Teacher Design Knowledge for Technology Enhanced Learning: A framework for investigating assets and needs

Despite the fact that teaching is largely considered as a design science, teacher education programs devote relatively little time to developing instructional design expertise, beyond lesson planning. Different approaches have been tried to support teacher ongoing design learning. Past efforts, often stemming from the field of instructional design, had limited success, probably due to poor alignment with teachers’ intuitive design approaches. More recently, researchers have begun to develop ways to build on teacher expertise to support them in their design efforts. Yet to date, little has been done to capitalize on what is already understood about teachers as designers from a design thinking perspective. Quite a lot is known about teacher design thinking, including: concerns voiced by teachers as they design, the role of context, and the kinds of knowledge that teachers draw upon. While common dimensions appear to be present among studies, differing orientations hinder the development of this promising avenue. The proposed paper will synthesize ideas about teacher professional development, historical perspectives on teacher as designers and contemporary perspectives on design thinking. These will culminate in a framework, which will enable the study of teacher design cognition across projects, and ultimately, support teachers in future design efforts.