Design Talk in Teacher Teams: What Happens During the Collaborative Design of ICT-Rich Material for Early Literacy Learning?

While curriculum design in teams has been shown to foster teacher learning and sense of ownership, little is understood about the nature and content of such conversations. This chapter shares the results of an investigation into how teachers draw on existing knowledge and share new insights during the collaborative creation of curriculum material for technology-rich learning in service of early literacy. Design talk was analyzed through four studies involving six teams of teachers, each focusing on different aspects of the conversations. Findings suggest that teacher design talk is dominated by brainstorms, but that learning opportunities are present when complex problems are addressed. Also, the research showed that teachers are naturally inclined to focus primarily on practical problems, but external support can stimulate more substantive engagement. The in-depth analysis of teacher design talk describes teacher reasoning and the internal dynamics of design teams. It may be especially useful to members of (future) teams or their facilitators, to mitigate unrealistic ideals and prepare well for the challenging yet invigorating work of collaborative curriculum design.