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These questions posed by Western University in their problem of practice guide struck me as particularly powerful and relevant for learning design:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Whose interests are being served?
\n\u2022 Whose needs are being met?
\n\u2022 Whose voices are being silenced, excluded, or denied?
\n\u2022 How do we know? (Western University, 2016)<\/p>\n
The answer often depends on who you ask. That\u2019s why design thinking\u2019s emphasis on empathy is so important. To me, it\u2019s a reminder of who should be at the top of the hierarchical flow chart: the learner. An effective PoP needs to ask the question: whose problem is it? It\u2019s easy to lose focus when there are often other external influences: financial pressures, management goals or software vendors. I came up with this crude mini-manifesto to help me focus, and avoid biases. I coupled it with an even messier Empathy map<\/a>\u00a0to help me to understand the learner\u2019s needs. If you can read it, you give you my highest praise. It\u2019s goal is to capture Kouprie and Visser\u2019s (2009) process of empathy that involves talking to the learners, physically being and observing their environment, and then reflecting on your own reactions, emotions and feelings to that process (p.445).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Brecher Cook, D., & Worsham, D. (2018, April). Let\u2019s Build Something! (The Toolkit). A Rapid-Prototyping Instructional Design Workshop. Retrieved from https:\/\/ucla.app.box.com\/v\/build-something-toolkit<\/p>\n Kouprie, M., & Sleeswijk Visser, F. (2009). A framework for empathy in design: stepping into and out of the user\u2019s. Journal of Engineering Design, 20(5), 437-448. DOI: 10.1080\/09544820902875033<\/p>\n