Sandwiched between the overlying educational philosophy and the framework for learning design lie the design principles. These are likely to be very similar across all of our design contexts, particularly if you are designing within formal tertiary institutions and in the Occidental world.
Having these principles, debated and discussed by design teams and teaching faculty, provides another level of coherence that ultimately serves faculty and students well. The attached PDF is one interpretation of the 10 ‘top-level’ Principles. This is my personal interpretation of a distance learning institution. I can imagine there would be some slight variation in a vocational context or a highly specialised discipline.
As you read through them, and particularly the sub-headings in the PDF, ask yourself when you would ever amend any of them to say “We don’t design …”
- We design for constructive alignment
- We design to harness authoritative voices
- We design culturally responsive learning
- We design for the learner’s context
- We design for digital futures
- We design applied learning
- We design for learner autonomy
- We design with a view to the evolving nature of work
- We design to enable academic and learner analytics
- We design for renewal and reuse
Each Principle requires a little contextualisation for your institution, discipline, programme expectations and learning strategy. I am always happy to facilitate that discussion with you.
Subscribe to my Substack for actionable resources related to learning and teaching