Educational practitioners as designers of seamless learning: Lessons from a seamless learning scenarios design experience

In theory, seamless learning design and research with its focus on bridging gaps in learning across contexts can help formulate answers to educational challenges. The recent mass lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic causing education to urgently switch from school-based to online teaching is just one of the many examples in support of design for continuity of learning. In over twenty years of its history, seamless learning has accumulated a substantial body of knowledge of what learning across contexts entails and how bridges across boundaries can be designed. However, seamless learning principles and guidelines to design for continuity of learning with the help of e.g., ubiquitous mobile technologies still need to find their way into educational practice. The study focuses on the outcomes of a hands-on activity in designing seamless learning scenarios. This activity included getting acquainted with the basics of seamless learning and designing a seamless learning scenario. It was part of an event organized for educational practitioners interested in the topic of seamless learning. Analysis of the seamless learning scenarios collaboratively designed during this activity demonstrated that teachers build on inquiry-based learning and problem-based learning paradigms to design learning that combines in-school, out-of-school and online contexts. They were able to include location-based content in school and teacher-led scenarios, however, ideas on the use of mobile technology were still described rather vaguely. Crossing boundaries and removing seams between contexts, did not yet become apparent in these initial teachers’ designs.