ABSTRACT
A common concern for all instructors of learning technology design (LTD) is scaffolding, that is, supporting students’ cognitive development over and above simply providing feedback. LTD students need to understand how people work, how people play, and how people learn. Presumably because these three goals seem commonplace, students assume that they are ready to “just start building” and are often not responsive to feedback (or scaffolding) that would enhance the usability and impact of their product. Student designers can easily lose sight of goals for programming or visual design. In fact, findings from our research indicate that (1) student designers benefit from support in the form of scaffolding and (2) that those who provide scaffolding to students (in this case K–12 teachers) benefit from being able to review the premises, or facets, of scaffolding.
