This paper reports on a design-based research project in which in-service teachers evaluated a new digital learning design tool. It is guided by two research questions 1) How can a digital learning design tool facilitate teachers’ lesson planning and inquiring into own teaching practices?  and 2) How may the digital learning design tool support professional development? 

Despite the long-standing presence of educational digital technologies, teachers' professional digital competence still varies significantly across and within schools (Fernández-Batanero et al., 2022). Research demonstrates that many teachers keep an instrumental approach towards digital technologies, with limited attention towards the pedagogical affordances offered by such technologies (Aagaard et al., 2024). Besides, less is known as regards how digital tools and resources may offer affordances in teachers’ professional development (Heine et al., 2023).

This paper offers insight into how teachers may integrate digital technologies in professional development processes, and through trial and evaluation contribute to further development of the digital technology tool itself. Teachers’ lesson planning serves as the empirical context.

Lesson planning is a core task in teaching as it is where teachers make important decisions regarding students’ learning experiences. It has been theorized in research since the 1950’s (Tyler, 1949) and dominated by theory and prescriptive advice following rationalistic, technical and linear approaches to planning (John, 2006; Yinger, 1980). With the rapid development of generative artificial intelligence (GENAI), teachers’ professional knowledge and skills in planning lessons and designing learning activities become even more important. GENAI can be used as teacher assistants as it allows automatic generation of lessons plans, learning activities, tasks and content for presentations (Moundridou et al., 2024). However, research shows that teachers must critically evaluate, adjust and tailor AI-generated lesson plans, tasks and activities to support and cater to students' diverse needs (Lammert et al., 2024). The use of GENAI provides possibilities of innovating teaching and learning practices and improving planning processes. However, to ensure continuous professional development and cumulative knowledge building teachers must work inquiry based. By systematically testing and documenting new teaching and learning practices incorporating artificial intelligence for student active learning, teachers can collaboratively develop a knowledge base of proven practices that can be shared with colleagues in and across schools.

Previous research shows that alignment between pedagogy and technology in digital tools is considered a prerequisite for teachers' technology use in teaching and assessment practices (Børte et al., 2023). Moreover, for years, frameworks and conceptualizations on teachers’ professional digital competence (PDC) have been introduced by researchers and policymakers (Claro et al., 2024; Aagaard et al., 2024). Key elements of PDC include technological and pedagogical competences as teachers must master pure technical skills to be capable of using the potential of technology for pedagogical purposes (Skantz-Åberg et al., 2022).

Digital technologies designed to facilitate teachers’ professional development must be aligned with conditions for inquiry-based work, allowing flexibility, co-construction of knowledge, documentation, collaboration, and feedback loops. While many learning design tools  support teacher’s lesson planning, they primarily aid in creating teaching content that can be shared and reused (Laurillard et al., 2018).  This paper examines the ILUKS planner, a tool that allows  teachers to  plan lessons, share learning designs, and receive feedback on a design before, during and after teaching (Børte & Lillejord, 2024). Beyond lesson planning, the ILUKS-planner may serve as a digital infrastructure fostering teachers’ inquiry-based professional development.

The paper contributes new insights into how digital tools may serve as an infrastructure for teachers professional learning, moving beyond an instrumentalist perspective. Findings also inform the redesign of the ILUKS learning design tool.

The paper reports on a design-based research project (DBR), ILUKS, funded by the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills. The ILUKS-project adheres to the principles of design-based research following (Anderson & Shattuck, 2012) in which cycles of design, enactment, analysis and redesign are conducted and documented. The iterative research cycles of DBR allow for improving processes and products and testing digital tools for educational purposes. The study was approved by the data protection officer in the Norwegian Centre for Research Data. The ILUKS project has two phases: 1) tool development and 2) evaluation in practice. This paper reports on the third trial, were 15 in-service teachers participating in a continuing education program at a Norwegian university, in Spring 2023, tested and evaluated the ILUKS-planner. All teachers worked in schools (1st – 13 grade) with 1:1 coverage of digital devices in Norway. The trial was designed as a mandatory assignment and students’ responses to the assignment serve as data. The assignment included an introduction to the ILUKS-planner, in-service teachers’ hands-on experience with the planner including feedback from peer teachers, a written essay based on their experiences, and a survey addressing issues related to the ILUKS planner such as technological interface, perceived usefulness, and suggested improvements. In the present paper, the in-service teachers’ responses to the assignment as written essays, and the survey serve as empirical and professional reflections on how they perceived their roles in technology-rich school contexts, and on how the ILUKS-planner facilitated joint work with lesson planning for teachers, as part of their professional development. All students signed a document where they either accepted (n=9) or rejected (n=6) the researcher using their work anonymously for research purposes after the essays had been assessed and they had finished the professional education program. For the survey, students signed another document where they accepted (n=11) or rejected (n=4) to anonymously participate in the survey. Thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke (2006) were conducted. This allowed us to go beyond the semantic content of the data and identify the underlying ideas or assumptions that are informing the semantic content of the data. Both authors read the essays and collaboratively created initial codes, organized them into themes and critically evaluated and refined them. Data extracts were selected to explain our findings. NVivo software for qualitative analysis was used for coding and analysis.

