Preliminary findings from a series of staff surveys on perceptions, attitudes and practices of learning design

This paper reports the findings of a series of connected staff surveys looking at some attitudes and perceptions about issues associated with learning design. This is ongoing survey work and so the data presented will be based on questionnaires delivered in a number of university contexts between spring and summer 2009. The work builds upon an existing evidence base built by the Open University Learning Design Initiative over the last eighteen months; research and investigation that has included semi-structured interviews, workshops, design observation, and focus groups (Conole et al. 2008). The data presented will permit reflection on design practice and the argument advanced in the learning design discourse that an advent of new technologies has created a much more complex situation in the design and planning of teaching and learning and in which new tools and methods of support are available and new questions emerging (see e.g. Lockyer et al. 2009). Is this perception widespread across staff? And furthermore, for those who have encountered the visualisations under development by the university, what is the perceived role for visualisation in the design process? We will use the paper to present a summary of some initial results. We will highlight both how they have specific value in taking forward learning design at our institution, but also the more general messages revealed by the result and the methodology used. This reporting, therefore, will offer insight into the nature of the design problems for which solutions are being sought.