Supporting teachers in data-informed educational design

Recent years have seen a growing recognition of the value of positioning teaching as a design science. In this context, we see a great potential in the possible synergy between educational design, learning analytics and teacher inquiry. This synergy is demonstrated in the form of Computer Supported Curriculum Analysis, Design and Evaluation for Science Education in Africa (CASCADE-SEA), a computer-based support tool that assists teachers in creating exemplary lesson materials for secondary level science and mathematics in southern Africa. The purpose of the present study is to articulate how teachers might be supported in the synergistic processes that are integral to educational design. It does so by revisiting existing data collected during the design, development and evaluation of CASCADE-SEA, and sharing the results of a retrospective analysis in light of recent developments in learning analytics, learning design and teacher inquiry. The retrospective analysis revealed insights related to each of the aforementioned themes. For learning analytics, those were social structures of learning and teaching practices; pedagogy-driven collection and analysis of data; and the use of data to inform teaching and learning. For learning design, the findings pertained to the language, practices and tools used to achieve particular educational aims. For teacher inquiry, the findings relate to the empirical process of question formulation, methods selection, collection and analysis of data, and sharing/reflecting on the findings as well as overall process. Based on the retrospective analysis, design considerations are offered for a modern application to replace the practical and effective desktop software that was developed during the 1990s.