RADAR: New Learning Design Framework

What is a learning design framework?

A learning design framework provides a more structured learning experience for students, with an appropriate mix of activities and greater flexibility for students.

Why does Regent's need a learning design framework?

We're adopting a more active learning approach, by including challenge-based learning and collaboration, while moving away from the traditional lecture/seminar format based on the transmission of content. What does this mean for students? You'll be tackling real-world problems, case studies and role plays that prepare students for future leadership.

Our new learning design framework is as effective for face-to-face classroom experiences as it is for online learning environments. We know our new framework will improve our students' learning experiences through greater structure in their learning and clarity about expected engagement.

Why RADAR?

The RADAR framework helps us design learning activities that provide a rich variety of content in easily digestible amounts – suitable for delivery in the classroom or online.

RADAR will be with us well beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, but will be highly relevant for our successful online delivery. The most successful online learning experiences are flexible, well-paced, designed with learning outcomes in mind, and mainly asynchronous.

Discussion and collaboration with teachers and peers is important to our students, and this can be achieved through asynchronous, as well as live activities. We will balance the need for live discussion with the challenges that many of our students face when required to access synchronous activities across different time zones, as well as recognising that active engagement is better achieved by increasing experiential learning. To ensure that our learning content is accessible when delivered across several modules simultaneously, we will keep webinars to a shorter length, avoid overly long synchronous activities, reduce the number of live sessions each week (ideally one per week per module) and record any live presentation/lecture content.

What does RADAR mean?

The acronym RADAR refers to these five broad learning activities: Research – Acquire – Discuss – Action – Reflect.

These five verbs describe what we expect all students to be doing regularly as part of a distinctive Regent’s experience. They are explained in a little more detail in the table below.

Learning activities		Learning type
RESEARCH	Learners use existing learning resources and/or find new ones for their own intellectual enquiry and knowledge construction.	Experiential
ACQUIRE	Learning through listening, reading and watching (including micro lectures from the tutor).	Didactic
DISCUSS	Learning through discussion and collaboration, with or without the tutor present, in small groups or large groups, structured or unstructured.	Collaborative
ACTION	Learners apply their understanding of the concepts to addressing a challenge or producing an artefact or outcome (and receive tutor and/or peer feedback).	Experiential (and possibly collaborative)
REFLECT	Learners reflect on their experience and receive formative feedback (including 1:1s).*	Experiential

* One-to-one feedback and consultation is not expected for all students every week.

What will this framework be used for?

RADAR has been designed (and tested) to be used across all disciplines at Regent’s and at both UG and PG taught levels. While it is likely to be used in different ways, the RADAR framework will ensure we deliver a holistic balance of research, discussion, knowledge acquisition, active application, and reflection, necessary for successful learning – whether in the classroom or online.

What are Learning Types and the 70:20:10 split?

Based on the work of Laurillard (2012) and Jennings (2013), learning types help us to focus on what learners are doing (as opposed to focusing on what teachers do). For a pedagogy based on active learning (rather than the transmission approach), and even more important in an online/distance learning environment, a typical weekly learning scheme for students needs to include a balance of experiential, collaborative and didactic learning elements, as close as possible to these proportions:

Experiential = 70%
Collaborative = 20%
Didactic = 10%

They represent a move away from teacher-led activities such as lectures, hence the lower proportion of time dedicated to didactic learning.

Biggs, J. and Tang, C. (2011). Teaching for quality learning at university. (4th edition) Open University Press.

Jennings, C. (2013). 70:20:10 Framework Explained: Creating High Performance Cultures. Forum.

Laurillard, D. (2012). Teaching as Design Science. Building Pedagogical Patterns for Learning and Technology. Routledge.

Toro-Troconis, M. et al. (2016). Course Design Sprint Framework (CoDesignS). Developed at the University of Liverpool.

Toro-Troconis, M., Alexander, J. and Frutos-Perez, M. (2019), ‘Assessing Student Engagement in Online Programmes: Using Learning Design and Learning Analytics’. International Journal of Higher Education, 8 (6). ISSN 1927-6044

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