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A number of researchers have explored the role and nature of design in education, proposing a diverse array of life cycle models. Design plays subtly different roles in each of these models. The learning design research community is shifting its attention from the representation of pedagogical plans to considering design as an ongoing process. As a result, the study of the artefacts generated and used by educational designers is also changing: from a focus on the final designed artefact (the product of the design process) to the many artefacts generated and used by designers at different stages of the design process (e.g., sketches, reflections, drawings, or pictures). However, there is still a dearth of studies exploring the evolution of such artefacts throughout the learning design life cycle. A deeper understanding of these evolutionary processes is needed – to help smooth the transitions between stages in the life cycle. In this paper, we introduce the four-dimensional framework for artefacts in design (4FAD) to generate understanding and facilitate the mapping of the evolution of learning design artefacts. We illustrate the value of the framework by applying it in the analysis of an authentic design case.
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Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2018, 34(2).
16
4FAD: A framework for mapping the evolution of artefacts in the
learning design process
Juan A. Muñoz-Cristóbal
School of Telecommunications Engineering, Universidad de Valladolid, Spain
Davinia Hernández-Leo
Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain
Lucila Carvalho
College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Massey University, New Zealand
Roberto Martinez-Maldonado
Connected Intelligence Centre, University of Technology Sydney, Australia
Kate Thompson
School of Education and Professional Studies, Griffith University, Australia
Dewa Wardak, Peter Goodyear
Centre for Research on Learning and Innovation, Sydney School of Education and Social Work, The
University of Sydney, Australia
A number of researchers have explored the role and nature of design in education, proposing a
diverse array of life cycle models. Design plays subtly different roles in each of these models.
The learning design research community is shifting its attention from the representation of
pedagogical plans to considering design as an ongoing process. As a result, the study of the
artefacts generated and used by educational designers is also changing: from a focus on the
final designed artefact (the product of the design process) to the many artefacts generated and
used by designers at different stages of the design process (e.g., sketches, reflections, drawings,
or pictures). However, there is still a dearth of studies exploring the evolution of such artefacts
throughout the learning design life cycle. A deeper understanding of these evolutionary
processes is needed to help smooth the transitions between stages in the life cycle. In this
paper, we introduce the four-dimensional framework for artefacts in design (4FAD) to generate
understanding and facilitate the mapping of the evolution of learning design artefacts. We
illustrate the value of the framework by applying it in the analysis of an authentic design case.
Introduction
Design has been a topic of interest in education for many years. It implies a systematic conception and
planning process taking place prior to the development of something, or prior to the execution of some plan,
in order to solve a problem (Smith & Ragan, 1999). In education, design has been regarded as an important
part of instruction, and it has been extensively explored in the field of instructional design (Reigeluth, 1983;
Smith & Ragan, 1999). Much of this work has been normative: saying how instructional design should be
conducted. A much smaller fraction has been descriptive or analytic: observing and representing how real
designers actually carry out their work (Ertmer, Parisio, & Wardak, 2013). The notion of learning design has
also been explored, focusing on ways of representing teachers’ pedagogical ideas (e.g., unit of learning,
course, or sequence of tasks) in a standard format interpretable by computers, able to be shared and reused
(Britain, 2004). The focus on such representations has been very strong, and the representations themselves
were initially called learning designs (Koper, 2005). More recently, emphasis has shifted to the process of
obtaining such representations, and away from the representation per se. As a consequence, the term learning
design is also now widely used to refer to the process of building the representations (Conole, 2013; Mor,
Craft, & Maina, 2015). Some authors prefer other terms, such as educational design or design for learning, to
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2018, 34(2).
17
describe the process of creating a representation of teachers’ pedagogical ideas – stating that people’s learning
cannot be designed, it can only be designed for (Goodyear & Carvalho, 2013; Mor et al., 2015). Importantly,
the scope of the term has broadened, passing from its initial focus on representation (Cameron, 2009) to a
wider understanding of teaching as a design practice (Laurillard, 2012; Mor et al., 2015).
The absence of a single vision for the conceptualisation and scope of design in the educational domain has
resulted in a diversity of approaches, each proposing different life cycles for the process – from inception to
enactment of educational activities to evaluation and redesign (e.g., Bennett, Agostinho, & Lockyer, 2017:
before, while, and after a unit is taught; Conole, 2013: vision, gather, assemble, run, evaluate, adapt; Koper &
Tattersall, 2005: design-time, enactment-time; Molenda, 2003: analysis, design, development,
implementation, evaluation; Rodríguez-Triana, 2014: design, instantiation, management, evaluation; Sobreira
& Tchounikine, 2012: design, instantiation, monitoring, runtime management; Villasclaras-Fernández,
Hernández-Leo, Asensio-Pérez, & Dimitriadis, 2013: design, instantiation, enactment, evaluation). In these,
design is differently conceived, and it therefore plays different roles. Interestingly, most of these approaches
have focused on design as the creation of a representation for a learning situation. Different terms have been
used to refer to such representations; for example, learning design, lesson plan, unit of learning or design
artefact. In many cases, when the term design artefact is employed to refer to such representations (see, e.g.,
Conole, 2008; Hernández-Leo, Asensio-Pérez, Derntl, Prieto, & Chacón, 2014; Persico & Pozzi, 2015), the
role that other artefacts can play in the design process may become less clear. Restricting the notion of design
artefact to the representation of a learning situation can limit the perception of possible instruments that may
be used during design activities to build the aforementioned learning designs and their abstractions for
example, patterns, models, case studies (Conole, 2008). However, there are other kinds of artefacts that can
play critical instrumental roles in the design process (Boling & Smith, 2008; Crilly, Maier, & Clarkson,
2008), such as those used by teachers to help conceptualise anticipated learning situations (e.g., sketches,
drawings).
