Designing for inquiry‐based learning with the Learning Activity Management System

This paper explores the relationship between practitioners' pedagogical purposes, values and practices in designing for inquiry‐based learning in higher education, and the affordances of the Learning Activity Management System (LAMS) as a tool for creating learning designs in this context. Using a qualitative research methodology, variation was identified in participants' conceptions of inquiry‐based learning pedagogy and in their approaches to inquiry‐based learning design. LAMS was found to offer design affordances that are compatible with more strongly teacher‐led conceptions of, and approaches to, inquiry‐based learning pedagogy. The paper draws some implications for the further development and use of design tools for inquiry‐based learning. The authors suggest that, in addition to tools created for teachers, there may be a valuable role for tools that explicitly support students as designers of their own inquiry processes and activities.