Figures 8 and 9: Thematic CLD Student Design Products
It became clear through the first iteration of CLD that although students had worked with a
degree of autonomy and independence, the collaborative partnership between teacher and student
was crucial for student success.
Students were also able to evaluate the process of CLD through impromptu interviews with
the researcher. Their feedback included such comments as:
I think it’s good, I like how you have all the different steps and you can choose what
you want to do…rather than just the teacher telling you what to do. Usually we spend
the whole lesson talking about what we have to do. This way, you can look at the cloud
and you know exactly what you have to do.
We kind of have more control over what we’re doing, rather than just being given
instructions and doing what the teacher says.
It’s kind of like more space to do your own thing… we can do the work at our level and
when we want to. We don’t have to do the work right now… because we know what
we’re doing and we can do it when we want to.
As evidenced in the comments above, the students enjoyed the ability to control their own
learning in and out of the classroom, which was made possible by the availability of the CLD
representation, the “topic clouds.” This social structure enabled students to act purposefully and
reflectively in their learning, a clear indication they felt confident and capable in enacting their
agency. However, whilst all students completed the unit of work successfully and to a high level
of achievement, their capacity for acting autonomously and to independently make good
decisions about their learning varied between individuals. It is certain that many students would
not have been able to complete this unit without the educator challenging and stretching them to
create a quality final product.
Iteration 2: What Makes a Good Art Work? (Student Initiated CLD)
The second iteration of CLD took the form of a student initiated approach (Smyth and McInerney
2007). As Yvonne and her students had worked together for a full term, had built relationships
and knew each other on a more personal level, Yvonne felt comfortable branching out into a less
teacher controlled space with the students. This second iteration of student initiated CLD