Activity level design and learning design tools
One of the challenges in working in the learning design/pedagogy planning tools area is that the most practitioners we encounter don’t want planning tools, they want content creation tools that work seamlessly with their delivery environment. Or they say they want planning tools, but when you clarify their requirements they want is really all around content creation.
Liz Masterman and I were discussing representations of activity level design, when we had one of those realisations that make you wonder why you have never seen it before – and suspect that perhaps it was obvious to everyone but you – that at the activity level, design is most often done within the delivery tool. I may plan a face to face teaching session in Phoebe or (getting back to basics) Word, but usually I work out the details of the specific activities of a face to face training session in PowerPoint as that is what I use to present it to the students in class. With online courses again I am far more likely to start writing straight into the wiki itself when working out how I want a wiki based activity to work and what instructions I need to give students around it.
I would be interested if others would agree with this? If it is not just me, then for projects such as Cascade and LDSE this has implications for where it is best situate guidance and support, where planning and support tools have a role to play, and where they are just adding an unnecessary additional tool into the process.