Bridging design prototypes

A design tool to resource sustainable, equitable, flexible learning

Abstract

Resourcing sustainable and equitable education in flexible learning should start with understanding
needs, wants, and context of a classroom community. So, educators can bring about meaningful
learning and foster connection with students who could be time-starved, reside outside of main
centres, studying while working, caretaking and/or with disabilities. Motivation and retention of diverse
students (Cook & Cook, 2023) as well as managing disruption (Porter et al., 2024) require changes in
how technology is used (Lai & Bower, 2020), curriculum is designed (Bovill & Woolmer, 2019;
Vaughan et al., 2023), and students understood (Daellenbach et al., 2022).

Human-centred design (HCD) facilitates the construction of culturally sensitive, accessible, and
flexible learning (G. Gomez et al., 2022). The bridging design prototype (BDP) approach is an HCD
method that design researchers can use to engage users (e.g., educators) in experimentations with
novel resources. Some educators have used BDPs as inspiration to implement their own novel
designs (Kicken et al., 2016). This illustrates that “everybody who works in education is a designer”
(Weiner, et al., 2020, p.781) or have the potential to become one.

A BDP is a fully functional rapid prototype that users accept to incorporate in real (not pretended)
activities; while designers used them for learning about the context (Gomez, 2020). Its iterative
development is informed by six principles, which are seminal concepts drawn from human-centred
product development (Norman, 1999), user-centred, inclusive and participatory design (Keates &
Clarkson, 2003; Norman, 2002; Sanders & William, 2002; Suchman, 1993) and a theory of
meaningful learning (Ausubel et al., 1978). The principles enable to:
• Carry out careful analysis of relevant data,
• Develop resources with familiar features to enhance adoption,
• Determine when novel features should be included as part of resource design, and
• Inform feature design based on a good understanding of the prior knowledge, diverse
capabilities, and context realities of users.

BDPs have been built for preschool concept mapping in K12 (Cassata-Widera, 2009; Gomez, 2010)
and online learning in higher education (Gloria Gomez et al., 2022; Gomez & van der Meer, 2010).
Teachers at a primary school re-oriented my BDP for preschool concept mapping to explore its
suitability as a didactic tool to enhance interactive language learning in the education of children with
speech impairments (Kicken et al., 2016). Explorations with BDP adaptations and a new design (an
app for the interactive whiteboard) transformed speech therapists, counsellors, and teachers into
designers (Lee, 2008; Weiner et al., 2020). After three pilots with escalating numbers in participation
and duration, the school management decided to incorporate concept mapping at every level
(Gomez, 2020).

The BDP enabled this school community to sustainably adopt a new tool and construct a new
teaching reality (i.e. incorporating concept mapping in interactive language learning) to replace an
existing method (topic webs) and complement others (e.g., conversation exchange). The teachers co-
designing achieved a change in didactic tools from a bottom up approach. One by one teachers were
convinced through personal experience because they saw the children behaving differently. This
experience report invites to further investigate how BDPs could inspire/nudge educators in K12 and
higher education to design for “one size does not fit all” (Vaughan et al., 2023, p. 13).

Attendees will be invited to discuss the possibilities with the 6 BDP principles.