Pedagogical pattern

Re-usable form of a solution to a problem or task in pedagogy

A pedagogical pattern is the re-usable form of a solution to a problem or task in pedagogy, analogous to how a design pattern is the re-usable form of a solution to a design problem. Pedagogical patterns are used to document and share best practices of teaching. A network of interrelated pedagogical patterns is an example of a pattern language.

Overview

In a 2001 paper for SIGCSE,^[1] Joseph Bergin wrote:

A pattern is supposed to capture best practice in some domain. Pedagogical patterns try to capture expert knowledge of the practice of teaching. [...] The intent [of pedagogical patterns] is to capture the essence of the practice in a compact form that can be easily communicated to those who need the knowledge. Presenting this information in a coherent and accessible form can mean the difference between every new instructor needing to relearn what is known by senior faculty and easy transference of knowledge of teaching within the community.

Example structure of a pattern

Mitchell Weisburgh proposed nine aspects to documenting a pedagogical pattern for a certain skill.^[2] Not every pattern needs to include all nine. His listing is reproduced below:

Name – single word or short phrase that refers to the pattern. This allows for rapid association and retrieval.
Problem – definition of a problem, including its intent or a desired outcome, and symptoms that would indicate that this problem exists.
Context – preconditions which must exist in order for that problem to occur; this is often a situation. When forces conflict, the resolutions of those conflicts is often implied by the context.
Forces – description of forces or constraints and how they interact. Some of the forces may be contradictory. For example: being thorough often conflicts with time or money constraints.
Solution – instructions, possibly including variants. The solution may include pictures, diagrams, prose, or other media.
Examples – sample applications and solutions, analogies, visual examples, and known uses can be especially helpful, help user understand the context
Resulting Context – result after the pattern has been applied, including postconditions and side effects. It might also include new problems that might result from solving the original problem.
Rationale – the thought processes that would go into selecting this pattern, The rationale includes an explanation of why this pattern works, how forces and constraints are resolved to construct a desired outcome.
Related Patterns – differences and relationships with other patterns, possibly predecessor, antecedents, or alternatives that solve similar problems.^{[example needed]}

Notes

^ Bergin, Joseph (March 2001). "A pattern language for initial course design". Proceedings of the Thirty-Second SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, Volume 33, Issue 1). SIGCSE '01. New York: Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 282–286 [282]. doi:10.1145/364447.364602. ISBN 9781581133295. OCLC 51305304. S2CID 564766.
^ Weisburgh, Mitchell. "Documenting good education and training practices through design patterns". ifets.ieee.org. Archived from the original on 2014-08-15. Retrieved 2007-10-17.

References

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Bennedsen, Jens; Eriksen, Ole (June 2006). "Categorizing pedagogical patterns by teaching activities and pedagogical values". Computer Science Education. 16 (2): 157–172. doi:10.1080/08993400600768091. S2CID 205613486.
Conole, Gráinne (2013). "Pedagogical patterns". Designing for learning in an open world. Explorations in the learning sciences, instructional systems and performance technologies. Vol. 4. New York: Springer-Verlag. pp. 40–43. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-8517-0_3. ISBN 9781441985163. OCLC 731915958.
Derntl, Michael; Botturi, Luca (June 2006). "Essential use cases for pedagogical patterns". Computer Science Education. 16 (2): 137–156. doi:10.1080/08993400600768182. S2CID 37426541.
Fincher, Sally (September 1999). "Analysis of design: an exploration of patterns and pattern languages for pedagogy". Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching. 18 (3): 331–348.
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Haberman, Bruria (June 2006). "Pedagogical patterns: a means for communication within the CS teaching community of practice". Computer Science Education. 16 (2): 87–103. doi:10.1080/08993400600786994. S2CID 23011626.
Hubscher, Roland; Frizell, Sherri (2002). "Aligning theory and web-based instructional design practice with design patterns". In Driscoll, Margaret; Reeves, Thomas C. (eds.). E-Learn 2002: world conference on e-learning in corporate, government, healthcare & higher education. Chesapeake, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). pp. 298–304. ISBN 9781880094464. OCLC 61510840.
Jones, David; Stewart, Sharonn; Power, Leonie (1999). "Patterns: using proven experience to develop online learning" (PDF). In Winn, Jenny (ed.). ASCILITE'99: responding to diversity: proceedings from the 16th annual conference of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ASCILITE), December 5–8, 1999. Brisbane: Teaching and Learning Support Services, Queensland University of Technology. pp. 155–162. OCLC 223117208.
Laurillard, Diana (2012). Teaching as a design science: building pedagogical patterns for learning and technology. New York: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780203125083. ISBN 9780415803854. OCLC 754518543.
Mor, Yishay; Mellar, Harvey; Warburton, Steven; Winters, Niall (2014). Practical design patterns for teaching and learning with technology. Trails in education. Vol. 8. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. doi:10.1007/978-94-6209-530-4. ISBN 9789462095298. OCLC 876802735.
Scott, Bernard; Shurville, Simon; Maclean, Piers; Cong, Chunyu (January 2007). "Cybernetic principles for learning design". Kybernetes. 36 (9/10): 1497–1514. doi:10.1108/03684920710827445. In this article, pedagogical patterns are called learning design patterns.
Sharp, Helen; Manns, Mary Lynn; Eckstein, Jutta (December 2003). "Evolving pedagogical patterns: the work of the Pedagogical Patterns Project". Computer Science Education. 13 (4): 315–330. doi:10.1076/csed.13.4.315.17493. S2CID 3473870.