This article presents a design-based research (DBR) methodology to develop a teacher professional development intervention that is aimed at helping teachers become designers of student-centred e-learning activities. The intervention was tested at Gulu University (GU) and Maseno University (MU), and a set of activities and tools, as well as six design principles, were recommended for future interventions. The findings suggest that becoming a designer requires teachers to transform their understanding of their practices and to develop teachers as designers (TasD) mindsets. Further research is needed to conceptualise these mindsets and to map and compare the epistemological traditions of learning, design and teaching practices.