Exploring Promising Practices Using Design-Based Professional Learning

In 2019, three Catholic primary schools participated in a design-based professional learning project that was a research partnership between Brisbane Catholic Education (BCE) and Queensland University of Technology (QUT). The broad goal of the project was to explore how to transform learning and teaching with digital technologies. This involved a group of teachers and leaders from each school participating in a series of four workshops led by Dr Christopher Blundell. The goals of the workshops were to help the participants to:

• consider how the transformation of pedagogy with digital technologies is associated with changes in roles, relationships and actions that can disrupt established routines
• use Dual Systems theory (Kahneman, 2011) to conceptualise the importance of routine in teacher practice and the consequences of disrupting established routines
• use design thinking to create strategies for supporting the development of new routines while transforming pedagogy with digital technologies.

Over the course of the year, each school team explored promising practices, formed a community of practice and implemented a range of innovative learning experiences and pedagogies. Link to the final report for this project.