Design-based Professional Learning: A Promising Approach to Continuous Professional Learning

Collaborative professionalism engages teachers and other educators in the processes of documenting and presenting evidence arising from their practice, engaging in deep and demanding dialogue with colleagues, seeking and receiving constructive and productive feedback, and engaging in continuous collaborative inquiry. A design orientation that engages educators in such a process is design-based professional learning. While the overall design of the professional learning is consistent across contexts, three key features are unique to each design—situativity, the cyclical nature of learning and change, and agency. These three features are used to describe two cases of design-based professional learning in two different contexts. Based on 715 teachers, and school and district leaders’ learning engaged in design-based professional learning, we conclude that design-based professional learning provides a promising approach to professional learning.