Exploring how teachers suggest informing designs for learning

Stefan Hrastinski

doi:10.1108/ijilt-02-2021-0036

Abstract

PurposeAn issue that has received limited attention is how teachers make informed decisions when designing learning activities, which makes effective use of resources and technologies. The aim of this paper is to explore how teachers suggest informing their designs for learning.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on documentation from workshops where adult education teachers were encouraged to suggest how a design for learning can draw on what is known, how the design can be evaluated and how the design and lessons learned can be shared. The data was analyzed using thematic analysis.FindingsMost teachers did not explicitly suggest how to inform their designs for learning, although some suggested to draw on learning theories. The teachers were able to provide many examples of how their designs for learning could be evaluated based on student perceptions and assessment. They primarily suggested to discuss and share their designs and lessons learned at the school.Practical implicationsThe workshop format could be adapted and used in practice.Originality/valueRelatively little attention has been paid to how teachers inform their designs for learning. A key challenge for teachers is to understand design for learning as an informed practice, which could be integrated as part of their daily work.

Highlights

Learning design aims to support teachers to make pedagogically informed decisions when designing learning activities, which makes effective use of resources and technologies (Conole, 2013)
This finding can be compared with current learning design models that sometimes are underpinned by learning theories, typically socioconstructivist theories (Bower and Vlachopoulos, 2018)
This paper explored how adult teachers suggested informing and evaluating their designs for learning and how they suggested sharing these designs and lessons learned, all of which could be considered to be key elements of informed design for learning

Summary

Introduction

Learning design aims to support teachers to make pedagogically informed decisions when designing learning activities, which makes effective use of resources and technologies (Conole, 2013). Another aim of learning design is to make the design process more explicit and shareable (Agostinho et al, 2011). Learning design approaches help teachers to shift from focusing on content to learning activities and student experiences (Conole, 2013). Many models attempt to guide teachers to take advantage of digital technologies when designing for learning (Bower and Vlachopoulos, 2018). E.g. name, purpose, level, scope/credits, approximate number of participants

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