA

Research Methodology

Workshops offered

• Tirthali D. (2024) Analysing qualitative data: a paradigm shift.
Jnana Prabodhini Sanshodhan Sanstha. 5 day hands on workshop
• Tirthali D. (2020) How to write ethnographic fieldnotes: A beginners workshop for NGO field staff
• Lowes S. & Tirthali D. (2013) Digital card sorts: An engaging way to assess domain understanding, American Evaluation Association Conference, October 2013, Washington DC.
• Tirthali D. (October 2012). Discourse analysis for computer mediated conversations. Teachers college, Columbia University.
• Tirthali D. (February 2010). Ethnographic research in virtual worlds. Teachers college, Columbia University.

If you have questions or would like to discuss specific research ideas I am available on ResearchGate