Designs For Learning - Vol 7 - Issue 1 - Digital Production and Students as Learning Designers

Oct 15, 2026

Digitalization enables users to interact, collaborate, communicate, and create user-generated content, offering new learning opportunities even for young children. This paper discusses a theory of students’ digital production through a learning and design-for-learning perspective, grounded in the Netbook 1:1 project (2009–2012) in Danish public schools. It introduces a Four Levels Design for Learning Model and examines how students can operate as learning designers in relation to ICT, production, and subject-specific practice.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages23

Reading Time58 min

AccessFree to download

Digitalization as the basis for students’ production

Students’ digital production traditions in Danish primary schools

Research background: project work, instructional design, and CSCL

From communicative and materialized digital production to merged informal contexts

Vol. 7 / No. 1 Des igns For Learning Designs for Learning Volume 7 / Number 1 Digital Production and Students as Learning Designers biR gitte hoLm SØReNSeN, Aalborg University, Denmark kARiN tweDDeLL LeViNSeN, Aalborg University, Denmark Today’s digitalization allows users to interact, collaborate, communicate and create user-generated content. The technology is intuitive and easy to use even for young children, and new learning opportunities emerge. Particularly, students’ production as a learning form benefits from digitalization as the new opportunities enable young students to integrate their playing competencies and skills into the formal school learning. This paper presents and discusses a theory regarding students’ digital production from a learning and design-for-learning perspective, which is generated based on the project Netbook 1:1 (2009–2012), where information and communication technology (ICT) was readily accessible for each child at school and at home in grades 1–3 at two Danish public schools. The paper presents a Four Levels Design for Learning Model, which can be used for both design for learning and analyses of learning processes. The discussion is supported by empirical examples from the project, which explored emerging relations amongst ICT, production and subject matter-specific practice (Danish, mathematics and interdisciplinary activities). We understand design for learning as related to both process and agency, and in the study, we have examined and found that students are capable of operating as learning designers. 1. digital iz ation as the basis for students ’ production In the Danish primary school, students’ production as a learning form has along tradition that is represented by three major trends. The first and oldest trend was related to handicraft, art and students’ narrative production in relation to mother tongue education. In the 1970s, a second trend emerged as tools for media production became accessible. In the beginning, the students produced Super 8 motion pictures, which were later substituted by 54 DOI:[http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/dfl-2014-0011](http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/dfl-2014-0011) analogue video technology. However, analogue video was a challenge to use for both teachers and students. Parallel with media production in school, we find project work as the third trend, where the learners’ verbal language production is at the core. Over the last decades, research has demonstrated that students’ production and collaboration have a positive impact on learning, and students’ reflection and learning increase when they take on the shared responsibilities of organizing and performing the collaboration, production process and the product, which are the focal point of project work (Dirckinck-Holmfeld, 2000) . Based on these findings, project work has become widely accepted in educational systems, especially of the Nordic countries at all levels, from primary school to higher education. As project work began to integrate with information and communication technology (ICT), we see various examples of how the principles and practices of project work have been further developed. The oldest trend that went back to the 1950s was instructional design and computer-assisted learning (CAD), based on behaviouristic learning theory (Reigeluth, 1983) and aiming to make the acquisition of knowledge and skills more efficient, effective and appealing (Merrill et al., 1996). In 1980, Seymour Papert published his book Mindstorms: Computers, children, and powerful ideas, based on Piaget’s constructivist learning theory and in opposition to instructional design and CAD. Papert focused on children’s production as the programming of the movements ofa digital turtle in relation to mathematics. However, Papert failed to document a convincing learning impact (Misfeldt, 2008). For a long period, Papert’s experiments challenged the idea that ICT-integrated student production may facilitate the

FAQs

What is the paper’s main focus regarding students’ digital production?

It presents and discusses a theory of students’ digital production from a learning and design-for-learning perspective, including how students’ production can support learning and agency.

Which project does the paper use as its empirical foundation?

The theory is generated based on the Netbook 1:1 project (2009–2012), where ICT was accessible to each child at school and at home in grades 1–3.

What model does the paper propose for learning design and learning process analysis?

It proposes a Four Levels Design for Learning Model that can be used for designing for learning and analyzing learning processes.

Oct 15, 2026

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