A great deal of research on educational design has considered the (upstream or early) conceptualisation phase
(Conole, 2014; Hernández-Leo et al., 2014; Lejeune et al., 2009; Molenda, 2003; Mor & Mogilevsky, 2013;
Smith & Ragan, 1999; Thompson, Ashe, Wardak, Yeoman, & Parisio, 2013; Wardak, 2014). Some of this
research has emphasised the study of the tools and artefacts that designers use in this phase, such as notes,
sketches, pictures and drawings (Conole, 2014; Craft, 2013; Hernández-Leo et al., 2014; Martinez-Maldonado
et al., 2017; Mor & Mogilevsky, 2013; Thompson et al., 2013; Wardak, 2014). However, most of the
approaches that are currently exploring the conceptualisation stage tend to limit their inquiry to this phase,
rather than looking at the whole life cycle (Craft, 2013; Thompson et al., 2013). Other authors who have
included the conceptualisation stage in their research have investigated the different stages separately, usually
focusing on the support provided by specific tools at each stage (Conole, 2014; Hernández-Leo et al., 2014;
Mor & Mogilevsky, 2013).
The rather limited body of research that involves longitudinal exploration of the evolution of artefacts created
and used by designers throughout the different stages of the design process, has so far focused on so-called
learning design artefacts (Chacón-Pérez, 2016; Hernández-Leo, Harrer, Dodero, Asensio-Pérez, & Burgos,
2017; Muñoz-Cristóbal, Prieto, Asensio-Pérez, Jorrín-Abellán, & Dimitriadis, 2012; Ronen-Fuhrmann &
Kali, 2015). These are the final products of the learning design process. As a consequence, there is a lack of
understanding about how other artefacts evolve during the design process, and therefore, how designers can
be supported in the transitions between the different stages of the process (Santos, Hernández-Leo, & Blat,
2014; Wardak, 2014). Supporting designers in these transitions is becoming more relevant as the educational
community moves towards the consideration of learning design as a process, or even of teaching as a design
practice. Although some transitions or discontinuities in the process of learning design could be useful for
designers (e.g., allowing time for reflection), other discontinuities, especially if they are imposed by
limitations in the design technology or the process, can generate issues for both designers and the products of
design. Some examples are the necessity of recreating design artefacts with different technologies (Santos et
al., 2014), the difficulty of reusing sketches when they involve non-electronic elements (Wardak, 2014), and
the loss of information from the original design when it passes through different design technologies (Muñoz-
Cristóbal et al., 2012). Understanding the role of artefacts and their evolution in supporting the learning
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2018, 34(2).
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design process will enable the provision of better support for designers. In this paper, we seek to facilitate the
understanding of the evolution of different artefacts, created and used to support the design process. Our
empirical research focuses on the life cycle from inception to implementation of learning situations (i.e., to
the setting up of the learning environment in which the enactment will be carried out) by teachers.
Nevertheless, we consider that all stages, from inception to realisation with students (i.e., enactment), involve
design, and that other actors besides teachers could be designers, such as instructional designers or even
students. In the next section, we describe current learning design frameworks and identify a set of facets that
can help to map the evolution of design artefacts. After that, we propose a framework aimed at helping
designers and researchers understand the evolution of artefacts during the design lifecycle. We illustrate the
application of the framework by applying it over an existing design case, to explore whether and how it helps
us to understand the evolution of the artefacts.
Current learning design frameworks, and facets for mapping the evolution of
artefacts in a learning design process
Figure 1 shows a classification of different frameworks with some application for design for learning. Several
of these frameworks aim to guide the design process by proposing models that structure the representation of
the design product, that is, the learning situation and/or the enactment setting designed (Emin-Martinez,
Pernin, & Guéraud, 2009; Gómez-Sánchez et al., 2009; Pérez-Sanagustín, Santos, Hernández-Leo, & Blat,
2012; Pozzi & Persico, 2013). Other frameworks aim to guide design by defining design workflows, that is,
identifying a series of stages that shape design processes (Conole, 2014; Hernández-Leo et al., 2014; Smith &
Ragan, 1999). All the frameworks can help researchers, designers and technology developers to reify the
learning design process.
Other frameworks in Figure 1 aid in the analysis of the design process, that is, enabling the means of
determining its features and their relations. Some of these analytical frameworks focus on a particular aspect
of the design product, such as its representation (Pozzi, Persico, & Earp, 2015), its completeness (Hernández-
Leo et al., 2017; Ronen-Fuhrmann & Kali, 2015), or the actual learning situation designed (Goodyear &
Carvalho, 2014). Other analytical frameworks aim to characterise teachers’ knowledge during the design
process (McKenney, Kali, Markauskaite, & Voogt, 2015; Mishra & Koehler, 2006). Finally, there are
frameworks conceived to analyse the design of educational software tools (Tchounikine, 2011).
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2018, 34(2).
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Figure 1. Frameworks that have an application in design for learning
The frameworks described above have different applications in learning design, they come from a variety of
conceptual underpinnings and were created from multiple perspectives and with several purposes. None of
them were conceived for analysing the evolution of artefacts in a learning design process, and therefore, none
of them support such analysis. These frameworks, nevertheless, suggest a set of facets which could be helpful
to have in a framework that aimed at mapping the evolution of artefacts in a learning design process
successfully:
F1. Modelling the design process; this enables the characterisation of how artefacts evolve within the
design process.
F2. Modelling the learning situation being designed; this facilitates the connection of the artefacts used
in the design process with the design product.
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2018, 34(2).
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F3. Considering the possible evolution of design artefacts; this enables the analysis of artefacts that
evolve during the learning design process.
F4. Considering design artefacts besides the design product; this includes any other artefacts (and their
evolution) that are used during the design process.
F5. Considering design artefacts to be different from software; this facilitates the analysis of other types
of artefacts used in a design process (e.g., paper).
