Abstract
Due to constant changes and developments of the 21st century societies and
working life, the environments in which learning takes place have changed. Novel
ways to research learning in those environments and to explore how learning could
be supported with the learning design are needed in order to bring about changes in
teaching practices. One of those ways could be design-based research (DBR), an
iterative, interventionist and flexible research strategy, which would allow cycles
of developing theory of learning as well as implementing design principles in
practice. This article describes how we, as teacher-researchers, have adopted a
design-based research approach in two separate studies in order to examine
learning in authentic contexts in our own work as higher education language
teachers. In the first stages of applying the strategy, we are exploring how our
current designs work. The data for this exploration was collected from English for
Academic Purposes courses in the form of videoed lessons, reflective diaries,
interviews, questionnaires, course assignments and feedback to document the
designs as well as the learning processes. Through this, we hope to shed light on
the affordances that are central in terms of learners’ agency in shaping their own
learning paths, and communicating their expertise through language on these
example courses. This knowledge could then be utilized in developing an improved
learning design. Despite the challenges of implementing this multifaceted approach,
design-based research could have potential to provide new insights into learning
and teaching and in that way also affect educational practices.
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