An Evaluation of Generic Tools used in Design for Learning

Abstract

The Learning Design Tools project ran from May 2005 to February 2006 and had these aims: 1. To provide research-based information on the use of tools in designing for learning in postcompulsory education; specifically, the range of tools used by practitioners and their perspectives on those tools. 2. From a synthesis of the data collected: 2.1 Determine the applicability of the tools used by practitioners; 2.2 Make recommendations to practitioners and policy makers on the effective deployment of tools in learning design; 2.3 Identify the considerations to be made when drawing up requirements for, and developing, future tools to support design for learning; 3. Construct a reusable toolkit of instruments for evaluating tools used in design for learning. To realise these aims, the project adopted the division of design for learning into two discrete, but interrelated phases: learning activity authoring (LAA) and learning activity realisation (LAR) (Conole et al., 2005). We focused on practitioners’ use of generic tools for LAA and, more specifically, for the task of planning an individual learning session. We denote as “generic” those tools that do not provide explicit support for the design of learning materials, in the present case