Design Concepts, Principles and Patterns in the Curriculum of the New Computing Education Era - Research Study Summary

Oct 15, 2026

The paper analyzes learning design knowledge for ubiquitous computing, mobile computing, and the Internet of Things (UMI) oriented education scenarios. It applies content analysis to ten high-quality, openly accessible learning scenarios built for middle school learners in the UMI domain. Two mapping approaches are used: linking scenarios to predefined learning design concepts, principles, and patterns, and linking them to parameters of a UMI learning ecology. Results identify key concepts, principles, and patterns that support active, interdisciplinary group learning and meaningful problem solving using UMI functionalities, followed by recommendations for scenario quality.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Learning Design Knowledge for UMI Scenarios

Purpose and Contribution of the Paper

Research Design and Content Analysis

Mapping to Predefined Learning Design Elements

Mapping to UMI Learning Ecology Parameters

Findings and Recommendations

Design Concepts, Principles, and Patterns

Quality Guidelines for UMI Learning Scenarios

Mavroudi, A., et al. (2019). Design Concepts, Principles and Patterns in the Curriculum of the New Computing Education Era. Designs for Learning, 11(1), 141–153 . DOI: [https://doi.org/10.16993/dfl.140](https://doi.org/10.16993/dfl.140) | RESEARCH
Design Concepts, Principles and Patterns in the Curriculum of the New Computing Education Era
Anna Mavroudi*, Olga Fragou† and Christos Goumopoulos‡ | | --- | | Ubiquitous Computing, Mobile Computing and the Internet of Things (collectively referred to as UMI herein) involve recent advances in technology areas such as low-cost and miniaturized processing and sensing technologies, high-bandwidth wireless networking and so on. UMI technologies can also support the recent attempts to reform computing education. Yet, to accomplish this potential, relevant UMI learning scenarios are needed. Creating such scenarios can be challenging, since this particular field of computing education is still in its infancy. This paper discusses learning design knowledge which can orientate the future design of UMI learning scenarios. Content analysis was applied on ten quality UMI-oriented learning scenarios. The scenarios were freely accessible in online platforms, and they were designed for middle school education and for the UMI domain. Two different methodological approaches were employed: the first one involved mapping the scenarios to existing predefined learning design elements ( [i.e. design](i.e. design) concepts, design principles, and design patterns). The learning design elements were previously defined in an online database and they involved ubiquitous tools. The second method involved mapping the scenarios to the parameters of a UMI learning ecology. The performed analysis revealed design concepts, principles, patterns and key characteristics underpinning the selected UMI scenarios: they cater for students’ active learning and engage them in interdisciplinary projects in which students are learning across contexts in groups and solve meaningful problems that exploit the functionalities of the UMI technologies. Several recommendations concerning the creation of quality UMI learning scenarios are suggested, such as: striking a balance between conceptual understanding and 21st century lifelong learning skills, highlighting how students’ collaboration is expected to happen in a UMI scenario, providing many opportunities for instructional scaffolding and explicitly mentioning spatiotemporal aspects of the UMI scenarios. These findings could be of interest to computing education researchers, tutors, and curriculum designers who wish to design UMI oriented educational scenarios. | | Keywords: Ubiquitous computing; mobile computing; Internet of Things; computing education curriculum; learning design tools | 1. Introduction The many-connected-device world, the Internet of Things (IoT), and the cloud paradigm are examples of major advances in computing that have significant implications for the computing profession and the society, as a whole (Reed, Larus & Gannon, 2012; Burd et al., 2017) . These advances in computing aligned with major educational and training advances such as the cultivation of the 21st century skills, reinforce the importance of state-of-the-art technology such as Ubiquitous computing, Mobile computing technologies and IoT applications (UMI) in teaching practice-oriented subjects, especially in computing education and engineering (Toh et al., 2016) . Although computing education might entail different connotations * Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NO † Helenic Open University, GR ‡ University of Aegean, GR Corresponding author: Anna Mavroudi ([anna.mavroudi@ntnu.no](anna.mavroudi@ntnu.no)) for stakeholders of different countries, herein it involves STEM-related curricula with a focus on computer science (Delistavrou & Kameas, 2017) . Through the networking of digital objects and the use of embedded sensors, UMI technologies create new and div

FAQs

What is the focus of the paper?

The paper focuses on extracting learning design knowledge for UMI-oriented educational scenarios by analyzing concepts, principles, and patterns used in quality learning activities.

How were the learning scenarios analyzed?

Ten high-quality UMI-oriented learning scenarios were content-analyzed using two methods: mapping to predefined learning design elements and mapping to parameters of a UMI learning ecology.

What learning outcomes or design characteristics does the analysis emphasize?

The findings emphasize active learning, interdisciplinary group projects, meaningful problem solving, and instructional scaffolding, while also highlighting relevant spatiotemporal aspects of UMI scenarios.

Oct 15, 2026

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