F6. Mapping the evolution of the different dimensions considered by the frameworks, in the artefacts
generated during the design process; this enables an evolutionary analysis of design.
F7. Proposing a graphical representation to map the evolution of design artefacts; this eases the graphical
analysis of the evolution.
Table 1 shows to what extent the frameworks commonly applied to learning design support the facets
identified above. As Table 1 illustrates, they do not support a comprehensive understanding of the evolution
of artefacts during the learning design process. There are also other frameworks in the fields of instructional
and learning design that are not focused specifically on design, but they have a wider scope, considering
design as one of the stages in more general life cycles (see, e.g., Molenda, 2003; Rodríguez-Triana, 2014).
Due to the broad scope of such frameworks, they do not support all the facets.
Table 1
Learning design frameworks, and their support of the identified facets for mapping the evolution of design
artefacts (an X indicates that a framework does not support the facet).
Support to facets
Framework F1
Modelling
the design
process
F2
Modelling
the learning
situation
F3
Considering
evolution of
artefacts
F4
Considering
artefact
b
esides final
products
F5
Considering
non-software
artefacts
F6
Mapping the
evolution of
design
dimensions
F7
Proposing a
graphical
representation
Gómez-Sánchez, et al.,
2009
X X X X X
ISiS (Emin-Martinez, et
al., 2009)
X X X X
4SPPIces (Pérez-
Sanagustín, et al., 2012)
X X X X X
4Ts (Pozzi & Persico,
2013)
X X X X
Smith & Ragan, 1999 X X X
7Cs (Conole, 2014) X X X
ILDE workflow
(Hernández-Leo, et al.,
2014)
X X X X X
Create-by-reuse
(Hernández-Leo et al.,
2017)
X X X
ACAD (Goodyear &
Carvalho, 2014)
X X X X X
Pozzi, et al., 2015 X X X X X X
MODA rubric (Ronen-
Fuhrmann & Kali, 2015)
X X X
TPACK (Mishra &
Koehler, 2006)
X X X X X
McKenney, et al., 2015 X X X X X
Tchounikine, 2011 X X X X X
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2018, 34(2).
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Naturally, many of the frameworks in Table 1 can be extended or combined in order to support the identified
facets for mapping the evolution of design artefacts. In the case of the proposal presented in this paper, we
have selected as theoretical foundations elements of two frameworks: an analytical framework (activity-
centred analysis and design (ACAD; Goodyear & Carvalho, 2014) and a workflow (integrated learning design
environment [ILDE] workflow; Hernández-Leo et al., 2014) because their foundations presented
complementary ideas, and together they could address missing aspects of using either the analytical or the
workflow framework separately. In the following section, we propose a framework based on elements of
ACAD and ILDE workflow to support the identified facets.
Four-dimensional framework for artefacts in design (4FAD): A framework for
understanding the evolution of artefacts in the design process of learning
situations
This section outlines the theoretical foundations of the proposed framework and describes it, illustrating its
application with an example.
Theoretical foundations
As explained, we will take elements of the ACAD framework (see, e.g., Goodyear & Carvalho, 2014) aiming
to support all the facets identified for mapping the evolution of design artefacts. The ACAD framework is an
analytical framework which models the emerging learning activities, and it is highly inspired by activity
theory. Activity theory (Engeström, 1987; Kuutti, 1995) is a philosophical framework that takes activity as the
basic unit of analysis, considering activity as part of a meaningful context. Individual action is contextualised
as physically and socially situated (Kuutti, 1995). An important characteristic of human activity, thus
conceived (see Figure 2, left), is that the relation between the subject (an individual or a group) and the object
(understood as a purpose) is not direct, but mediated by instruments, which Engeström (1987) classifies as
technical and psychological tools. The creation and use of mediating instruments constitutes a distinctively
human form of action. Wartofsky (1979) differentiates such mediating instruments – created and used by
humans as primary and secondary artefacts. Primary artefacts are those used directly in the activity, and
secondary artefacts are those used in the preservation and transmission of the associated skills or modes of
action or praxis (Engeström, 1987; Wartofsky, 1979).
Among other things, activity theory can be used to analyse and represent the structure of a work activity, or a
learning activity or a learning design activity. Figure 2, right, shows a designer, using various mediating
artefacts relevant to her object of designing. The designer belongs to a community of designers. The different
designers are related by means of regulations, and form groups playing different roles in pursuit of their
shared object of designing. Through the activity, the object of designing is transformed to create a finally
implemented learning situation.
Figure 2. Activity theory model (left) and activity theory applied to the learning design process (right)
Activity theory has been applied to study different aspects of learning activities during the enactment of
learning situations (see, e.g., Ellaway & Davies, 2011; Gifford & Enyedy, 1999; Sharples, Taylor, & Vavoula,
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2018, 34(2).
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2007). Also, Conole (2008) has applied activity theory to explore the role of mediating artefacts in learning
design, focusing on the designed representations and their abstractions (e.g., patterns, case studies, models) as
mediators of a learning situation. Conole (2008) focused on a specific kind of artefact (Wartofsky’s (1979)
secondary artefacts). Other artefacts used in design activities as mediating instruments in relation to the
object of designing (e.g., sketches, drafts, drawings, incomplete learning artefacts) are out of the scope of
Conole’s (2008) approach.
Inspired by activity theory, workplace ethnography, design theory and French-language ergonomics,
Goodyear and Carvalho (2014) developed the ACAD framework. The ACAD framework was conceived to
support both the analysis of activity within complex learning situations, as well as the forging of connections
between this learning activity and the tasks of design. The ACAD framework considers (student) learning
activity to be dynamic and emergent, as well as physically, epistemically and socially situated (see Figure 3).
