Supporting teachers as designers with community and learning analyticsa framework, technology, and case studies

Abstract

The notion of teachers as designers of learning environments has emerged with the increasing use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Education. Research in Learning Design (LD) studies how to support teachers in making pedagogically-sound decisions in the design of learning interventions which make effective use of resources and technologies. In this context, the shift from individual to collective teacher practices via communities around LD is challenging. Additionally, training teachers as reflective practitioners who inquiry into their students´ learning based on student-generated data in technology-integrating learning activities is demanding. This PhD thesis deals with how to support the collective and inquiry process of teachers as designers in technological environments with the use of data analytics. A Design-Based Research (DBR) methodology was followed to develop and evaluate solutions for teachers. Regarding the collective process, we conceptualized teacher communities around LD based on the Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) and developed a community awareness dashboard (inILDE) in an online learning design platform. Regarding the inquiry process, we analyzed current teacher inquiry practices and designed a Teacher Inquiry tool for Learning dEsigns (TILE). We conducted embedded multiple case studies within Teacher Professional Development (TPD) programs which included four educational communities; two High Schools, a pre-service teacher community and a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for learning design. Results show that the community awareness dashboard enabled understanding of collective teacher participation and increased social interactions in the online learning design platform. Teacher involvement in technology-supported inquiry cycles with student data led to in-depth discussions about the design and implementation of learning tasks and showed evidence of pedagogical knowledge building. Based on the above, we propose an integrated collective inquiry framework (Collective Inquiry with Data Analytics-CIDA) to support teachers as designers in technological environments with data analytics. The CIDA framework aims to guide researchers, teachers and system developers in the development of tools and TPD programs for teachers as designers.