Pedagogical patterns

Pedagogical patterns are high-level patterns that have been recognized in many areas of training and pedagogy such as group work, software design, human computer interaction, education and others. The concept is an extension of pattern languages. In both cases, the patterns seek to foster best practices of teaching.

According to Joseph Bergin:

“The intent [of pedagogical patterns] is to capture the essence of the practice in a compact form that can be easily communicated to those who need the knowledge. Presenting this information in a coherent and accessible form can mean the difference between every new instructor needing to relearn what is known by senior faculty and easy transference of knowledge of teaching within the community“.

Although widespread in the software industry, the use of patterns is still emerging in the educational field. Whereas software developers make regular use of mature patterns, the educational community as a whole is still far from including patterns in the everyday tool-box.

Mitchell Weisburgh has made an effort to define pedagogical content in terms of design patterns. In Documenting good education and training practices through design patterns, he proposes nine aspects to documenting a pattern for a certain skill. Not every pattern needs to include all nine. His listing is reproduced below:

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