Designing for emergency remote blended and online education: a response to Bennett et al. (2017)

This paper is in response to the article entitled “The process of designing for learning: understanding university teachers’ design work” (Bennett et al. in Educ Technol Res Dev 65(1):125–145, 2017). Design constitutes a fundamental part of what teachers do (Goodyear in HERDSA Rev Higher Educ 2:27–50, 2015). However, it has received negligible attention in the research literature. Bennett et al. make a significant contribution to knowledge by identifying and illustrating how university teachers engage in educational design. In particular, the paper identifies key areas for further support and the professional development of university teachers, including in the use of systematic design models and tools. This will help university teachers significantly, especially during the current pandemic has increased the design workload of university teachers as they endeavour to migrate and transtion their teaching online. Our response discusses Bennett et al. (2017) in the context of emergency remote teaching and the wholesale shift to new modalities of blended and online education. We also offer future suggestions arising from our review, including the importance of further international research on the topic.