Discussing the relationship between pedagogy and digital tools has always been a bit frustrating for me at work. The conclusion the pedagogical staff always seem to arrive to, is that digital tools do not change the underlying pedagogy, so therefore we need to always think “Pedagogy first” before we start thinking about what tools to use. Well yes, technically that is quite correct, but for some reason this conclusion never is fruitful for further discussion. This conclusion is straight up a discussion killer if one desires to talk about the implementation of online courses. 

I have been thinking that the reason for why we always arrive to the same non-conclusion, is perhaps that we do not have a framework to think about technology and its relationship to pedagogy. The discussion and thinking revolves around pedagogical concepts, and we do not have a vocabulary for things that concern the digital implementation. 

Because of these past experiences, Mr. Weller’s guest lecture felt like a nice breeze of fresh air. He advocated the use of learning design frameworks, for many reasons. But one big reason was that it gives the academic community a framework to talk about courses and their elements, to be able to better compare practices. So, a framework gives you a starting point for a deeper discussion.  

One another thing that stuck to mind, was that he concluded the talk by saying that it might not matter what learning design framework one uses in the organization – the most important thing is to have one! 

For me, there is no doubt that a learning design framework will help the organization’s internal discussion regarding online courses. It was delightful to hear a professional assert this fact.