Abstract

An increasing number of tools are available to support the learning design process at different levels and from different perspectives. However, this variety can make it difficult for researchers and teachers to assess the tool that is best suited to their objectives and contexts as learning designers. Several of the tools are presented elsewhere in this issue. In this article, the aforementioned tools are used as lenses to view the same learning design narrative – an inquiry-based learning lesson on healthy eating aimed at secondary-school students – from different perspectives, in a manner inspired by the plot structure of Kurosawa’s film “Rashomon”. In modelling the lesson on five tools, we uncovered similarities and differences in relation to the challenges posed by modelling a particular learning scenario, the ease of implementation of the computer-interpretable products’ output by the tools and their different target audiences and pedagogical specialities. This comparative analysis thus illustrates some of the current underlying issues and challenges in the field of Learning Design.

Keywords: learning design; authoring tools; inquiry learning; personal inquiry