Keynote presentation from the CDE’s Research and Innovation in Distance Education and eLearning conference, held at Senate House London on 19 October 2012. Conducted by Prof Diana Laurillard (London Knowledge Lab).

1. Teaching as a design
science in learning and
technology
Diana Laurillard
London Knowledge Lab
Institute of Education

2. The policy context
• Professional educators connected by technology to
empower, and inspire effective teaching (US Plan 2010)
• Promote professional learning communities between
policy, practice and research (UNESCO 2011)
• There needs to be a greater prioritisation of teaching
partnerships between technologists, learning support
specialists and academics, and an end to the ‘not
invented here’ syndrome… Good practice must also be
shared. (HEFCE OLTF, 2011)
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

3. Teachers as an innovative
professional learning community
• Reconceptualising teaching as ‘a design science’
• Teachers building on the designs of others
• Articulating their pedagogy
• Adopting, adapting, testing, improving learning designs
• Co-creating and sharing learning designs
A computational representation of pedagogic design
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

4. Can learning design be
supported computationally?
It’s difficult, but it’s worth a try, because…
Teachers need much more support than they get to make
the most of learning technologies
If they can learn together, collaborate, build on the work
of others, they can build this knowledge
Not in just in staff development courses, not from
books, not through exhortation, but in the same way as
other designers collaborate and learn…
… using a learning design support tool 
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

5. The Learning Designer A TLRP-TEL project
To help teachers
Articulate their effective teaching ideas for others to adopt
Adopt ‘pedagogical patterns’ of good teaching and open resources
Model pedagogical benefits and teaching costs
By developing design tools
A ‘pedagogical patterns collector’ for capturing and articulating good
pedagogy
A’ learning design support tool’ for teachers to
find, adopt, adapt, analyse, experiment, trial in
practice, redesign, and share designs
http://tinyurl.com/ppcollector3
https://sites.google.com/a/lkl.ac.uk/ldse/Home
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

6. Capturing pedagogy as design plans
Colour-
Short
coded
description
content
Learning Black text
outcome articulates
the
teacher’s
pedagogy
Categorised
teaching-
learning
activities Timings
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

7. Comparison of pedagogical benefits
A computational representation could analyse how much of
each activity has been designed in
Conventional Categorised
learning activities
Acquisition
Inquiry Blended
Discussion
Acquisition
Practice
Production Inquiry
Discussion
Practice
Production
Analysis shows more
active learning
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

8. A computational representation
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

9. The Pedagogical Patterns Collector
A library of
patterns to
inspect, both
generic and
specific versions
Colour-coded text
identifies content
parameters
Black text captures
pedagogy design
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

10. Adopt/Adapt a teaching pattern
Export to
Read, Watch, Listen Word
Investigate Check the feedback
[Moodle]
Discuss
Add link to an Practice
on the overall
OER, e.g. a digital Share distribution of
tool for practice Produce learning activity
Represent the
teacher as Adjust the type of
present or not learning activity.
Edit the
Adopt – Adapt – Import resources - Test and re-design – Share what works
instructions.
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

11. Comments on the PPC
• [The pie-chart] is one of the most useful features … it
gives a good overview of the balance between different
learning experiences
• I rarely consider how the students' time is apportioned …
it's good to be made to think about this.
• Seeing how the sessions are shaping up in such a visual
medium …. would probably make me think more
carefully about providing a mix of activities
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

12. The Learning Designer A TLRP-TEL project
To help teachers
Articulate their effective teaching ideas for others to adopt
Adopt ‘pedagogical patterns’ of good teaching and open resources
Model pedagogical benefits and teaching costs
By developing design tools
A Pedagogical Pattern Collector for capturing and articulating good
pedagogy
The Learning Designer for teachers to
find, adopt, adapt, analyse, experiment, trial in
practice, redesign, and share designs
http://tinyurl.com/ppcollector3
https://sites.google.com/a/lkl.ac.uk/ldse/Home
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

