Challenging the Alignment of Learning Design Tools with HE Lecturers’ Learning Design Practice

Abstract

Extensive research has been carried out for the development of learning design tools; nevertheless, their adoption by HE lecturers remains low. Sharing, guidance, and various forms of representation are the main pillars of learning design tools. However, these features do not seem to be sufficient reasons to convince lecturers to adopt these tools in daily learning design practices in HE. This is attached to the gap between learning design tools and actual learning design practice of university lecturers. Sociomateriality provides an analytical lens for unpacking complex practices for identifying the design space of digital tools for learning design without predetermined boundaries. This paper is a first step in exploring how we can follow sociomaterialty in un-packing complex learning design practices in HE to inform the development of software for learning design. It conducts a survey with one hundred ten university lecturers on their learning design practices. It analyses data through sociomaterial theory and derives a sociomaterial evaluation framework. This is used as an instrument for the analysis of seven available learning design tools. A misalignment between tools and HE lecturers’ learning design practice is revealed. Points of misalignment extend the space for what it means to design digital tools that support-learning design practices in HE, and they could be used to highlight areas for improvement to inform and strengthen further the way we design support tools for learning design.