Tasked with a design challenge in course LRNT524: Innovation, Design, and Learning Environments at Royal Roads University, we (Gavin S. and Amber M.) partnered up to participate in Stanford\u2019s d.school design thinking process (Stanford, 2016). Together, we reached a solution that encourages learners in our respective organizations to take intellectual risks and be engaged in their learning community.<\/p>\n
Through design thinking, we discovered our organizations and learners have some crossover.<\/p>\n
Both organizations require ongoing, hands-on, skills-based training for learners as well as tracking for regulatory compliance. Both struggle with inconsistent instructor delivery, limited budgets, and difficulty coordinating in-person sessions.<\/p>\n
Learners hold safety-sensitive positions in both organizations (Amber\u2019s are trades workers; Gavin\u2019s are volunteer firefighters). Learners are geographically dispersed and located in remote communities, have different levels of computer savvy and technological comfort, and work variable hours that make attending scheduled training a challenge.<\/p>\n
In-person training is critical for our learners, so we focused on prototyping an online learning community that would drive offline (real life) engagement and intellectual risk-taking.<\/p>\n
Our prototype incorporated four layers of sensitivity found in empathic design (Mattelmaki et al, 2014). Our learners have various skill sets, motivations, and needs we needed to account for (sensitivity toward humans) while ensuring content was relevant, authentic, and problem-based (sensitivity toward design) through real-time and in-person delivery that drove teamwork (sensitivity toward collaboration) and used technology appropriate for all levels of experience (sensitivity toward techniques).<\/p>\n
One prototype component used was gamification, with an approach similar to consumer rewards credit cards (the more it\u2019s used, the greater the reward). Below are four features we came up with:<\/p>\n
Organizations assign a target value (e.g., 10,000 virtual points) to each learner\u2019s annual learning plan. To demonstrate they have met their learning plan, learners must reach the target value. They can accumulate points by participating in learning activities. This feature addresses the organizational need for compliance tracking and sets expectations for learners, reflecting Gagne\u2019s second event of instruction, expectancy (Thomas, 2010).<\/p>\n
Learners decide how to earn points by choosing which activities to participate in (e.g., attend in-person training events, respond to peer questions in discussion forums, or share lessons learned via blog posts) based on geographic or time availability. This feature uses self-directed learning (Merriam, 2001, as cited in Vann, 2017) and personalization (Bates, 2016) to mitigate obstacles to learner engagement.<\/p>\n
Points correspond to learning activities based on the engagement and intellectual risk-taking required. Attending training events might equal 1000 points while asking or responding to questions might equal 250. Based on social constructivism (Anderson, 2016), this feature directly addresses our design challenge.<\/p>\n
Progress is tracked with points. At key milestones or achievement levels (e.g., 2500, 5000, 7500, and 10000 points), learners can redeem points for real-life, tangible rewards. Each achievement level provides more rewarding options, allowing learners to \u201clevel up.\u201d Learners can also choose rewards most meaningful to them. This feature draws on motivation theory (The RSA, 2010) and behaviourism (Ertmer & Newby, 1993) by encouraging continued learner participation.<\/p>\n
We empathize with the struggles our learners face and know our prototype does not address all of them. An online community that is device and platform agnostic might remove technology barriers, live-streaming or on-demand services might mitigate geographic obstacles, and events in multiple locations might help avoid scheduling issues. Even so, we acknowledge our prototype is in its infancy.\u00a0\u00a0Do you have suggestions for testing our prototype or improving its features? We welcome your feedback in the comments.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Anderson, T. (2016). Theories for Learning with Emerging Technologies.<\/span> In <\/span>G. Veletsianos (Ed.), <\/span>Emergence and Innovation in Digital Learning: Foundations and Applications <\/span><\/i>(p. 38)<\/span>. <\/span><\/i>Edmonton, AB: Athabasca University Press <\/span>https:\/\/doi.org\/10.15215\/aupress\/9781771991490.01<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Bates, T. (2016). Choosing and using media in education. In <\/span>Teaching in a Digital Age: Guidelines for designing teaching and learning<\/span><\/i> (pp. 334). Vancouver BC: Tony Bates Associates <\/span>https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/CBO9781107415324.004<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Ertmer, P.A. & Newby, T.J. (1993) Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing Critical Features From an Instructional Design Perspective. <\/span>Performance Improvement Quarterly, 6<\/span><\/i>(4), 50\u201372. doi: 10.1111\/j.1937-8327.1993.tb00605.<\/span><\/p>\n Mattelm\u00e4ki, T., Vaajakallio, K., & Koskinen, I. (2014). What Happened to Empathic Design? <\/span>Design Issues, 30<\/span><\/i>(1), 67\u201377. Retrieved from\u00a0 http:\/\/10.0.4.138\/DESI_a_00249<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Merriam, S. B. (2001). Andragogy and self-directed learning continue to be important to our present-day understanding of adult learning. <\/span>New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 89, <\/span><\/i>3-13. doi:10.1002\/ace.3<\/span><\/p>\n Stanford University Institute of Design. (2016). <\/span>A virtual crash course in design thinking. <\/span><\/i>Retrieved from<\/span> http:\/\/dschool.stanford.edu\/dgift\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n The RSA (April 1, 2010). <\/span>Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us. <\/span><\/i>Retrieved from<\/span> https:\/\/youtu.be\/u6XAPnuFjJc<\/a><\/p>\n Thomas, P. Y. (2010). <\/span>Learning and Instructional Systems Design, <\/span><\/i>181\u2013290. Retrieved from http:\/\/uir.unisa.ac.za\/bitstream\/handle\/10500\/4245\/04Chap 3_Learning and instructional systems design.pdf<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Vann, L. S. (2017). Demonstrating Empathy: A Phenomenological Study of Instructional Designers Making Instructional Strategy Decisions for Adult Learners. <\/span>International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 29<\/span><\/i>(2), 233\u2013244. Retrieved from http:\/\/www.isetl.org\/ijtlhe?<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tasked with a design challenge in course LRNT524: Innovation, Design, and Learning Environments at Royal Roads University, we (Gavin S. and Amber M.) partnered up to participate in Stanford\u2019s d.school design thinking process (Stanford, 2016). Together, we reached a solution that encourages learners in our respective organizations to take intellectual risks and be engaged in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lrnt524","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":643,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641\/revisions\/643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}