One useful resource for designing learning on sound principles is the Learning Designer tool developed by the UCL Knowledge Lab, which is based on Diana Laurillard's Conversational Framework (2012).

The Conversational Framework

The Conversational Framework is a model of the conditions necessary for learning to take place. The framework argues that it is vital to put in place cycles of communication between the teacher and the students and between the students and their peers. These cycles are enabled when the teacher engages learners in six learning types:

  • acquisition (reading, watching or listening)
  • discussion
  • inquiry or investigation
  • practice
  • collaboration
  • production

For more information, watch Professor Laurillard explain the six learning types in this video:

The Learning Designer

The Learning Designer, free for anyone to use, helps teachers and lecturers design teaching and learning activities using the six learning types from the Conversational Framework. It also provides some feedback on your design by showing you the proportion of each of the different learning types in your eventual design in the form of a pie chart, so you can see where you might need to make adjustments.

Another useful feature of the Learning Designer is that it adds up the time you have allocated to activities and allows you to compare that to the amount of time you intended the learning to take. This is valuable to help avoid over-burdening learners, which can be easy to do when the learning takes place outside the classroom.

Learning Designer

For more information, see:

Last modified: Tuesday, 28 April 2026, 10:58 AM