Learner as designer: theoretical approaches to learning and design

Recently so-called eLearning 2.0 has shifted the image of learning from a mental construction of meaning and knowledge to a creative activity that involves the transformation, design and management of external resources. The focus of research in this area is on the social processes between learners and, their communities of practice in their production of meaning (Wenger 1998). Such processes and activities, including writing, can be seen as 'designerly' particularly where students work at achieving their ends using material and conceptual resources in their surroundings. Embedded in the discourse of the “practice turn” (Reckwitz 2002), design research may help to understand how learning activities are structured through the mediation of artifacts. A framework that takes into account the learner not only as user but also as an everyday designer may also play an important role in the development of new tools for learning processes and outcomes.Such a reframing of learning practices requires a commitment to existing socio-cognitive theories. [Introduction]