LINK: A Corpus-Grounded Design Pattern Library for Educational Technologies

2026-10-02

AI Summary

This study addresses the fragmentation of design knowledge for educational interfaces and the persistent challenge of translating learning theories into concrete design decisions. To bridge the gap between learning sciences and interface design, this work pioneers a corpus-based, bottom-up approach to derive the LINK pattern library from existing educational interfaces. The resulting library comprises 27 interface patterns organized around nine core design commitments. Validation through corpus analysis, user studies (N=14), and qualitative evaluations demonstrates that LINK effectively stimulates design ideation, assists designers in generating solutions, and facilitates the construction of theory-grounded design rationales. By systematically connecting pedagogical principles with practical interface elements, this research offers a structured framework that empowers designers to make evidence-based decisions when developing educational technologies.

Abstract

Designing learning interfaces is often an ill-structured problem: effective solutions depend on learning goals, subject matter, learner characteristics, and interaction context that are difficult to generalize. Designers must integrate knowledge from learning sciences, interaction design, and subject domains when translating learning goals into interface decisions. Yet, prior efforts to connect learning theory and design have largely focused on learning activities or specific technologies, leaving interface-level design knowledge fragmented across systems. In this work, we take a bottom-up approach to surface this knowledge from existing educational interfaces. We present LINK (Linking INstructional Knowledge to interfaces), a library of 27 recurring interface patterns, organized under nine higher-level design commitments, which describe broader learning-science-grounded goals for interfaces. As part of developing LINK, we conducted a user study (N=14) with designers to evaluate LINK's generative power. Our findings suggest that LINK helps designers generate interface ideas and articulate theory-grounded rationales for design decisions.

Problem

• educational technologies
• learning interface design
• design patterns
• instructional knowledge

Innovation

• Design Patterns
• Educational Technologies
• Learning Sciences
• Interface Design
• Corpus-Grounded