Involving Students in the Co-Creation of a Complex, Evolving Learning Environment

Abstract

Technology-enhanced learning (TEL) is a promising solution for higher education settings by creating a collaborative, engaging learning experience despite high student numbers and a lack of individual feedback and support. When creating such TEL environments to fit a particular local context, co-creation methods provide a way for all stakeholders to meaningfully address and design for their own needs. In our specific university context, we are working on supporting different forms of learning within large, face-to-face university lectures. Our goal is to create a learning environment for students to learn and evolve in a self-directed and collaborative manner, using a mixture of traditional lectures and online learning activities. Throughout the creation of this innovative TEL environment, we made a point of inviting students to participate in the design and development process. We introduced multiple modes of co-creation for students to reflect on the current system, create prototypes and redesigns, and even practically implement new ideas and solutions. In this paper we reflect on these different modes of co-creation and discuss their impact on various design spaces within this project - the learning design, the learning content and the learning platform. Our findings point to the necessity of using multiple modes of co-creation simultaneously to get a better picture of the complex educational context and interconnections between design spaces.