This implies that learning activity cannot be designed. However, design can influence activity, through the
tasks that are proposed, and through the shaping of the physical and social contexts in which the activity
unfolds (Goodyear & Carvalho, 2014). As Figure 3 illustrates, the ACAD framework organises design
attention by reference to three design components, corresponding to the kinds of entities that can be designed
in order to be enacted with students: physical situation (set design), tasks (epistemic design) and social
situation (social design). Learning tasks refer to the suggestions of things to do that teachers often present to
students. The design of learning tasks (epistemic design) may involve figuring out how to convey
information, its selection, pacing and sequencing, which can result in instructions for something worthwhile
doing. Set design includes considerations about the tools and artefacts (Wartofsky’s (1979) primary or
secondary artefacts) that are made available to learners; and the space where learning activity unfolds. Social
design involves considerations about how students are socially organised during the enactment, that is,
whether they will be asked to work in pairs, groups or follow scripted roles.
Figure 3. The activity-centred analysis and design (ACAD) framework
Another important aspect to consider is the temporal evolution of learning artefacts throughout a design
process (facet F3, see Table 1). This evolution can be mapped against an existing framework proposing a
design workflow (see Figure 1). Emphasising the difference between the conceptualisation of pedagogical
ideas and the creation of representations of units of learning/courses, Hernández-Leo et al. (2014) organises
support for the design process by distinguishing the following stages (see Figure 4):
Conceptualisation: This stage includes reflections about the characteristics of the context in which
the designs will be applied (e.g., personas, factors and concerns), sketch ideas for the design (e.g.,
course features, course map) and reflections about abstract descriptions (e.g., narratives).
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2018, 34(2).
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Authoring: This stage involves the production of fully fledged definitions of learning designs so that
they are ready to apply with particular groups of learners (with, e.g., descriptions of tasks, supporting
resources). If the authored designs are represented computationally, the technical setup of the
learning environment where the design is to be implemented can be done automatically.
Implementation: This stage includes a first step in which an authored learning design is customised
for a concrete learning situation, for example, a course in a specific virtual learning environment. It
involves such things as creating groups of the students enrolled in the learning environment,
assigning groups to different learning tasks, and selecting learning tools to support those tasks. This
phase also includes the deployment of the learning situation into the learning environment in which it
will be enacted, that is, the setting up and configuration of all the learning environment elements that
represent the learning situation (tasks, groups, tools).
Community: This is not actually a stage in the process, but a transverse aspect of the design
situations. By making this aspect explicit, we emphasise the importance of the role of the community
in the design process, and highlight the fact that design is socially situated.
Figure 4. Workflow from inception to enactment of a learning situation, as considered by Hernández-Leo et
al. (2014)
Both approaches, ACAD framework and Hernández-Leo et al.’s (2014) workflow, share a similar
understanding of what learning design is, considering design in a broad sense, covering anything that can be
designed for supporting learning, and emphasising the role of technological tools for supporting design and
learning. In the next section, we use these theoretical foundations to propose the four-dimensional framework
for artefacts in design, which can be used to analyse the evolution of artefacts throughout a design process.
The four-dimensional framework for artefacts in design (4FAD)
According to the activity theory perspective on learning design activities, the multiple artefacts used by
designers during a learning design activity are mediators in relation to the object of designing a learning
situation. Since the ACAD framework proposes a model of human activities mediated by tools and artefacts
(see previous section and Figure 3, right), we can apply the ACAD framework, initially conceived to analyse
learning activities (see Figure 3) (Goodyear & Carvalho, 2014) to investigate distinct but related aspects of
real-world design activities (supporting facet F1, see Table 1). Adapting this framework with such aim, any
real design activity is shaped by design tasks, and is physically (tools, resources) and socially (teams,
divisions of labour) situated. That is to say, the nature of the activity is strongly influenced by the (physical)
tools and other resources that come to hand and by the distribution of labour (e.g., roles) within the design
team. All these elements combine to influence the emergent design activity. Figure 5 illustrates the use of the
ACAD framework to represent design activity in this way.
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Figure 5. Adaptation of the ACAD framework to describe a design process
According to this view, designers are themselves in a situation where there is a combination of elements that
are likely to influence their design activity: the tools and resources (either Wartofsky’s (1979) primary or
secondary artefacts) they will use to come up with their designs, the social organisation of the design team,
and specific factors related to design knowledge or the design task itself. Also, designers do their design work
to come up with a certain combination of elements for other people’s learning, designing a learning situation
which is also epistemically (epistemic design component), physically (set design component) and socially
(social design component) situated (see Figure 3).
In addition, a design task involves one or more stages of a design workflow. In the case of the workflow
proposed by Hernández-Leo et al. (2014), the stages are conceptualisation, authoring and implementation.
Thus, by combining the ACAD design components and the Hernández-Leo et al. (2014) design workflow, we
obtain a grid in which we can represent the different design components and stages involved in a design task
(see Figure 6). In our proposed four-dimensional framework, any design task involves one or more cells of the
design grid below, and any artefact created or used in a design task also involves one or more cells of the
design grid.
Figure 6. Grid representing a design task
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We suggest that any design task can be modelled with the two dimensions of the design grid, which represents
design components (vertical axis) and stages in the design process (horizontal axis). By applying the ACAD
framework (Goodyear & Carvalho, 2014) to the design activities (see Figure 5), we get a four-dimensional
framework, 4FAD, which can be used to analyse a design process longitudinally. Thus, a design process can
be described in terms of the following (see Figure 7):
Temporal dimension: Includes the different stages of the design workflow considered. In our case
conceptualisation, authoring and implementation. This dimension is critical for mapping the
evolution of artefacts in the relevant moments of the design process (supporting facet F3, see Table
1).
