​A qualitative investigation of training educational students with a multilevel learning design approach

Abstract

Learning design (LD) is complex in nature. Educational practitioners with different roles and levels of expertise who work individually or collaboratively to make use of resources and tools are often challenged to navigate different levels of decision-making while maintaining the pedagogical coherence of the course design. This qualitative study looked into three cases with educational students from diverse backgrounds who are aspire to develop LD understanding and practice in a master-level professional development program, underpinned by a theoretical-grounded learning design approach, the 7-step Learning Design Triangle (LDT) framework and the digital design tool Learning Design Studio. The major component of the program is the learners’ articulation of various key design components and their iterative and progressive development of LD artefacts from high-level learning outcome design down to the individual task design during the 8-session of study. Focusing on the process by which course participants design, findings show two key constructs, learning outcome (LO), and curriculum component (CC) of the LDT framework were found most difficult. Interestingly, three cases developed diverse and unfolding conceptions of these constructs and their design decisions had led to different design approaches and trajectories. Qualitative differences were also found in their pedagogical considerations within or across three cases’ LD artefacts when they progressed over time. In this study, a coding scheme with different levels of design dimensions has been developed and underpinned by the 7-step LDT framework, which is used to evaluate individual LD artefacts as well as to represent the unfolding process of how course participants approached LDs.