This was a unique, and fun, paper to work on. My colleague Eamon Costello from Dublin City University (who I’ve been doing a lot of ethnographic work with this year) wrote up a sort of manifesto of various practicescapes (or speculative views of the landscapes in which practice happens) associated with learning design. He then asked various people, including myself, to respond to the issues he raised in an equally poetic and speculative spirit. My contribution was short, but allowed me to articulate some issues that had been weighing on me for some time.
Abstract:
This article addresses a serious issue that besets learning design: its over-reliance on frameworks that promise particular outcomes for individual learners that accord with pre-defined metrics. This is partly a function of the nature of learning design and devel- opment itself which is commonly seen as outcome-oriented activity that should ben- efit individual learners in specific ways. An alternative approach is adopted here which calls attention to other happenings at the heart of education, including positive emo- tions we experience that are made known through less measurable and more fleeting points of reference. Hence, we draw on sources such as poems and personal reflections in order not just to design learning but to dream it. The concept of a practicescape is invoked which serves not just to situate learning but to remind the learner that their learning experience only happens within the context of their finite lifetime. Seven prac- ticescapes are presented and reflected on by the authors as a conversation framework for interrogating ideas of learning that owe more to dreams, poems, and possibilities than aims, objectives, or outcomes. Drawing on early Buddhist philosophy, the prac- ticescapes attempt to honour particular affective states and conjure a heart-centred framework on which to hang speculative questions and provocations for learning design that are focused on cultivating and sustaining the most positive forms of human experi- ence. These practicescapes are offered as a speculative learning design climbing frame that could take us from dreams of possibility to enlivened and embodied presents.
Reference:
Costello, E., McDonald, J. K., Macgilchrist, F., Jandrić, P., Carbonel, H., Crighton, S., Buch, A., & Peters, M. A. (2025). Speculative practicescapes of learning design and dreaming. Postdigital Science and Education, 7(2), 560-588. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-024-00465-5
