Designing in the times of AI: Co-creation as a strategy towards emergent learning design
Daniela Gachago, Cheng-Wen Huang, Christine Immenga, �Shanali Govender & Tefo Mosienyane, CHED & DSA
20 November 2024
Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT). (2024).
Overview
Designing in the times of AI: Co-creation as a strategy towards emergent learning design
African Journal of Inter / Multidisciplinary Studies (AJIMS)
Journal is looking for articles that address:
BOLD - radical flexibility
PGDIP in Blended and Online Learning Design - currently waiting for approval by HEQC and SAQA
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Designing with AI��Overview
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Duration: 6 Week Short Course
Cost:
2024 Cohort: 40 participants
Mode: Online delivery
Tuesdays (16:00-18:00 pm): Presentations led by facilitators & guest speakers
Thursdays (16:00-18:00 pm): Facilitated group work
Fridays (14:00-15:00 pm): Coaching sessions (including tutorials)
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Graphic from Maha Bali blogpost
Structure of course
Week 1
Week 2
Weeks 3 & 4
Week 5
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Core philosophy
…with facilitators
…with participants
…with guest speakers
…with generative AI tools
Emergent Design
How do you design for uncertainty?
Uncertain contexts
Uncertain knowledge / content
Uncertainty of field
Uncertain of structure
Designing for emergence
Emergent learning design
Co-creation
Challenges traditional notions of fixed, expert knowledge in learning design. It recognises knowledge as contingent, contextual, and constantly evolving, especially in rapidly changing fields like AI in education.
Epistemological Project
Co-creation as a:
Disrupts established roles and responsibilities in learning design, while blurring boundaries between designers, developers, and facilitators. It questions the nature of learning design itself, moving towards a more fluid, iterative, and collaborative process (Ashwin, 2022; DeRosa, 2022).
Ontological Project
Serves as a means to address social justice and equity issues in education by intentionally including and amplifying marginalised voices. It challenges dominant narratives and knowledge systems, particularly those privileging Global North perspectives
Political Project
Collective autoethnography
BOLD Project Team
Designing with AI
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Research Design
……………………………………
Interview
(focused on narrative about learning design experiences)
What kinds of course design experience have you had previously?
What has the course design process for Designing with AI been like?
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Data Analysis
What I enjoyed about the course was its interdisciplinary nature, which combines technology with human-centered applications like teaching, research, and ethical decision-making.
What I enjoyed most about the "Designing with AI" course was the collaborative learning environment fostered by the facilitators and my peers.
The pace of the course was extremely fast, and the application possibilities are vast. So I felt that I could not really digest everything that I learnt. The reflection activities helped, but I will have to make time in the coming weeks to reflect a bit deeper.
Participant Course Feedback
Epistemological Project
Challenges traditional notions of fixed, expert knowledge in learning design. It recognises knowledge as contingent, contextual, and constantly evolving, especially in rapidly changing fields like AI in education.
Coding co-creation as a:
Ontological Project
Disrupts established roles and responsibilities in learning design, while blurring boundaries between designers, developers, and facilitators. It questions the nature of learning design itself, moving towards a more fluid, iterative, and collaborative process (Ashwin, 2022; DeRosa, 2022).
Political Project
Serves as a means to address social justice and equity issues in education by intentionally including and amplifying marginalised voices. It challenges dominant narratives and knowledge systems, particularly those privileging Global North perspectives
Principles
(co-creation in �emergent learning design)
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Affirm multiple knowledges
Embrace entangled processes
Take on different tempi
Facilitate for relationality & coherence
Make space for affect
Consider AI
Recognise Power
Create Receptive Ground
Principle: Affirm multiple knowledges
Embracing distributed expertise across various contexts, drawing from diverse sources including colleagues, industry experts, and students
…with facilitators
…with participants
…with guest speakers
…with generative AI tools
Participant
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What I enjoyed most about the "Designing with AI" course was the collaborative learning environment fostered by the facilitators and my peers. The interactive webinars and coaching sessions allowed for meaningful discussions, where we could share our insights and learn from each other's experiences. This co-creation approach not only deepened my understanding of generative AI but also helped me apply the concepts practically in various educational contexts. The hands-on activities and group projects made the learning process engaging and relevant, enhancing my overall experience in the course.
