by Judith V. Boettcher
Designing courses, whether for on-campus or online experiences,
can be complex and overwhelming. There is seldom enough time to do all that we
want to do; there are seldom opportunities to brainstorm with other faculty or
consult with instructional designers.
Here is an approach to
analyzing and planning learning experiences that you might find useful. It is a
straightforward, practical and manageable way to approach designing learning.
It is called the Learning Experiences Framework.
The Four Basic Elements
Just as the ancients
believed that the complexities and wonder of the earth are all comprised of
some variation of the four elements of fire, earth, wind and water, the
Learning Experiences Framework focuses on four basic elements that can account
for all the complexities and wonders of teaching and learning experiences:
1.the Learner; 2.the Mentor
(also called faculty, instructor, tutor, director); 3.the Content (including
the knowledge, skill or attitude to be learned); and 4.the Environment in which
the learning is to occur.
For example a biology
student, the learner, may be running a simulated lab experiment. This resource,
likely developed by an expert, was probably selected by the mentor for this
learner. The knowledge and skill to be acquired—the content—are the abilities
to run the experiment and understand the “so what” and the “use” of the
knowledge. The environment is the sum of all the tools, and possibly a lab
partner in that learning experience.
Similarly, a pilot—the
learner—running a simulator may be immersed in an emergency situation, the
sequences both random and yet not, that are set in motion by the
mentor/director of the experience. The environment includes the simulator; the
particular skill set for managing the emergency is the content.
In a popular online
learning experience, the faculty mentor designs a discussion forum, posts the
requirements and the rubrics, and then acknowledges, facilitates and wraps a
discussion.
In all these designs the
learner is at the center of the experience. The mentor/director is very
involved in the design and selection of the resources and requirements, but
manages and directs the actual learner experience from the sidelines, similar
to a coach or a movie director.
Let’s take a closer look at
each of these four elements of teaching and learning design.
The Learner
The key design questions for learners are:
• Who are they? and
• What do they hope to do or to be?
During a learning
experience the learner is on a stage following the teaching direction to do
what is needed to acquire the knowledge, practice the skill, and identify and
articulate attitudes and ideas. In designing learning experiences one of the
most important concepts is the “zone of proximal development” developed by Lev
Vygotsky, a 20th century learning theorist.
The zone of proximal
development is the readiness zone of learning for any individual. This zone is
what pulls the learner forward to new skills and competencies. The zone
explains what is most often happening when students say that they are totally
“lost.” They are probably outside their zone.
In a perfect world, we
would know the zone of proximal development for each student. When designing,
however, we need to make the best guess as to learners’ probable zones and then
refine those estimates during a course.
This means course designs
needs to include strategies for hearing the learner’s voice, so that we know
what they know and what they think they know.
What design techniques
engage learners and draw them into experiences?
We do know this. Learners
are drawn to puzzles, simulations, games, and “what if” scenarios. Rather than
reading or listening, learners like to do, talk, move, create, and share. They
like to be in charge of what they are doing and they want to do it with others.
They like to focus on the how, not the what of things.
A social media researcher,
currently at Duke University, K. Hayles, has asserted that learners are
particularly engaged when they experience feelings of "autonomy,
competence, and relatedness." Not surprisingly, these are the feelings
that users of the newer social media tools such as Facebook, tweeting and
texting enjoy and may explain some of their popularity.
The Mentor
Two key design questions
for the mentor include:
• How do I best mentor
learners? and
• How do I best direct and
support learners through the
instructional events, and
the need to assess and certify the student learning?
A course design should
specify the mentor behaviors that best support and direct learners towards the
performance goals.
Just as learners are very
individual, so too are faculty. Thus course designs need to be flexible so that
faculty can shape designs to their skills and capabilities within a range of
program requirements. Mentors need to be ready to support learners with the
tools and resources available within the environment.
The Content
The content/knowledge
element of design answers the questions:
• What are the core
concepts and skills to be acquired and developed by the course experience?
• What are the resources
that will be used? and
• How and when will
learners access those resources?
The design of most courses
begins with a set of performance goals and learning outcomes. Then a series of
experiences within a course are designed to achieve those goals. To have a good
fit of the learning goals and the learner, the content needs to be able to be
personalized and customized. A good approach for this is to think of the course
content in four layers:
• Core concept resources
• Resources that “situate”
or place core concepts in
simple context
• Resources that focus on
using core concepts in more
complex scenarios
• Resources for supporting
customized and personalized
learning
More and more applications
are about creating, generating and organizing information and content rather
than reading or listening to resources. This means that some of the resources
may be tools that learners use to record, explain, reflect on their learning.
Learners will gravitate to programs that integrate the generation and analysis
of shared, spontaneous content. Wiki and blog tools and other social networking
and immersive environments are excellent tools for involving students in
problem-solving and authentic contexts.
The Environment
The environment element is
everything else associated with the learning experience. The environment is
every- thing, human and non-human, that learners interact with to learn. The
environment answers the questions of:
• Where will learners be
learning? • When, will learners be learning? • With whom will learners be
learning? and • With what resources will learners be learning The most
fundamental truth about environment is that it makes a difference.
As in the earlier examples,
the learning environment might be an immersive experience such as a simulator
or a lab environment. In problem-solving and other virtual immersive
experiences the environment might be Second Life. For other experiences the
environment may mean col- laborating with other learners using SKYPE, an online
classroom application, or the plain old telephone. It may mean using the social
media tools such as blogs, wikis or listening to or creating podcasts. It can
mean reading or writing or working in a study group at a local wi-fi equipped
coffee shop or library.
Conclusion
Designing learning is never
quite finished as learners’ brains and lives are as unique as their DNA. So
when we design a course, we design for the probable, expected learners, and
then customize and personalize for the actual, specific learners.
Reprinted from Distance Education Report, June 1, 2010.
