Multilevel Challenges in Learning Design: An Investigation of Novice Learning Designer Teams

Abstract

The overarching problem for the present study is to address the need for courses that provide novice learning designers (LDers) with the necessary conceptual understanding as well as the professional and technical skills to undertake the full spectrum of learning design (LD) decisions from course to task and resource levels to achieve coherence, alignment and effectiveness with regard to identified learning outcome goals for targeted learner communities. Two key scaffolding supports were provided for the students’ LD process: (1) a 7-step LD model centering around a Learning Design Triangle (LDT) framework that includes the design of learning analytics (LA) and feedback and evaluation to highlight LD as an iterative process of improvement, and (2) a technology platform, the Learning Design Studio (LDS), that students can use to develop their evolving designs following the 7-step model. The case study reported in this paper was carried out in the context of a Master level course on Learning Design and Technology that aimed to provide a comprehensive introduction to the multiple levels of LD from course to resource levels. Course participants were novice LDers with diverse academic and professional backgrounds. They were required to work in teams to design a mini-course. At the end of the course, Students had to submit their LDs in three representational formats: a course outline, LD documentation on the LDS, and their course design implemented on the Moodle learning management system (LMS). The findings reveal challenges encountered by novice LDers at different design junctures and the diverse trajectories experienced by different design teams. The use of the conceptual and technological LD tools and the need to progressively develop multiple representational formats in tandem for the same mini-course prompted the novice LDers to articulate their pedagogical reasoning during the LD process, heightening their awareness of the alignment (or lack of) of their LD at different design levels. The study also shows the value of the LDT framework and LDS in supporting the professional development of novice LDers. Implications for theory and practice in the professional development of novice learning designers are discussed.