Physical dimension: Includes the physical spaces in which the design work is carried out, for
example, the tools and other resources used: design settings, spaces, places, design tools, etc. This
dimension is important because changes in the physical situation during a design process (e.g.,
physical spaces and tools used) are events that can potentially affect the continuity of design artefacts
(see, e.g., Santos et al., 2014).
Social dimension: Includes the division of design labour: design team members, roles, groups, design
communities, etc. This dimension is relevant in cases in which different actors participate in the
design process. This dimension enables the understanding of the effect of the different social
structures in the evolution of artefacts during a design process (e.g., individual versus group design
work).
Task dimension: Includes the definition of the design task(s) being tackled, including attention to the
epistemic, physical and social aspects of the designed tasks and artefacts (epistemic, set, and social
components of design), and that need to be considered while resolving the design solution. This
dimension enables the analysis of the evolution of the learning situation designed (supporting facet
F2, see Table 1).
Figure 7. The four dimensions of the 4FAD framework
Figure 8 shows an example of the application of the 4FAD framework to analyse a design process,
represented graphically (supporting facet F7). In Figure 8, the design of an outdoor learning situation in
which a teacher needs to go to a park to make preparations on site is presented. In the park (design task T1),
she makes design decisions such as identifying the locations of different plants that will be examined by the
students. Afterwards in the school (design tasks T2, T3), she continues to design the learning situation, now
with other teachers, creating the draft of the final learning situation. Later on, in her home (design task T4),
the teacher implements technological aspects of the setting and makes final design decisions about the
students’ tasks.
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Figure 8. Representation of a design process using the four dimensions of the framework
Figure 9 shows an additional graphical representation (inspired by Prieto, Dimitriadis, & Villagrá-Sobrino,
2011) of the same example. The purpose of Figure 9 is to show the evolution, through the four dimensions of
4FAD, of the multiple artefacts that are created and used in the design process (supporting facets F4, F5 and
F6, see Table 1). In this example, the teacher took a picture of specific locations in the park (A1 the dot
represents an artefact without any components), adding notes about the different types of plants (A2). In the
school, the group of teachers used the notes, modifying them with the final decisions (A3). Using the
information in the notes, they created the draft of the learning situation, using a text document (A4).
Afterwards, the teacher, in her home, created the course in a virtual learning environment, using the
information from the draft of the learning situation and the field notes and pictures (A5).
Figure 9. Representation of the evolution of an artefact through the design process using the four dimensions
of the 4FAD framework
Figures 8 and 9 help to analyse the evolution of design tasks and artefacts during the design process. Figure 8
provides a first glimpse of the evolution of design tasks, in which we can observe how the tasks evolve
through the social and physical dimensions, while at the same time we identify the focus of the designer in
each task. Thus, we see that in the park, the teacher focused on conceptualising the epistemic and set
components of the learning situation, which was completed collaboratively afterwards at the school. After
that, the team of teachers authored the learning situation, and finally, the teacher implemented it on her own at
home. Interestingly, she also did some conceptualisation and authoring work at home. Figure 9 provides more
detailed information about the evolution of design artefacts. For instance, we can observe how, during the
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2018, 34(2).
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design process, artefacts were modified, or used to create new artefacts. We also see how the task dimension
of the artefacts that were created (i.e., their epistemic, physical and social content) strengthened with time –
significantly so in the creation of artefacts A2 (adding notes to pictures during conceptualisation) and A4
(authoring of the detailed description of tasks). Note that the aspects of the artefacts represented with square,
circle and triangle (design components), are related, respectively, to the physical, epistemic and social content
of the artefact, and not to the design context. That is why, for instance, A3 does not include a social
component in the task dimension (the social organisation of the students during the enactment), but it was
created by a team of designers (social dimension of design). The broken-line arrows show that the main
discontinuities in the evolution of artefacts were in the combination of the picture with the notes, and between
the different stages of the design workflow. All this information has the potential to be very useful to
designers and researchers, for example, helping them gain insights into where the discontinuities are and their
relationship with the different dimensions of the design process. These insights can help them understand how
technology might be used to reduce discontinuities in the evolution of design artefacts and enable a more
seamless learning design process. In what follows, we show that the 4FAD framework can be used to
understand the evolution of design artefacts in a real design situation.
Application of 4FAD in an authentic design case
Having discussed the potential of the 4FAD framework, we have applied it to analyse an authentic design
case, looking specifically at the evolution of the different artefacts created and used by the designers. The case
presented in this section is the MTClassroom experience: Redesigning small-group tasks for a multi-tabletop
classroom activity. To analyse this case we used several data sources: teachers’ emails, teacher-generated
design artefacts, authoring files and audio of teachers’ interview. The design situation involved one teacher
who had to redesign a set of one-hour tutorials for a unit of study in an undergraduate business and
management course, at the University of Sydney (Australia). The same design was to be deployed in eight
sessions with 140 students organised into four groups per session (three to six students per group). The
tutorials were held in an experimental learning environment: the MTClassroom (Martinez-Maldonado, Yacef,
& Kay, 2015). The learning space was a multi-touch, multi-surface tabletop classroom designed to support
students working in small groups, and to provide the teacher with the infrastructure to control, monitor and
assess collaborative activities (see Figure 10). The teacher can control the technology and the flow of the class
script through a handheld dashboard. The interactive tabletops were running a multi-user concept mapping
software application which allowed students to discuss at the tabletop and rapidly create a concept map about
a challenging case they had been set. The weekly tutorials for this subject commonly involved discussions
about a case study. The tasks for the tutorials using the MTClassroom were scripted in six steps. These were:
explanation of the instructions by the instructor (10 min)
a first concept mapping task at the tabletop (15 min)
brief reflection (5 min)
second concept mapping task at the tabletop (15 min)
sharing groups’ answers (5 min)
reflection and conclusions (5 min).
Figure 10. The MTClassroom: an experimental multi-surface classroom
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2018, 34(2).
