ABC Learning Design workshop

The ABC Learning Design (ABC LD) approach is an engaging and high-energy, hands-on curriculum development workshop developed at University College London (UCL). Teaching teams work together to create a visual ‘storyboard’, outlining the type and sequence of students’ learning activities required to meet Intended Learning Outcomes. The storyboard is made up of pre-printed cards representing the type and sequence of learning activities (both online and offline) required. The main part of the toolkit is a card-set with the six learning types: Acquisition, Inquiry, Practice, Production, Discussion and Collaboration. Formative and summative assessment methods are included as part of the toolkit. 


One of the strengths of the ABC LD is that it creates a high level of engagement, creative informed dialogue, and group reflection on curriculum design among very busy and overloaded academic staff in universities. The ABC LD workshop has been used successfully in UCL and the UCL team has found the method to be highly transferable beyond universities, and other universities and colleges in Europe, North and South America, including University of Copenhagen (UCPH), have started to use the method. The key words for the ABC LD methodology are pace, engagement, and collaboration. In just 90 minutes, using a prototyping workshop, teaching teams co-create a visual ‘storyboard’ of the student’s learning path.

The original ABC LD approach is designed for curriculum revision at module level. In the EEISHEA project, the approach and the corresponding toolkit was modified to meet the requirements of curriculum redesign at a programme level by redesigning the storyboard to contain one full 2-4 years curriculum instead of only a course. Cards for the four cross-cutting themes (Student-Centred Learning, E-Learning, Entrepreneurship & Innovation and Sustainability) were added to the toolkit in order to meet the development perspective for the EEISHEA project.

As part of the overall training program in the EEISHEA project, a f2f ABC LD workshop for curriculum redesign at programme level was conducted in connection with the third f2f training workshops, together with the African peer training. 

However, at SUZA the Local Task Force team expressed an interest in running an ABC LD workshop for redesign at module level. Such a workshop was organized by the Local Project Manager as a blended learning event, in collaboration with Henrik Bregnhøj, UCPH, who participated via Internet, while the LTF team members in SUZA joined together for local f2f collaboration and workshop activities. The ABC LD online workshop was recorded and can be watched here.