This week my Foundations of Learning Design & Technology grad school class was tasked with reading an essay by Dr. Ellen Wagner. The article, In Search of the Secret Handshakes of Instructional Design, features an example of a conversation that is all too familiar for those of us working in Learning and Instruction Design Technology (LIDT). In my world right now, this most often occurs when informing people of my area of study in graduate school.
“Oh you’re in grad school! How cool. What are you studying?”
“Learning Design & Technology.”
…blank stare…
“It’s studying how people learn and creating trainings using technology.”
“…Ok, but what do you actually DO?”
Wagner’s article goes on to describe just how hard it has been for professional LIDT organizations to come up with an adequate description of what our jobs mean. So when I learned that my assignment was to come up with my own personal definition, you can imagine I found the exercise daunting. I’ve been putzing around all week, trying to get my thoughts in order. Finally, I realized that I give my own definition to people all the time, so why should this be any different?
What is your personal definition of learning design?
Learning design, to me, is the practice of developing educational experiences where learning theories, knowledge of various teaching methods and learning styles of the audience are taken into account throughout the creation phase.
How does technology play a central role?
In today’s world, technology often bridges gaps between the traditional classroom experience and experiences that often would not be accessible to the learners. For example, if students are learning about Egypt and the Pyramids, they can use technology to get a close-up view, learn from a local about the area, or receive facts from the anthropologists who work there. This can be done using video, interactive trainings, Zoom, chat rooms and so many other technological methods.
Technology also helps us offer our training in various iterations that might be more user-friendly to the learner who needs accommodations due to disabilities.
Technology can also be used to tailor the user experience of each learner to their preferred type of learning.
What key phrases or words in your definition are absolutely critical for someone else to understand your approach to teaching/training with technology?
-Developing educational experiences
-Learning styles
-Teaching methods
-Creation
What does each keyword or phrase mean to you?
-Developing educational experiences: I want my learners to experience the lesson and not just be taught at. For me each learning opportunity should stand out and be engaging enough for the learner to remember the information presented.
-Learning styles: Learning is unique to each person, and while it’s not possible to give a different lesson to each individual, we can use empathy to ensure that our trainings work for as many people as possible.
-Teaching methods: Understanding the various learning theories and studying various way to impart information to the learners is critical in creating engaging trainings.
-Creation: I love the creativity that can be used in developing the various elements of the lesson.How do the readings that were provided in this module connect to your definition?
One of our readings this week was Chapter 2 in the text Design for Learning. In this chapter, we learned about designing diverse learners and using empathy when considering how to present our material. I loved this, because in one of my previous blog posts, you’ll see that I posit that empathy is needed when considering the user journey and experience with a training. I believe that understanding various learning styles begins with empathy. You first must care that people learn differently in order to want to present your material in ways that would be most effective for the learner.
Gronseth, S. Michela, E. & Oluchi Ugwu, L. (2020). Designing for Diverse Learning, Design for Learning: Principles, Processes, and Praxis. https://edtechbooks.org/id/designing_for_diverse_learners
Wagner, E. D. (2021). What is this thing called instructional design? Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology. https://edtechbooks.org/lidtfoundations/what_is_instructional_design
