Approaches to learning design: past the head and the hands to the HEART of the matter

Abstract

Digital technologies have been used increasingly in open, distance, and flexible learning to both facilitate learning and depict learning designs. While the portable nature of a learning design once captured in digital form appears to offer limitless possibilities for sharing and reuse, dissemination initiatives have failed to thrive. This may be due in part to a view of learning design as a product rather than as a contextualised process driven by individual pedagogical beliefs. We have developed a support strategy for the learning design process, called HEART (HEaring And Realising Teaching-voice). HEART aims to enhance educators' learning design awareness and capability by eliciting and depicting the pedagogical beliefs underpinning a course or learning design. We describe the conceptual framework for the HEART strategy, design and development of a prototype, early results of the first trial with a small user group, and implications for future research.