28
The design process involved iterative collaboration between the teacher and the information and
communication technologies (ICT) team to ensure that the design was carefully crafted to make effective use
of the new technology. The conceptualisation and authoring stages were led by the main teacher, with the
participation of a secondary one. The ICT team consisted of four people, who configured the technology to
accommodate the teachers’ design. They had an influence on the whole process, but focused on the technical
aspects of implementation. The teachers focused on the epistemic and social conceptualisation, authoring and
implementation. Figure 11 illustrates how the design artefacts evolved from conceptualisation to
implementation. The first design session (in a meeting room – T1) involved the whole team – teachers and the
ICT team (social situation) – and focused on the negotiation of the conceptual design of the class and what the
technology could afford (i.e., validating the feasibility of implementing the teachers’ intentions in the
MTClassroom). For this, the teachers brought paper documents to the meeting (team), which included a list of
pedagogical intentions that worked well in previous versions of the course and learning materials that were
used (artefact A1 in Figure 11). The result of this design session was an agreed conceptual design, written on
a piece of paper, which reflected the new pedagogical intentions of the teachers (A2) in terms of social,
epistemic and set designs. These included, for example, defining statements about the aim of the teachers to
have all students involved in the small group tasks; giving more time to the second task than to the first task;
providing feedback at the end of the class; presenting each group learning artefact on a wall screen for all the
class to explore. Then, the teachers and the ICT team worked in parallel (social situation) from home
(physical situation) (T2). Based on A2, the teachers wrote down – on paper – the instructions for the tutorials
that would appear in the learning management system for students to be prepared for the tutorial (A3) and the
concept mapping details to be used in class (A4). A4 included an ideal master map for the case and a set of
concepts and linking words to help students to create their own concept map. Then, this master map was
digitised by the teachers (A5) using a concept mapping editor, CmapTools (http://cmap.ihmc.us/), which
served as an authoring tool. The ICT team had access to scanned copies of A2 and A3 – new artefacts A6 and
A7 – and to the digital master map (A8), to prepare the tool to “read” and pre-load the material provided by
the teachers. The tool used the teachers’ map to highlight, in real time, whether any student’s concept map
was falling behind or diverging too much from the ideal solution. Then, the whole team (social situation) met
again in the meeting room (physical situation) (T3) to generate the detailed classroom script for all the tasks
in the tutorials (A9), based on the previous artefacts (A8). Finally, the ICT team converted the paper script
into a markup-language file (A10) that could be executed and deployed by the MTClassroom (physical
situation) (T4), so the learning environment would be ready for the enactment.
In this case, the design artefacts evolved through the four dimensions. The 4FAD framework enabled us to
analyse and represent such evolution while none of the alternative frameworks could do it (see Table 1). An
initial artefact was used to create an intermediate artefact (A1 – a sketch), which served to create another two
artefacts a detailed plan and a conceptual map which finally generated a final artefact in the form of a
computerised script (A10 – an XML file). One of the main materials used in this case was the paper
(sometimes digitised), since most of the artefacts consisted of paper documents. Also, this case followed a co-
design approach, in which ICT experts and teachers collaborated, and different technologies were used in
each temporal stage, some of them experimental. Thus, several manual operations were required to recreate
process artefacts in order to modify, enrich or digitise them (e.g., by using a conceptual map application or by
creating manually a computerised script). These manual operations created discontinuities in the evolution of
artefacts through the whole design process (see only broken lines in Figure 11). As Figure 11 illustrates, a
design situation does not necessarily follow the different stages of a predefined workflow sequentially, but the
different design tasks can include one or more of the workflow’s stages and also parallel design work by the
different actors. The 4FAD framework and representation brings to light where these discontinuities across
the four dimensions considered (physical, temporal, social, task) reside in the learning design process. This
knowledge can help the designers in a subsequent redesign, or the researchers and technology developers to
reduce undesired interruptions in the flow of design artefacts in the learning design life cycle.
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2018, 34(2).
29
Figure 11. Design tasks (top) and evolution of the design artefacts (bottom) of the learning situation
according to the 4FAD
Conclusions and future work
In this paper we have introduced the 4FAD framework, which was created as result of careful inspection of
existing literature and that identified a gap (see Table 1) in existing frameworks to understand the evolution of
artefacts used in the process of learning design. We have also described how the 4FAD framework and the
accompanying graphical representations helped us analyse an authentic design situation by mapping the
evolution of the design artefacts involved. This provides initial insights that the framework can be useful in
helping understand the evolution and role of mediating artefacts in the learning design landscape. The added
value of the 4FAD framework is that it allows the mapping of the evolution of design artefacts throughout
four important dimensions in the learning design process: the physical and social design situation, the
temporal design stages, and the learning tasks being designed. As far as we know, this mapping and
representation overcomes the capabilities of current frameworks in terms of their applicability for
understanding the evolution of design artefacts.
We consider that the 4FAD framework can be especially useful now that the learning design community is
turning from a focus on learning design as a representation (Koper, 2005) to considering learning design as a
process (Conole, 2013; Mor et al., 2015), or even as a design practice (Laurillard, 2012; Mor et al., 2015). As
a result of this change of perspective, the technologies supporting learning design are also shifting from tools
supporting the creation of design representations (e.g., authoring tools: Britain, 2004) to tools supporting
different or multiple design dimensions: tools for designing across physical spaces (physical dimension)
(Santos et al., 2014), for sharing learning designs (social dimension) (Hernández-Leo et al., 2014), for helping
in specific stages of the design process such as conceptualisation, analysis or authoring (temporal dimension)
(Conole, 2014; Hernández-Leo et al., 2014; Mor & Mogilevsky, 2013), or for supporting the pedagogical
decisions of design (task dimension) (Villasclaras-Fernández et al., 2013). As illustrated in the case presented
in this paper, the multiple dimensions and technologies involved in a design process can generate
discontinuities in the evolution of the artefacts used in such process, hindering a seamless design process
(Muñoz-Cristóbal et al., 2012; Santos et al., 2014; Wardak, 2014). We propose the 4FAD framework as an
instrument to help understand such discontinuities.
