Learning Design Tools and Educational Practice: capturing the features of five popular tools


Authors: Aglaia P. Psani, Georgia J. Kiriakaki, Christos D. Kytagias, Ioannis (Yannis) P. Psaromiligkos, Ioannis M. Salmon, Konstantinos S. Kyprianos

Abstract: To facilitate teachers convey educational scenarios, the study reviews five learning design tools: Leaarning Designer, eXe Learning, LAMS, EdCrumble, and Cadmos. Previous research emphasizes the importance of learning design in enhancing teaching quality and simplifying the selection of appropriate tools to cater to educators' varying levels of experience, especially new teachers. The primary aim is to assess the ability of these tools to support teachers throughout the three design phases: conceptual, authoring, and implementation/sharing enabling them to effectively capture and represent a two-hour digital literacy scenario. Forty teachers from a Vocational High School participated in the research. They attended workshops where each design tool was used to model an educational scenario aligned with the curriculum. Workshops introduced teachers to each tool, followed by a practical application of representing a predefined scenario. Data were collected through questionnaires, which were analyzed for reliability and trends in satisfaction. Statistical indicators, such as Cronbach’s alpha, were used to validate the results. The tools demonstrated varying strengths: Learning Designer excelled in conceptual guidance, while edCrumble offered comprehensive graphical summaries. Graphical representation was strong in LAMS, edCrumble, and Cadmos, whereas Learning Designer and eXe Learning leaned towards verbal descriptions. Key gaps included limited support for metacognitive objectives and resource classification. Implementation in LMS systems and sharing capabilities also varied among the tools. The study concludes that although the tools meaningfully support teachers in learning design, enhancements are necessary to address existing gaps.

Pages: 85-98

DOI: 10.46300/9109.2026.20.10

International Journal of Education and Information Technologies, E-ISSN: 2074-1316, Volume 20, 2026, Art. #10

PDF DOI XML

Certification