Designs for Networked Learning in Higher Education: A Phenomenographic Investigation of Practitioners’ Accounts of Design

Abstract

Academics in higher education are coming under increasing pressure, which includes pressure to adapt their teaching practices to accommodate networked learning technologies. In order to incorporate networked learning into teaching and learning in higher education, there has been a search for what may be described as ‘good’ practice. There has also been discussion of what has been called a new paradigm, a convergence between different modes of teaching and learning enabled by networked technologies. In the search for ‘good’ pedagogic practice in networked learning there is a need to examine in depth the current practices of educators designing networked learning activities, courses or programs. In particular we need to understand the design process itself and the assumptions about the nature of learning and the learning process that are often implicit in design decisions.