Supporting teachers in data-informed educational design
British Journal of Educational Technology, 46 (2):
265–279 (2015)Abstract
Recent years have seen a growing recognition of the value of positioning teaching as a
design science. In this context, we see a great potential in the possible synergy between
educational design, learning analytics, and teacher inquiry. This synergy is demonstrated
in the form of CASCADE-SEA, a computer-based support tool that assists teachers in
creating exemplary lesson materials for secondary level science and mathematics in
southern Africa. The purpose of the present study is to articulate how teachers might be
supported in the synergistic processes that are integral to educational design. It does so by
revisiting existing data collected during the design, development and evaluation of
CASCADE-SEA, and sharing the results of a retrospective analysis in light of recent
developments in learning analytics, learning design and teacher inquiry. The retrospective
analysis revealed insights related to each of the aforementioned themes. For learning
analytics, those were: social structures of learning and teaching practices; pedagogy-driven
collection and analysis of data; and the use of data to inform teaching and learning. For
learning design, the findings pertained to the language, practices and tools used to achieve
particular educational aims. For teacher inquiry, the findings relate to the empirical process
of question formulation, methods selection, collection and analysis of data, and
sharing/reflecting on the findings as well as overall process. Based on the retrospective
analysis, design considerations are offered for a modern application to replace the practical
and effective desktop software that was developed during the 1990s.
