The Activity-Centred Analysis and Design (ACAD) framework (Goodyear et al., 2021a; Goodyear & Carvalho, 2014) was created to support the analysis and design of complex learning situations by educational design teams. For over a decade, ACAD has been helping educators to see how pedagogical, digital/material resources and people may be brought together when designing for learning (Carvalho et al., 2023; Goodyear et al., 2021b). While the framework is widely applicable across different contexts and has been adapted to specific goals, sectors, and educational objectives (ACAD for Game-based learning, ACAD, for Digital Critical Competence, among others), this workshop will focus on showcasing how ACAD can be used to analyse and design postdigital educational spaces—environments where digital and physical dimensions are deeply intertwined in shaping learning (Fawns, 2019).

The workshop introduces participants to connecting theory, design, and practice through hands-on use of the ACAD toolkit to analyse selected case studies. Participants learn about the importance of making a subtle but crucial distinction in design for learning: discerning between elements open to alteration through design and those not yet shaping emergent learning activities.

The ACAD toolkit (and its accompanying cards) is a tangible analytical tool that will help participants to focus attention on actionable pedagogical possibilities across three dimensions of design:

•          set design - the material and digital resources available to learners,

•          epistemic design - learning tasks and scaffolds for activity,

•          social design – the structuring of learner interactions (e.g. groups, pairs).

These three dimensions interact with a fourth dimension—the co-creation and co-configuration of emergent learning activity, which is shaped by, but not directly controlled through, design (see Goodyear & Carvalho, 2014).

 The ACAD toolkit includes four colour-coded decks of cards: a blue deck represents key learning theories, and the green, yellow and orange decks represent designable dimensions of the framework (set, epistemic, and social). The ACAD cards are used in conjunction with the ACAD wireframe, providing a space where participants can rest the cards and discuss their meanings.

In this workshop, participants will work in small groups (4-5 people) to analyse scenarios and go through a design challenge, together working towards a potential resolution (Yeoman & Carvalho, 2019), focused on learning spaces in higher education. Universities worldwide face growing challenges in defining what kinds of learning activities justify students traveling to a physical campus versus those that can be effectively carried out online or in hybrid formats. The role of learning spaces in post-pandemic, postdigital higher education has become a pressing issue (Elkington & Dickinson, 2025; Lamb et al., 2022; Marshall et al., 2024) highlighting the importance of the enrichment of Personal Learning Environments (PLE) beyond traditional educational spaces (Castañeda et a., 2023).

Participants will explore how ACAD can be adapted to different educational challenges and learning environments. Examples will illustrate how the framework has been used in teacher education, professional learning, and hybrid university models, highlighting its flexibility for different sectors and pedagogical objectives.

As part of the design challenge, workshop participants will be invited to create learning tasks that help students become epistemic placemakers (Carvalho et al., 2025)—developing awareness of how place, materials, and configurations influence knowledge-related activities, emotions, and learning outcomes. This involves understanding which knowledge-related activities are best done where and why, making design choices that support autonomy, collaboration, and deep engagement with learning while maintaining coherence across scale levels.

This workshop provides a practical, reflective, and interactive experience, equipping participants with tools and insights to critically analyse and design learning environments in an era where the digital and physical increasingly coexist dynamically. 

The workshop will be co-hosted as a face-to-face session (90 min section), which will include a short presentation to introduce participants to core ideas of the ACAD framework and the wireframe, as well as the notion of epistemic placemaking. Workshop activities will include the following key events: 1. Welcome and Introductions – with a whole group presentation of the ACAD framework and wireframe. (10 min) 2. Group Task 1 – participants will explore how to use the cards with the help of the ACAD wireframe and are invited to map concepts to an existing case study scenario. This task will focus on exploring terms used on the ACAD cards, prompt discussions about familiar terms, relevance, fit within context etc. The task also focuses on the development of a shared consensus and invite reflection about correspondence or dissonance across dimensions of design and scale levels. (30 min) 3. Epistemic Placemaking – facilitators will introduce the notion of epistemic placemaking and options for a design challenge. (10 min) 4. Group Task 3 – each group will choose a design challenge and will be encouraged to create learning tasks or propose an innovation in response to a challenge. For example, how a change in mode in a learning space, from a physical campus to online, may be addressed through an online scenario or vice-versa. While doing so, participants are encouraged to maintain a focus on fostering student connections. (30 min) 5. Wrap up discussion – all participants share their group experiences (10 min)

This workshop is designed for educational researchers, learning designers, educators, and postgraduate students interested in collaborative and technology-enhanced design for learning. It is particularly relevant for those working with postdigital learning spaces, where the integration of physical and digital dimensions plays a key role in shaping educational experiences. The session is structured to reflect collaborative, design-oriented learning principles, taking place in a flexible learning space that supports both small group collaboration and whole-group discussion. Participants will work in teams of 4-5 to analyse case studies, apply the ACAD framework, and engage in a hands-on design challenge that explores the role of learning spaces in higher education. Throughout the session, participants will be encouraged to ensure coherence across design choices and scale levels, aligning pedagogical, material, and social aspects of learning design. The workshop will also provide opportunities for cross-disciplinary discussion, allowing participants to reflect on how ACAD can be adapted to different educational contexts, including higher education, teacher training, and professional learning environments. By the end of the session, participants will have gained practical experience with the ACAD toolkit, a deeper understanding of designing for emergent learning activity, and insights into how to create effective and adaptable learning environments. The session will conclude with a whole-group discussion, providing space for reflection, knowledge exchange, and future applications of ACAD in participants' own educational settings.

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