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2018, 34(2).
30
Some similar issues related to artefact flows, and interoperability of formats between tools, have been
explored in the neighbouring fields of computer-supported collaborative design (e.g., Shen, Hao, & Li, 2008),
advanced authoring tools for intelligent tutoring systems (e.g., Murray, 2016) and computer-supported
collaborative learning (e.g., Chacón-Pérez, Hernández-Leo, Emin-Martinez, & Villasclaras-Fernández, 2014;
Palomino-Ramírez, Bote-Lorenzo, Asensio-Pérez, Vignollet, & Dimitriadis, 2013; Prieto, Asensio-Pérez,
Dimitriadis, Gómez-Sánchez, & Muñoz-Cristóbal, 2011). We aim to carry out further research studying
whether any parts of the solutions applied in these related fields can also be applied to design for learning in
order to achieve a more seamless design process. In this regard, we also need to recognise that we have used a
specific conceptualisation of artefact that has served us well for this exploration of the evolution of design
artefacts. However, there are other more complex philosophical conceptualisations of what an artefact is (see,
e.g., the multiple physical and non-physical functions of artefacts considered by Crilly, 2010, or the notion of
epistemic artefact of Markauskaite & Goodyear, 2016). Further research is necessary to explore suitable
representations of the evolution of design artefacts under alternative, perhaps richer, conceptualisations of
what design artefacts are, their content, and how they function. A main limitation of this paper is the use of
the 4FAD framework in only one case. We illustrated the application of the 4FAD framework in a single case
focusing on the detailed description and justification of the framework’s rationale, originality and relevance.
We plan to apply the framework to a range of authentic design cases in order to validate that the framework
can be used to map different types of design situations (including situations involving design during and after
the enactment) and to understand the different roles that artefacts can take in the learning design processes,
aiming to bring to light otherwise unidentified, general discontinuities. The 4FAD framework has the
potential to sharpen insights into the seamless evolution of design artefacts.
Acknowledgements
This research has been partially supported by the Spanish Projects TIN2011-28308-C03-02, TIN2014-53199-
C3-2-R, TIN2014-53199-C3-3-R, TIN2017-85179-C3-2-R, TIN2017-85179-C3-3-R, MDM-2015-0502,
RecerCaixa (CoT) and VA082U16, and by the Australian Research Council through Laureate grant
FL100100203.
The authors thank the rest of the CoCo/CRLI, GTI and GSIC/EMIC research teams, and especially Higinio F.
Arribas-Cubero, Vanesa Gallego-Lema, Juan I. Asensio-Pérez, and Patricia Santos for their ideas and support.
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Corresponding author: Juan A. Muñoz-Cristóbal, juanmunoz@gsic.uva.es
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology © 2018.
Please cite as: Muñoz-Cristóbal, J. A., Hernández-Leo, D., Carvalho, L., Martinez-Maldonado, R.,
Thompson, K., Wardak, D., & Goodyear, P. (2018). 4FAD: A framework for mapping the evolution of
artefacts in the learning design process. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 34(2), 16-34.
https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.3706
... Although Avastusrada and Smartzoos might not represent the entire variety of design tools that exist in m-learning, they serve as two case studies on the kind of designs that practitioners create in-the-wild in mlearning. Our approach of analysing the designs is just a snapshot of the designs and does not consider their process/evolution (Muñoz-Crist obal, Hernández-Leo, et al., 2018), as well as the (social) practices around them This triangulation could provide more qualitative understanding on why practitioners took specific design decisions, help to assess practitioners' pedagogical skills, or verify whether the designs were created to be used in real settings or simply for demo/testing purposes (which could also help us to decide if specific designs are significant, or should be ignored in the analyses). It is worth mentioning that it is not always possible to have access to the end users (e.g., in our case the identity of the practitioners was anonymised) and our study suggests that even in such cases, ML approaches that mimic human coding of the learning designs could provide useful insights about practitioners' design practices. ...
... Rodríguez-Triana et al., 2020). Thus, future work could include complementary approaches, such as temporal analyses of the design artefact (i.e., their evolution over time) to understand how practitioners design for m-learning, by looking at the evolution of the artefacts (as suggested byMuñoz-Crist obal, Hernández-Leo, et al., 2018), or observational case studies of practitioners' design practices in m-learning. For instance, our analyses of the results obtained from the automatic coding with the ML algorithms, would have benefited from triangulation with the practitioners (e.g., through interviews, or questionnaires about their design intentions). ...
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Background In the field of Learning Design, it is common that researchers analyse manually design artefacts created by practitioners, using pedagogically‐grounded approaches (e.g., Bloom's Taxonomy), both to understand and later to support practitioners' design practices. Automatizing these high‐level pedagogically‐grounded analyses would enable large‐scale studies on practitioners' design practices. Such an approach would be especially useful in the context of mobile learning, where practitioners' design practices are under‐explored and complex (e.g., involving both formal and informal learning activities, happening between physical and digital spaces). Objectives We inquire about the kind of designs that practitioners create in mobile learning by analysing the entire databases of two m‐learning tools, Avastusrada and Smartzoos, which promote inquiry learning outdoors. Methods We use supervised machine learning to classify the textual content of the designs based on the cognitive level required from learners, the inquiry‐based learning phases they cover, and their connection with the learning context (e.g., the role played by the situated environment). Results and Conclusions Results from the in‐the‐wild studies emphasize practitioners' tendency to design contextualized activities, but that include few higher‐order thinking tasks and elements of inquiry learning. This raises questions about the real‐life pedagogical value of similar mobile learning tools and highlights the need for providing pedagogical guidelines and technical solutions that would promote the adoption of good learning design practices. Major takeaways from the study While we show that machine learning techniques (informed by learning design elements) can enable large‐scale studies and provide useful insights, to best understand and support practitioners' design practices it would be necessary to combine them with other quantitative and quantitative analyses (e.g., a qualitative understanding on why practitioners take specific design decisions). Future research could use similar machine learning approaches to explore other design settings, as well as explore scenarios where similar algorithms can be embedded in design tools, to guide practitioners' design practices.
