Designing innovative education formats and how to fail well when doing so

Abstract

In this article we explore the challenges of designing new, radical education formats from a design-­based research perspective. The article opens with a discussion of central challenges in organisational innovation with particular emphasis on innovation in educational institutions prompted by new education reforms. The different roles and functions assumed by the design researcher are also discussed, and it is argued that the role of the project manager should bereconsidered as exceedingly crucial in successful implementation of reform-driven educational innovation. The article draws on empirical findings from a recent reform-­driven innovation in the form of a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), which offers courses to Danish primary and lower­-secondary school teachers in need of further training. The findings discussed in the article indicate that radical education innovations may be adversely challenged by 1) dilution of the core design idea as it travels through departments and 2) a tendency to prioritise efficiency­-related payoffs rather than payoffs focused on positive learning experiences. As a measure to eliminate these challenges, the article finally presents the concept of the cross-­functional design team and the notion of learning experience as a central value proposition of radical innovations in education