Improving Learning Design & Pedagogy

Eight institutions (42%) mentioned that learning analytics could be used to improve learning design and pedagogy. These are important components of students’ overall learning experience and optimising their efficiency is a priority for these institutions.

Definition & background:

Learning design, pedagogy and learning analytics are interrelated. Pedagogy is the method and the practice of teaching, and learning design is the activities surrounding the learning, which include but are not limited to curriculum development, assessments and practical teaching methodology. Consequently, pedagogy and learning design are related, as they both refer to the learning process. Learning analytics can improve pedagogy and learning design by enabling a comprehensive understanding of students’ learning, and how the learning and teaching environments could be improved to optimise this learning.

Institutions stating improvement of learning design and pedagogy as a key driver:

• University of Edinburgh
• Edinburgh Napier University
• Glasgow Caledonian University
• University of Glasgow
• Robert Gordon University
• Scotland’s Rural College
• University of St Andrews
• Open University in Scotland

Learning analytics projects focused on improving learning design and pedagogy:

• Most of the institutions cited above (such as Edinburgh Napier or Robert Gordon) are in the process of developing projects around this theme.

• The University of Glasgow are in the process of implementing new active learning spaces and learning analytics could be a way of evaluating this change of physical learning environment. While the implementation of new learning spaces is not directly linked to learning design or pedagogy, it can be considered a way to improve the physical learning environment.

Case study:

Glasgow Caledonian University stated learning design as their main driver, notably for the development of the VLE and learning and teaching tools. Their current learning analytics tool entitled GCU-DASH (a series of interactive dashboards) provides module monitoring reports as a part of quality and governance. This would allow an assessment of the quality and learning outcomes of different modules, and as a consequence would enable improvements in learning design and pedagogy. This also enabled a retrospective view of student experience after graduation, which would lead to a better understanding and ultimately an improvement on overall student experience.

Conclusion:

Although there are few finalised learning analytics projects or tools specifically oriented towards improving learning design and pedagogy, there is a significant growing interest in this domain. Learning analytics can improve learning design and pedagogy by enabling a comprehensive understanding of the underlying factors. Improving learning design and pedagogy is important to higher education institutions, as ensuring the optimal teaching of the curriculum and ultimately the most appropriate learning environment for students.