Designing for Learning.

A few weeks back we were asked about how we design for learning.

There are lots of different approaches, and depending on what you adopt, may depend on how you plan, and utilise technology.

Things to consider.......

Types of Learning.

This task asked us to think about how we use technology for, and map these onto a grid. The exercise makes you think about how digital media could be used for each of these things by drawing on our experiences.

·         thinking and reflection

·         experience and activity

·         conversation and interaction

·         evidence and demonstration

Mapping Tools to pedagogy (conole et al,2004)

This task looked at mapping activities, based on three dimensions:

·         individual–social: any learning activity can be located somewhere along a spectrum from being an individual, isolated experience to being essentially social in nature.

·         active–passive: some learning activities involve active engagement, whereas other aspects of learning may occur through some degree of passive immersion.

·         information–experience: learning activities vary in the degree to which they are information or experience based. 

The learning centred approach (Hybrid)

The model focuses on eight key characteristics of learning, from both the learner and the designer perspectives. The eight events are ‘creates’, ‘imitates’, ‘practices’, ‘explores’, ‘receives’, ‘debates’, ‘experiments’ and ‘meta-learns’. (This is my favourite model - because of the resources, but also because it mirrors much in the way that I plan and train others in designing learning.)

Comparing different Schema

Often people think design is difficult. All of these tools break down learning in different ways for practitioners. In my experience, we spend a lot of time with trainers getting then to understand the processes of designing learning from start to finish. Maybe other practitioners don't. Therefore all these tools give insight into breaking done the reasons as well as the activities, tools and technology that could be used in learning design. When you understand what it is that needs to be accomplished - it is much easier to determine whether technology can be used. So in answer to the question " Does it help teachers adopt a less technology driven approach" for me, no - as my trainers are not driven by technology in the first place. I am interested in why this is such key area within educational context, as the design of learning outside education seems to be focused much more on linking the designs to the outcomes. Is this because teachers are only involved in the final stages?

  In fact, activities like the ones we have undertaken, are similar to activities that I undertake in order to get people to understand how technology CAN be used. by understanding more about learning design, and what activities with learning are meant to enable, it helps to develop different approaches, and allows trainers to be more adaptive. Giving people simple structures and templates to do this -- simplifies the activity, and helps to empower them  to be more creative. Certainly in a face to face environment, I know that if one approach isn't working, then I can change the method to be more, or less engaging - to hit the learning outcome in a different way. I am not sure how this transfers across to a digital environment yet!