Design-Based Research

Design-Based Research uses an iterative research methodology primarily in education to develop, test, and refine innovative learning environments or course materials in real-world settings (Schunk, 2020). In this study, DBR cycles refined the curriculum artifacts themselves — slide decks, modules, syllabi, and assignment designs — across four iterations. Each cycle asked what the artifact was meant to do, observed how it performed in the classroom and the online cohort, and produced a revised artifact. The research questions focused on how specific curriculum revisions (adding visuals, reorganizing modules, swapping a GenAI tool, simplifying an assignment prompt) reshaped the curriculum so that it could remain responsive to a fast-changing technology landscape and to a wider range of learner contexts. Course evaluation inputs (§2.6.2–2.6.4) identified where a revision was needed; the revision itself, captured in a dated slide-deck or module change, is the artifact under analysis.