{"id":5557,"date":"2017-03-07T08:06:14","date_gmt":"2017-03-07T16:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.learnlets.com\/?p=5557"},"modified":"2017-03-03T11:15:44","modified_gmt":"2017-03-03T19:15:44","slug":"learning-design-insights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.learnlets.com\/2017\/03\/learning-design-insights\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning Design Insights"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.learnlets.com\/?attachment_id=5559\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5559\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-5559\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.learnlets.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/BALDTMeetup.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"464\" height=\"348\" \/><\/a>I attended a recent Meetup of the Bay Area Learning Design &amp; Technology, and it led to some insights. As context, this is a group that meets in the evening maybe once or every other month or so.  \u00a0It&#8217;s composed of students or new graduates as well as experienced-practitioners. The topic was Themes from a \u00a0Hat \u00a0(topics are polled and then separate discussions are held). I was tapped to host the Learning Design conversation (there were three others: LMS, Measurement, and Social Learning), and that meant that a subset of the group sat in on the discussion. We had four separate discussions for each group, so everyone had a chance to discuss every topic (except us topic hosts ;).<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;d chosen to start with 3 or four questions to prompt discussion:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What is good learning design?<\/li>\n<li>Are you doing good learning design?<\/li>\n<li>What are the barriers to good learning design?<\/li>\n<li>What can we do to improve learning design?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In each case, we never got beyond the first question!  \u00a0However, in the course of the discussions, we ended up talking quite a bit about the others.  \u00a0I confess that I&#8217;m a just a <em>wee<\/em> bit opinionated and a stickler for conceptual clarity, so I probably spoke \u00a0too much about important distinctions.  \u00a0Yet \u00a0there were also some valuable insights from the group.<\/p>\n<p>First, it was a great group: enthusiastic, with a wide range of experience and backgrounds.  \u00a0Folks had come into the field from different areas, everything from neuroscience to rabbinical practice!  \u00a0And there were new students still in a Master&#8217;s program, job seekers, and those who were active in work.  \u00a0Everyone contributed.  \u00a0While it meant missing <a href=\"http:\/\/lrnchat.com\" target=\"_blank\">#lrnchat<\/a>, it was worthwhile \u00a0to have a different experience.  \u00a0And everyone was kind enough to understood when I had to have my knee up as rehab (thanks!).<\/p>\n<p>The responses to the first question were very interesting: what is good learning design?  \u00a0While most everyone talked about features of the experience, we also were talking \u00a0both the outcome \u00a0<em>and<\/em> the process.  \u00a0There even emerged a discussion about what learning was.  \u00a0I offered  \u00a0the traditional (behaviorist) description: a change in behavior in the same context, e.g. responding in a different (and presumably better) way.  \u00a0I also mentioned my usual: learning is action and reflection; instruction is \u00a0<em>designed \u00a0<\/em>action and \u00a0<em>guided<\/em> reflection.<\/p>\n<p>One element that appeared in all four groups was &#8216;engaging&#8217;.  \u00a0Exactly that word. (Only once did I feel compelled to mention that <em><a href=\"http:\/\/engaginglearning.com\" target=\"_blank\">Engaging Learning<\/a> \u00a0<\/em>was the title of my first book! ;)  \u00a0There were other terms that encompassed it, including &#8216;experience&#8217;, &#8216;stimulating&#8217;, and &#8216;motivating&#8217;.  \u00a0I was pleased to see the recognition of the \u00a0value! To define it, discussion several times ranged across \u00a0things like challenging practice and making it meaningful to learners.<\/p>\n<p>Another element that reoccurred was &#8216;memorable&#8217;. It seemed \u00a0what was meant was &#8216;retention&#8217; (over time until needed) rather than the learning experience was worth recalling. This did bring up a discussion of what led to retention and a discussion of spaced learning.  \u00a0That is, the fact that our brains can only strengthen associations so much in one day before sleep is needed. <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.learnlets.com\/2006\/07\/slow-learning\/\" target=\"_blank\">Slow learning<\/a>.  \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.learnlets.com\/2016\/01\/reactivating-learning\/\" target=\"_blank\">Reactivation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>That same discussion came up with another repeated term: micro learning.  \u00a0There appeared to be \u00a0little \u00a0differentiation \u00a0between different interpretations of that term, so I made distinctions (as one does ;).  \u00a0People too often use the term micro learning to mean looking something up just when needed \u00a0(such as a video about how to do something).  \u00a0And that&#8217;s \u00a0valuable.  \u00a0Yet \u00a0it can  \u00a0lead to successful performance in the moment <em>without any \u00a0learning<\/em> (e.g. forgotten shortly thereafter). Which is fine, but it&#8217;s not learning! Microlearning \u00a0<em>might<\/em> be some very small thing that can be learned right in the moment, but I reckon those are rare. What I really think micro learning could and should be is for spaced learning.  \u00a0I think that to do that successfully is a non-trivial exercise, by the way.<\/p>\n<p>We covered other topics about design, too.  \u00a0In at least one group we talked about SME limitations and how to work with them. \u00a0We also talked about the \u00a0benefits of collaboration, and knowing your audience. And engaging the audience, making the learning meaningful to them \u00a0<em>and<\/em> the organization. Minimalism came up in several different ways as well, not wasting the learner&#8217;s time.<\/p>\n<p>One question had arisen in discussion with colleagues, and I took the opportunity in a couple groups to ask about their design practices. The question was how frequent was the process of giving a course demand to a designer and having them work alone from go to whoa.  \u00a0It varied, but it seemed like there was some of that, there was also a fair bit of both collaboration at least at certain points, and some iterative testing. This was heartening to hear!  \u00a0Doing  \u00a0performance consulting and meaningful measurement, however, did appear somewhat challenging.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, there&#8217;s an opportunity for some deeper science behind elearning, yet \u00a0I was very heartened by the enthusiasm and that the design processes weren&#8217;t as &#8216;solitary waterfall&#8217; as I feared. So, who&#8217;s up for a deeper learning science workshop?  \u00a0;)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I attended a recent Meetup of the Bay Area Learning Design &amp; Technology, and it led to some insights. As context, this is a group that meets in the evening maybe once or every other month or so. \u00a0It&#8217;s composed of students or new graduates as well as experienced-practitioners. The topic was Themes from a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-design","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Learning Design Insights - Learnlets<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"At a recent event, we discussed learning design. The discussions were vibrant and led to some insights about perceptions about processes and product.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.learnlets.com\/2017\/03\/learning-design-insights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Learning Design Insights - Learnlets\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At a recent event, we discussed learning design. The discussions were vibrant and led to some insights about perceptions about processes and product.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.learnlets.com\/2017\/03\/learning-design-insights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Learnlets\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-07T16:06:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.learnlets.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/BALDTMeetup.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Clark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Quinnovator\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@quinnovator\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Clark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.learnlets.com\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/learning-design-insights\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.learnlets.com\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/learning-design-insights\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Clark\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.learnlets.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/848b8939a9433cfc9771fc17c88946a6\"},\"headline\":\"Learning Design Insights\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-07T16:06:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.learnlets.com\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/learning-design-insights\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":859,\"commentCount\":4,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.learnlets.com\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/learning-design-insights\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blog.learnlets.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/BALDTMeetup.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"design\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.learnlets.com\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/learning-design-insights\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.learnlets.com\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/learning-design-insights\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.learnlets.com\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/learning-design-insights\\\/\",\"name\":\"Learning Design Insights - Learnlets\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.learnlets.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.learnlets.com\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/learning-design-insights\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.learnlets.com\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/learning-design-insights\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blog.learnlets.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/BALDTMeetup.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-07T16:06:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.learnlets.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/848b8939a9433cfc9771fc17c88946a6\"},\"description\":\"At a recent event, we discussed learning design. 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