Preliminary findings reveal that teachers found the ILUKS planner useful in their professional development. However, they mainly related its usefulness to instrumental, technical use of the tool for lesson planning, which may be a barrier for professional development (Aagaard et al., 2024). In our study, teachers focused on solving known problems, such as substitute planning, or creating a digital library of shared designs for teachers to use, rather than exploring how such a tool could facilitate systematic testing, documentation, feedback and iterative improvement of designs. This relates to key areas of teachers' professional digital competence, technical and pedagogical competences (Skantz-Åberg et al., 2022). If teachers do not capture how a digital tool, -the ILUKS-planner- may serve as a relevant avenue for lesson planning and professional development, it is likely that they are more concerned with the technical and local conditions. The ILUKS planner’s role in fostering collaboration and professional development among teachers supports the notion that technology can de-privatize teaching practices and encourage continuous improvement. By enabling sharing and co-creation of learning designs, the tool promotes collaboration and inquiry-based professional development. However, more testing and teacher feedback from evaluating the tool in practice is needed to further refine the tool’s functionality and user-friendliness. The study has some limitations. It includes a small sample of participants (n=11) from one university’s continuing education program for in-service teachers and was conducted prior to the introduction of GENAI, which shows potential in lesson planning. Nonetheless, it reveals that in-service teachers are interested in discussing their lesson plans with peers, and that these discussions may benefit their professional development. This way, the ILUKS planner may afford insight into how to plan lessons independently from subject matters and also serve as a technology that itself fosters reflection and discussion among teachers.

Anderson, T., & Shattuck, J. (2012). Design-based research: A decade of progress in education research? Educational researcher, 41(1), 16-25. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X11428813 Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative research in psychology, 3(2), 77-101. Børte, K., & Lillejord, S. (2024). Learning to teach: Aligning pedagogy and technology in a learning design tool. Teaching and teacher education, 148, 104693. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2024.104693 Børte, K., Lillejord, S., Chan, J., Wasson, B., & Greiff, S. (2023). Prerequisites for teachers’ technology use in formative assessment practices: A systematic review. Educational Research Review, 100568. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2023.100568 Claro, M., Castro-Grau, C., Ochoa, J. M., Hinostroza, J. E., & Cabello, P. (2024). Systematic review of quantitative research on digital competences of in-service school teachers. Computers & Education, 105030. Fernández-Batanero, J. M., Montenegro-Rueda, M., Fernández-Cerero, J., & García-Martínez, I. (2022). Digital competences for teacher professional development. Systematic review. European Journal of Teacher Education, 45(4), 513-531. Heine, S., Krepf, M., & König, J. (2023). Digital resources as an aspect of teacher professional digital competence: One term, different definitions–a systematic review. Education and Information Technologies, 28(4), 3711-3738. John, P. D. (2006). Lesson planning and the student teacher: re‐thinking the dominant model. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 38(4), 483-498. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220270500363620 Lammert, C., DeJulio, S., Grote-Garcia, S., & Fraga, L. M. (2024). Better than Nothing? An Analysis of AI-Generated Lesson Plans Using the Universal Design for Learning & Transition Frameworks. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 97(5), 168-175. Laurillard, D., Kennedy, E., Charlton, P., Wild, J., & Dimakopoulos, D. (2018). Using technology to develop teachers as designers of TEL: Evaluating the learning designer. British Journal of Educational Technology, 49(6), 1044-1058. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12697 Moundridou, M., Matzakos, N., & Doukakis, S. (2024). Generative AI tools as educators’ assistants: Designing and implementing inquiry-based lesson plans. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 7, 100277. Skantz-Åberg, E., Lantz-Andersson, A., Lundin, M., & Williams, P. (2022). Teachers’ professional digital competence: An overview of conceptualisations in the literature. Cogent Education, 9(1), 2063224. Tyler, R. W. (1949). Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. University of Chicago Press. Yinger, R. J. (1980). A study of teacher planning. The elementary school journal, 80(3), 107-127. Aagaard, T., Amdam, S. H., Nagel, I., Vika, K. S., Andreasen, J. K., Pedersen, C., & Røkenes, F. M. (2024). Teacher preparation for the digital age: Is it still an instrumental endeavor? Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 1-15.