13. The Learning Designer overview
Analysis: screen:
Timeline:
Properties:
The start
•• Select teaching-
Charts ofor Create
Credit hours overall
Import the
• learning activities,
Student experience
numbers
– types of outcomes
•• Define what they do
Learning
• in activityand of
learning,
Description
•• Define timing of
experience of
Designer reflection
• each one,social or
personal,feedback
Student group
whole class
sizes, sequencing
• teacher workload –
for initial design and
for reuse
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

14. A theory-based framework of the
learner learning
Acquiring
Talk, book, vi
Teacher L L
Learner
deo, Web
concepts C C
concepts
Inquiring
Modulate
Generate
L
LearnerL
P P
practice
Learning through acquisition, instruction
Learning through inquiry
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

15. A theory-based framework of the
learner learning
Teacher L L
Learner
concepts C C
concepts
Modulate Modulate
Generate Generate
Task/Feedback
Lab, Game, Si
Learning L
LearnerL
mulation
environment P P
practice
Actions
Learning through practice with meaningful intrinsic feedback
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

16. A theory-based framework of the
learner learning
Acquiring Ideas, questions
Teacher L L
Learner Peer
concepts C C
concepts concepts
Inquiring Ideas, questions
Modulate Modulate Modulate
Generate Generate Generate
Outputs
Learning L
LearnerL Peer
Practising P P
environment practice practice
Outputs
Instructivism - Social constructivism – Experiential learning – Inquiry
learning - Constructionism – Collaborative learning
(Dewey, Vygotsky, Piaget, Gagné Bruner, Papert, Marton, Bransford…)
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

17. A theory-based framework of the
learner learning
Acquiring
Teacher L L
Learner Peer
Inquiring Discussing
concepts C C
concepts concepts
Producing
Modulate Modulate Modulate
Generate Generate Generate
Learning L
LearnerL Peer
environment Practising P P Collaborating practice
practice
Instructivism - Social constructivism – Experiential learning – Inquiry
learning - Constructionism – Collaborative learning
(Dewey, Vygotsky, Piaget, Gagné Bruner, Papert, Marton, Bransford…)
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

18. The Conversational Framework
Teacher Peer
Teacher L L
Learner Peer
communication communication
concepts C C
concepts concepts
cycle cycle
Modulate Teacher Modulate Peer
Modulate
practice Generate
practice
Generate Generate
cycle cycle
Teacher Peer
Learning L
LearnerL Peer
modelling modelling
environment cycle
P P
practice cycle practice
Instructivism Social constructivism Experiential learning Inquiry learning
Constructionism Collaborative learning
Dewey, Vygotsky, Piaget, Gagné, Bruner, Papert, Marton, Bransford…
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

19. Learning with technology
Podcasts
Acquiring
Teacher Web L L
Learner Webinar, Foru Peer
Inquiring Discussing
concepts resources C C
concepts m concepts
Producing
Designs
Modulate Productions Modulate
Generate Generate
Skills
Learning L
LearnerL Collaboration Peer
Practice
Practising Collaborating
environment P P
practice tools practice
Tools
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

20. Co-creating new pedagogies
• Import existing learning designs
• Use advice and guidance
• Consider alternative designs
• Adapt the design to own context
• Analyse the designs
• Re-design – test – improve – share what works
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

21. Co-creating new pedagogies
Import an existing
learning design
Adapt an existing
learning design
Consider advice
and guidance on
adaptation
Consider
alternative
learning activities
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

22. Re-designing
Use drop-down menu to
change teaching-
learning activities and
analyse effect on
learning experience and
teacher time
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

23. Analysing the design
Interpreted in Contrasting
terms of the teacher workload
Conversational for own design
Framework and reuse
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

24. Modelling learning experience
and teacher workload
How can we estimate the effects of the decisions we
make as we plan a course?
We select the set of teaching and learning
activities we intend to use
These have consequences for the pedagogical
benefits, and the comparative costs in terms of
teachers’ workload
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

25. Comparison of pedagogical benefits, and
costs in terms of teachers’ workload
Conventional Blended
Acquisition Acquisition
Inquiry Inquiry
Discussion Discussion
Practice Practice
Production Production
Yr 1 Yr 2 Typical Yr 1 Yr 2 Typical Lower per
capita costs
Student 15 15 30 15 15 30 in a typical
numbers year for
Teacher hrs 3.5 1.8 1.2 5.2 2.3 0.4 large
per student
numbers
But who funds the up-front design and development costs?
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

