A fingerprint pattern of supports for teachers’ designing of technology-enhanced learning

Teachers often find themselves in a position in which they need to adapt technology-enhanced materials to meet the needs of their students. As new technologies—especially those not specifically designed for learning—find their way into schools, teachers need to be able to design learning experiences that use these new technologies in their local contexts. We leverage previous work and new analyses of three cases in this area to identify a ‘fingerprint pattern’ of supports for teachers’ designing, investigating research questions: (1) What are common constructs that can be identified as the ‘fingerprint pattern’ of formal programs aimed at supporting teachers as designers of technology-enhanced learning? (2) What types of learning can such programs support? Although design work was diverse, all studies involved technology as a support for teacher learning and design work, and as a component of their designs for learning. Across studies, our supports involved modeling practice, supporting dialogue, scaffolding design process, and design for real-world use. We view these constructs as a ‘fingerprint pattern’ of design courses. Together, these supported teachers’ deeper understanding and adoption of new pedagogical approaches and inclination to adopt a teacher-as-designer professional identity.