Technology-Enhanced Support Strategies for Inquiry Learning

Design studies provide evidence for the effectiveness of specific supports for learning in technology-enhanced environments and suggest guidelines for the design and use of such features. The Design Principles Database is a public collaborative knowledge-building tool that helps capture and synthesize this knowledge using “design principles” as a basic construct. In this chapter, we highlight eight pragmatic design principles from the Design Principles Database that are most likely to support learning, and we provide evidence that shows how learning is supported by features in technologies that apply these principles. We discuss the advantages and limitations of design principles to guide a design process and suggest that, for design principles to be more effective for guiding new innovations, they should be complemented with a design patterns approach.