Collaborative curriculum design

Catch up on the latest spotLITE workshop

In our third spotLITE workshop, Dan Trowsdale (School of Mechanical Engineering & LITE Fellow) shared the pedagogic innovations developed through his first LITE fellowship: the co-creation of learning design.

Two participants using their Lego models to discuss an assessment

Participants used Lego® Serious Play® to unlock their thinking capabilities, a creative approach to exploring issues and concerns with their practice. Dan invited workshop attendees to build a creature with four legs, then share some information about their creature with the other people on their table. They were encouraged to consider the personality of their creature, and how this was represented in the bricks.

After this warm-up exercise, participants were asked to build a model which represented an assessment, considering factors such as format, size, value, when it occurs in the module, how it’s assessed, and feedback. Then, each builder shared the story of their bricks with their table. The models grew with the inclusion of bricks to represent the module’s learning content, and then each table used their models to explore how the assessments could be improved.

Some of the models built during the workshop

Using tools like Lego® can open your eyes to things you hadn’t considered before. Dan shared feedback from his fellowship, which included comments from students about how Lego® enabled them to express things they couldn’t put into words, and feel more free to share their experiences. Staff involved in Dan’s research found that they got a deeper insight into their students’ learning journey, and were able to implement some of the suggestions to make their modules even better.

Dan presenting at the workshop

The second part of the workshop looked at EdVee, a tool developed by Dan to visualise constructive alignment within a module or learning programme. Participants worked in pairs to identify the key features of a taught module, then mapped the links between its learning outcomes, learning activities, syllabus topics, and assessment.

Once populated, an EdVee map can be used as a diagnostic tool and, when shared with colleagues, becomes a useful visual model to gain insights from peers and educational specialists.

If you’d like to find out more about Lego® Serious Play® or EdVee, explore the presentations below. If you’re interested in chatting to Dan about his research, you can send him a message.