The didactic and pedagogical design of e‐learning in higher education: A systematic literature review

Background Since about 2010 e‐learning has been embedded in educational practice and has become, surely due to the Covid‐19 pandemic, increasingly important. Objectives Although much has been written about e‐learning, little is known about crucial didactic and pedagogical design principles for e‐learning. This review tried to fill that gap. Methods Based on a systematic literature review, 42 studies (out of 1857 unique hits) were included that address e‐learning design in higher education. Open and axial coding was used for analysis. Results and conclusions There were two continuums distinguished as important for e‐learning: (1) the active learning continuum and (2) the authentic learning continuum. Those continuums appear to be useful to give a visual representation of included studies through an active and authentic learning continuum. This resulted in four clusters with (slightly) different properties. These properties vary from a relatively low to a high level of authenticity, and from teacher to student centred. Analysis also revealed four crucial aspects for e‐learning design: (1) content scaffolding, (2) process scaffolding, (3) peer‐to‐peer learning, and (4) formative strategies. In general, most of the e‐learning approaches demand an educational design that facilitates authentic learning and self‐regulation. Takeaways To help practitioners in realizing e‐learning design, this paper will provide some concrete suggestions and tips for e‐learning design. Furthermore, this research shows that more well‐founded research is necessary to gain more insight in didactic and pedagogical design principles for e‐learning.