... To theoretically ground our analysis of Living Pasts, we take the Activity-Centered Analysis and Design (ACAD) framework as a starting point (see Goodyear and Carvalho, 2014;Carvalho and Yeoman, 2018;Martinez-Maldonado et al., 2017;Muñoz-Cristóbal et al., 2018). ACAD proposes three dimensions to design with and study through: epistemic, set, and social design. ...
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... Before establishing "best practice" though, one needs to establish the current practice. Much research, especially in Instructional Design (ID) has focused on how design should be; less research has focused on describing or analysing how design takes place (Ertmer, Parisio, and Wardak 2013, as cited by Muñoz-Cristóbal, Hernández-Leo, Carvalho et al. 2018). ...
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Learning design at tertiary level is a challenging and complex task with many aspects to take into consideration (Bennett, Lockyer, Agostinho 2018; Bower and Vlachopoulos 2018, 975; Bates, 2019). Learning design is identified as a core aspect of a tertiary educator’s role, but often, little guidance is given to educators on this topic. Changes in the higher education landscape also bring about questions about ideal learning design. With changing times that require institutions to introduce other models like blended and online learning, more pedagogical guidance might be necessary to advise lecturers on best practices in terms of module design (Kebritchi, Lipschuetz, and Santiague 2017). To aid learning design thinking and to make the pedagogic structure of the design apparent, Laurillard and Ljubojevic (2011) and others have suggested the use of a learning design tool or aid. A learning design tool is a means which can provide analytical support for lecturers to evaluate their own practices (Bower et al. 2011). This study looks at the creation of a customised learning design tool (CLDT) and discusses whether it can serve as an Electronic Performance Support System, which is a tool that can guide and assist users in their roles in the workplace. This case study canvassed the experiences and opinions of faculty members in Military Education on the use of this CLDT. The tool is designed to capture and depict various features of a module’s design. This study made use of design-based research which is a methodology requiring a phased approach and aims to influence practice. Inputs from the participants revealed the perceived value and benefits along with the necessary amendments needed for the tool.
... It occurs at several stages of an intervention and influences that intervention in an iterative process. One design strategy is called the Activity Centered Analysis and Design (ACAD) framework (see [17] for a review of design frameworks). Carvalho and Goodyear [7] describe the Activity Centered Analysis and Design (ACAD) framework ( Fig. 11.1). ...
Chapter
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Full text of this item is not currently available on the LRA. The final published version is available from http://www.uk.sagepub.com.
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Intelligent Tutoring Systems authoring tools are highly complex educational software applications used to produce highly complex software applications (i.e. ITSs). How should our assumptions about the target users (authors) impact the design of authoring tools? In this article I first reflect on the factors leading to my original 1999 article on the state of the art in ITS authoring tools and consider some challenges facing authoring tool researchers today. Then, in the bulk of the paper, I propose some principled foundations for future authoring tool design, focusing on operationalizing the construct of complexity—for tool, task, and user. ITS authoring tools are major undertakings and to redeem this investment it is important to anticipate actual user needs and capacities. I propose that one way to do this is to match the complexity of tool design to the complexity of authoring tasks and the complexity capacity of users and user communities. Doing so entails estimating the complexity of the mental models that a user is expected to build in order to use a tool as intended. The goal is not so much to support the design of more powerful authoring tools as it is to design tools that meet the needs of realistic user audiences. This paper presents some exploratory ideas on how to operationalize the concept of complexity for tool, task, and user. The paper draws from the following theories and frameworks to weave this narrative: Complexity Science, Activity Theory, Epistemic Forms and Games, and adult cognitive developmental theory (Hierarchical Complexity Theory). This exploration of usability and complexity is applicable to the design of any type of complex authoring application, though the application area that motivated the exploration is ITS authoring.
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Designers from various domains have relied extensively on the use of drawing and sketching to communicate their design ideas. Domains such as architecture and engineering design have well-established and refined visual languages. In these areas significant research is dedicated to the study of drawing and sketching. One design area that is lagging behind others is educational design. Very little is known in this field about how participants in teams use drawing and sketching to support their communication in design meetings. This study draws on an applied ethnomethodological perspective to investigate how participants in educational design meetings interact with each other, and with objects in their environment, while creating and attending to drawings. Two case studies involving four separate groups of designers were analysed. The first case involved the design of an educational blog and the second the design of an educational game. The meetings were conducted in the Design Studio, a purpose-built room for conducting research on educational design at the University of Sydney. The studio features two writable walls, which were widely used by the majority of participants in the study. The participants in this study created various types of inscriptions. Inscriptions are defined here as all types of drawings, sketches, and visual marks created in support of design activity. Inscriptions entail a shift from mental representations to social activity. A face-to-face design session often involves multimodal resources thus requiring the analysis of other modes such as gestures. In this study gestures were often used as an additional communicative channel. They functioned as complementary representational means through which the participants made sense of the inscriptions. Understanding the nuances involved in the way designers interact with inscriptions is a necessary step for building better tools, which may support more effective communication between experienced designers, and help novices as they learn to negotiate the design process. This thesis contributes to our understanding of multimodal communication in educational design team meetings and has implications for the functioning of next-generation design tools and design environments, as well as for the training of educational designers.
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