We are designing a course where [...] the knowledge is also changing all the time and the tools. [So], we’re still really discovering what it is that we’re teaching, like the field is changing all the time. (facilitator)
Crowd Sourcing Document
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Personas as course buddies
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Principle: Embrace entangled processes
Accepting that design, development, and facilitation phases become blurred and interconnected, requiring flexibility and iterative approaches
Participant
Facilitator
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And I think what's interesting is we have like design and development intermingled here. And then moving from the design process to the development phase. And I think what's interesting is the gaps in each of those, particularly when the people doing design are not the people doing development.
What I enjoyed about the course was its interdisciplinary nature, which combines technology with human-centered applications like teaching, research, and ethical decision-making.
Participant
Facilitator
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Principle: Take on different tempi
Recognising that the design process unfolds at varying paces, from slow and reflective to fast and reactive, adapting to the needs of the moment
The pace of the course was extremely fast, and the application possibilities are vast. So I felt that I could not really digest everything that I learnt. The reflection activities helped, but I will have to make time in the coming weeks to reflect a bit deeper.
The iterative design and emerging design [means] you're taking it really, really slow and possibly that's important. Trialling and piloting across different contexts and spaces. The research aspect of reflective practice; we're constantly reflecting on what we're doing; [...] writing about the process as you're doing it; [this] might be a bit early and ambitious, but at least we are starting to reflect and document the process. Because it's so new…
Participant
Facilitator
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Principle: Facilitate for relationality and coherence
Prioritise creating a sense of community and providing structured guidance to ensure a coherent learning experience for participants
“...you're part of a community of educators on a programme who talk to each other, and work together to ensure that [the participants] have a coherent experience…”
The fact that debate and discussion was encouraged, and the facilitators really made an effort to engage with us. They could think on their feet.
“learning has to do with relationship building, belonging and community.”
Participant
Facilitator
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Principle: Make space for affect
Acknowledging and addressing the emotional aspects of emergent design, recognising that uncertainty can be both exciting and unsettling
I found the group work inspiring. The group tasks forced me to think on my feet and then use GenAI to provide a solution….
I can honestly say, some said the precision of which assignments are presented could be enhanced. I actually think to not be sure of what will be happening next keeps you engaged. What scared me and made me listen is the fact that I was not sure about what will happen next.
…it's scary. [...] we are putting our heads on the line in some ways, because if we don't get interesting stuff from the interviews, and if we don't get interesting stuff from our research, and from our colleagues, then we are left with like, a wishy washy [course design]. …[will we have] enough information for people to find it useful? But at the same time, you know, [we need to] model that we [the world] cannot [know] anymore in the way we used to know. I think it's important.
Use of AI to
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Principle: Consider AI
Proactively and critically engaging with AI tools in the design process, modeling ethical use and enhancing AI literacy among students
Developing images with dall-e based on course metaphors
Participant
Facilitator
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Principle: Recognise power
Being mindful of the positionality of team members and intentionally creating spaces for marginalised voices to be heard in the design process
Present to the class. I felt a bit intimidated by sharing my thoughts with the group as so many were educators but, in the end, it went well because I was made to feel at ease, especially by the wonderful team [of] course convenors.
When co-creating in large teams we need to be cognisant of the positionality of each of the members in the course design team. Working with people involved in learning design on a programme about learning design has created intersections for co-creation that are not typically present in traditional learning design projects. What this process allowed us to do is engage in conversations about which voices are usually silenced and which are emphasised in a learning design process and intentionally create spaces where voices that are usually marginalised are heard more loudly. It also helps us shine light on learning design processes that usually limit agency and the capacity to work flexibly.
…if I was a junior lecturer with no power, no network, I wouldn't be able to design something like this. I couldn't possibly put it off. You need to have some established network of people whom you can draw on to pull this off. (facilitator).
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Principle: Create receptive ground
Building networks of receptive allies within the institution to support and sustaining emergent ways of working that may challenge established practices
Principle: Create receptive ground
Building networks of receptive allies within the institution to support and sustaining emergent ways of working that may challenge established practices
�Continuing Education policy, LearningStore, Digital Certiciates, Digital Badges….
Caveat …
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One last caveat: Finally, we are very aware that the kind of emergent design based on multiple layers of co-creation may only be possible for us because of the positioning of our institution, our position in the institution, and our own experience. We can draw on many years of experience teaching similar courses, have strong established networks within and outside our institution, and on a wide range of experiences and strengths in our team and our networks. Both our personal and institutional voice matter.
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Thank You
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For more information, contact PGBold@uct.ac.za or visit cilt.uct.ac.za/bold
Funded by UCT Formal Online Education Project (UFO)
Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT). (2024). Introduction to Generative AI. (CC-BY-NC 4.0)