How to transfer Good Practices

Didactic design patterns (also known as patterns) document good practices in teaching. They are based on experience gained from teaching practice. The structured form of patterns allows tried and tested solutions to recurring problems to be described and published in an easily understandable way. As a result, they make good practices visible and offer a useful resource for transferring effective solutions in teaching.

Published on 14. November 2023

In a nutshell: What are didactic design patterns?

Patterns reflect and analyze teaching practice by explaining how and why something works well. They place teaching and learning situations in the context and framework in which they were implemented and link the details of the problem to its solution.
(cf. Kohls 2018: 13)

Note: The terms “didactic design patterns” and “patterns” are used synonymously – both in this article and in the community on the topic.

Documenting and sharing Good Practices in teaching

Didactic design patterns aim to document tried and tested, recurring solutions in teaching and to make them available for transfer as easily as possible through the way they are documented. They are based on best practices and question why something works well. Hence, the starting point for didactic design patterns is the solution. In the pattern, the solution is described and contextualized, the problem area and its influencing factors are explained, steps for implementing the solution are described, and the benefits and obstacles of the solution are explicitly outlined. In this way, empirical knowledge is made explicit and accessible to others.

For solutions to be used by third parties, design patterns must have a certain degree of abstraction and thus differ from practice reports. Design patterns remain so abstract that they can be individually adapted to different courses. At the same time, they must be specific enough so that the individual steps remain transparent and comprehensible for transfer (cf. Kohls 2012: 8). The content of a pattern can be individual elements of the teaching and learning process, e.g., the use of classroom response systems, or entire modules and curricula. Therefore, the pattern structure can be applied to various levels of action in studying and teaching. A good design pattern is one in which the solution described balances out the existing problem, including the forces acting on it. Even if a solution can solve several problems, a design pattern only ever describes ONE problem-solution pair in a defined context.

Elements of a pattern

The documentation for most patterns follows a very similar basic structure. It describes a problem-solution pair with the following steps:

Solution – What is the essence of the solution?
Problem – What problem or occasion was the starting point for developing the tried and tested solution?
Context – In which situation/setting is the solution useful?
Forces – What caused the problem?
Details – How (specifically) can the solution be implemented? What steps are required?
Consequences – Which advantages are achieved with the solution? What disadvantages must be accepted?

A detailed description of the building blocks of a design pattern can be found, e.g., on the platforms patternpool.de and e-teaching.org.

Using patterns to facilitate the exchange and transfer of Good Practices in teaching

If you would like to share your own teaching experience with other teachers, didactic design patterns are an effective tool for documenting your solutions clearly and comprehensibly. The simple and structured presentation makes them easy to understand and helps to ensure that effective solutions can be adopted by other teachers. The Patternpool database, for example, offers a good opportunity to publish patterns. Here you can create and upload your own pattern with the help of a guide. As an online journal with its own ISSN number, a release of the tested teaching practice is treated as a publication and assigned a DOI.

Didactic design patterns are usually provided as Open Educational Resources (OER). In this way, they are easy to find and accessible to everyone. On platforms such as e-teaching.org or patternpool.de, you can browse through didactic design patterns created by other teachers and find inspiration. The documentation and dissemination of patterns creates a lively community in which experiences and good practices are being shared. This exchange of knowledge supports the transfer of (practical) knowledge.