Didactical design research for teaching as a design profession

In her address to the TEPE Conference Hannele Niemi (2008) outlined why and how we should advance research in and on teacher education. In particular she drew attention to an understanding of research as practice-driven co-operation between academics and practitioners which she described as Mode 2. She also drew attention to the importance of creativity in Higher Education with reference to the Creativity Project (EUA, 2007). This paper is intended to complement the ideas contained in this important contribution and aims to highlight the importance of the creative design dimension when thinking about both research and practice in the field of teaching and teacher education. The ideas outlined in this paper have developed from an exploration of differences between traditions in relation to teaching and learning, based upon a comparison of the Anglo-American curriculum tradition and the Continental European tradition of Didaktik, as discussed in Hudson (2008). Particular attention has been given to the notion of Didaktik Analysis (Klafki, 2000, first ed. 1958) for both the development of professional practice and for the purposes of educational research. Subsequently this approach has been applied to thinking about the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to support learning and teaching (Hudson, ibid), the focus of which is on the design of teaching situations, pedagogical activities and learning environments, which aims to address the what, why and how of ICT use in relation to the learner, technology and specific content selected from the wider societal and cultural context. This paper focuses in particular on the role of research in relation to the Didactical design process against a background discussion on the nature of design and the conception of teaching as a design profession. The role of design research in relation to this process is discussed at a range of levels from the macro to the micro. This provides the basis of an Integrative Didactical Design (IDD) framework which is proposed as a pre-condition for the advancement of teaching as a design profession. Recent and current examples of the application of this philosophy through approaches to the development of ICT for learning are presented.