On a whim, I decided to do a completely different design challenge. My original design challenge was workplace-related: To create engagement for workers doing online training. I had all my research-backing ready and a few sentences under each heading in my outline summarizing what I’d say for my Assignment 4… and then I had a conversation with my boss earlier this week.
He was thanking me for working 18.5 hours (from 5:30am until midnight) last Wednesday when a critical job was extended. He said he was too exhausted to stay that late himself and his next day started too early and it was too busy. I thanked him back for the 10.5 overtime hour$, lol.
But I’m too busy too. I used to pride myself on working in ridiculously crazy, condensed work segments so that I could live a somewhat leisurely life for about two-thirds of the year. Now I work almost every day, and when I’m not working, there’s the onslaught of schoolwork and piles of housework, etc., it feels like it never ends! I haven’t put away Christmas yet! If I’m being truly honest, I haven’t finished unpacking yet from moving last May either.
In my opinion, the biggest digital learning environment challenge that affects my learning originates from outside the environment. It is the same challenge that affects the lives of many people, including people outside of DLEs. For most of us students, my boss, our instructors (judging by hours of availability for that last forum), the challenge that plagues us all, it seems, is this: insane busyness.
Below is my design challenge. Critical friends are welcome, but no obligation, I know you’re all busy!
Busyness Business: A Design Challenge
Overview
When compared with post-secondary students in traditional institutions, online distance learners are often older, with greater outside responsibilities such as jobs and families (Brown, Hughes, Keppell, Hard, & Smith, 2015). Online education experiences rapid growth and higher dropout rates than classrooms (Christensen & Spackman, 2017). The flexibility offered to learners who are steeped in other responsibilities can partially explain the popularity of digital education, while varied and complex factors combined with life duties can contribute to the higher attrition (Patterson & McFadden, 2009).
Design Rationale
In a 2015 study of post-secondary online students by Brown et al., participants cited employment, dependents, struggles with partners, ill health, home environment, leisure, low digital literacy, economic troubles, being out of school for a long time, and previous conditioning to classroom learning environments as hindrances to their learning. Developing empathetic, innovative solutions to support digital learners beyond academically—within a broader context of their life circumstances—is worth consideration. As Moody puts it, “the higher attrition rates result in a “no win” situation for all involved: the student fails and the institution providing the course, in a sense, fails as well” (2004, p. 206).
Problem Scenario
You are enrolled in an online Masters program learning digital instructional design. All of the students are older and have more financial responsibilities than the average, Canadian, recent-high-school-graduate entering higher education. Most of your classmates work full time, and many have children, pets, and/or houses with yards to take care of. There are varying levels of digital literacy and numbers of years since the students were last in school. Intense busyness plus high levels of anxiety, stress, and/or overwhelm are evident in a notable percentage of your peers.
Your mission is to design an innovative tool, technique, resource, or strategy to share with students for addressing time-demands, fragmented-focus, and/or other life-challenges in order to promote success and positive morale in digital learning.
Parameters
You will work in pairs. Conduct a synchronous, empathy-based interview with each other to uncover any challenge(s) to learning that you and your classmate face. Spend 10-15 minutes on your own and come up with several ideas to solve your partner’s problem(s), including one or more sensible solutions, ambitious solutions, and outlandish solutions (for practicing innovative creativity). Re-connect and pool all your ideas with your partner’s, then either select the best one or combine any number of them to design a single, innovative prototype for sharing with the whole class.
Success Determinants
Success is measured collectively amongst the entire class through a mandatory end-of-exercise survey, asking: Did you feel a supportive kinship with your partner and/or other students through this exercise? Do you feel any improvement in your ability to succeed, or more positive about your online learning after gaining these solutions from your peers?
If half the respondents answer yes to at least one question, then the overall experience was beneficial and therefore successful.
References
Brown, M., Hughes, H., Keppell, M., Hard, N., & Smith, L. (2015). Stories from students in their first semester of distance learning. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 16(4).
Christensen, S. S., & Spackman, J. S. (2017). Dropout rates, student momentum, and course walls: A new tool for distance education designers. Journal of Educators Online, 14(2).
Mattelmäki, T., Vaajakallio, K., & Koskinen, I. (2014). What happened to empathic design?. Design issues, 30(1), 67-77.
Moody, J. (2004). Distance education: Why are the attrition rates so high?. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 5(3), 205.
Patterson, B., & McFadden, C. (2009). Attrition in online and campus degree programs. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 12(2).
Stanford University of Design. (n.d.). An introduction to design thinking process guide. Retrieved from https://dschool-old.stanford.edu/sandbox/groups/designresources/wiki/ 36873/attachments/74b3d/ModeGuideBOOTCAMP2010L.pdf