26. Modelling the costs for
increasing student cohort size
3.5
3
2.5
Teacher
days per 2
Conventional
student 1.5
Open Mode
Blended
1
0.5
0
30 60 90 120 150 Cohort size
The per-student support costs never improve through
economies of scale
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

27. MOOC feasibility
Only ‘fixed’ costs
Mainly ‘transmission’ teaching – multimedia
Orchestrated peer learning
Use of interactive digital learning objects
Automated assessment
Certificate of ‘attendance’
No ‘variable’ (per student) costs
No individual student support
No tutor-based assessment, formative or summative
No accreditation of learning
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

28. Sharing…
Once tested and evaluated
with students, export
(with metadata) to shared
folder, website, communit
y library, open repository…
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

29. Comments on the approach
• Teachers respond positively to the Learning Designer tools
and see this as a way of improving teaching, and potentially of
saving time
• The Learning Designer concepts of sharing designs, reuse,
adaptation, advice on TEL, analysis of the learning experience,
suggestions of design alternatives, and categorisation of
designs, were all welcomed by teachers
• Teachers commented on the added value of the detailed
descriptions of pedagogy, which enable them to have a more
in-depth conversation about their practice and what makes a
learning design more effective
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

30. What issues must the Learning
Designer also address?
• Complexity
“It’s very overwhelming … there’s a lot going on and to
• Potentially a not sure what all the terms mean. I mean I
think about. I’m tool of management control
don’t understand the difference between production and
• Interpretabilityaof analysis OKDesigner]Itturnssee a
“My only worry is that it [the Learning
practice. Let’s have look *…+ Yes – an–option. Yes I
an institutional requisite rather than
into
I get it. becomes
• Thedifference.tool,have pie charts, it'syoufocusI wouldwithit
the
measurement Probably we needusefulmore*...+ here tool
“I think it's cute to rather than a
a bit help
need for a topic-orientedorganisationaltool
explanations and examples. But once
neat
get into the
go
that allows some critical self reflectionmy time because I
on practice. I know
back problem withmy stuff, is that the pedagogy is neutral of
“My thedifficult” the tool reorganise once out there, can
and squidge
isn’t so goal is the latter, but software,
that know that it would be a good thing to have a mix of
would while the approach to teaching and learning
the topicso seductive to gather information for
become
all of these things (i.e. forms of learning). But that's with
requires a topic approach and this tool doesn’t help because
departments, policy makers, etc, and the information that is
I think it's a good thing. If I didn't believe that this was a
this approach”
produced is then you woulduseful for individual that was
good thing, probably ONLY show me a pie chart
teachers, not education ministers, etc” ok”
90% of one thing I would still think it's
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

31. Teachers as innovative co-creators
of technology-based pedagogies
Features of teaching as ‘a design science’:
• Teachers adopting, adapting, testing, improving,
sharing learning designs
• Teaching as collaborative learning, supported by
online collaborative design tools and repositories
• A theory-based computational representation of
pedagogic design that migrates across subjects and
clarifies learning benefits and teaching costs
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

32. Further details…
Teaching as a Design
Science: Building
pedagogical patterns for
learning and technology
(Routledge, 2012)
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa

33. The LDSE project team
Oxford Birkbeck/LKL
Liz Masterman (CoPI) George Magooulas (CoPI)
Marion Manton (CoPI) Patricia Charlton
Joanna Wild (RF) Dionisis Dimakopoulos
IOE/LKL
Brock Craft (RF)
LondonMet Diana Laurillard (PI)
Tom Boyle (CoPI) Dejan Ljubojevic (RF)
RVC
LSE Kim Whittlestone (CoPI)
Steve Ryan (CoPI) Stephen May
Ed Whitley Carrie Roder (PhD Student)
Roser Pujadas (PhD Student)
Sept 2012 cc: by-nc-sa