According to the Interaction Design Foundation (n.d.), design principles are “guidelines and design considerations that designers apply with discretion” (para.1). For this blog post; I have been tasked with establishing six design principles that I can apply in my context as a machinist instructor at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT). Through reflection and research, I have established six design principles I would like to incorporate into my practice, they are: 

  1. Students come first
  2. Use easy-to-use language
  3. Use open resources 
  4. The ability to provide wholesome feedback
  5. Interactive learning 
  6. Learning is a journey

As a machinist instructor at SAIT, part of my responsibilities is to develop new curriculum and course content to suit the needs of students. In the past, I developed a course and then taught it the following academic year. This gives me a unique perspective to see how impactful design choices can be and that even small decisions can significantly affect the learner and instructional staff. These principles will aid me in making design decisions that will benefit both learners and educators. It is difficult to apply all six design principles in all contexts. For example, creating open resources while developing content and courses for SAIT will not be easy. Since SAIT is paying for the development, I cannot just publish them online for free. Likewise, if I publish open resources, it may be challenging to provide wholesome feedback to everyone who uses them. I hope to implement as many principles as possible in any course I develop. 

To implement these principles into practice, defining each of them and what they mean is essential. I will explain what each design principle means to me and how they will impact learners.     

1.Students Come First

Honestly, I think this should be a no-brainer. As an educator, my priority should be the success of students. I believe that success is not only measured academically but in how much the students learned. To do this, all design choices must be made with the student’s success in mind. One way to design courses for student success is to incorporating personalized learning. Personalized learning allows students to “own their learning and control their pace” (Getting Smart, 2015). Pane et al. (2015) found that when personalized learning was implemented students had greater success.

 2.Use easy-to-use language 

Machining is filled with technical jargon and slang. For example, the word “Vernier” could be a tool, a measuring scale, or a measuring method. To aid learners, plain language must be used whenever possible as it may help with the retention of information. In a study comparing plain language summaries vs. academic abstracts, Stricker et al. (2020) found that non-expert audiences understood and retained more from plain language summaries. With the term “Vernier”, it would be best to specify which one is being referred to. For example, Vernier scale, when referencing a measuring scale and just use the term caliper instead of the slang term Vernier, when referring to a measuring tool.    

3.Use Open Resources

Open educational resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research resources that are available to students (or anyone) at anytime, anywhere in the world (BC Campus, n.d.). I hope to develop OERs outside my institution to aid hobby machinists and high school shop machining teachers. These resources should be posted online for free for everyone to access. If there are significant costs related to a course, some interested people may not be able to access it. The University of Adelaide (n.d.) states that the most significant benefit of OER is a “major reduction in cost” (para. 1). One thing that I have appreciated about the Royal Roads Master of Arts in Learning and Technology is that there is a no-textbook policy, which lowers my costs of participating in the program. I plan to incorporate a similar principle whenever possible.

4.The ability to provide wholesome feedback

Areas for thoughtful and wholesome feedback must be developed for tests and assignments developed within a curriculum at SAIT. Wholesome feedback can improve student experience (Al-Bashir et al., 2016) and performance (Nicol & Macfarlane‐Dick, 2007). In their paper on the value and effectiveness of feedback, Al-Bashir et al. (2016) state several ways to provide valuable feedback, including screen casts, audio feedback, and email feedback. I will keep these feedback methods in mind when developing courses and providing feedback to students.  

5.Interactive Learning 

While the definitions of interactive learning vary, Reeves (2012) defines it as a “process involving some form of digitally enabled reciprocal action between a teacher or designer and a learner” (para 1). Interactive learning should be incorporated into as many courses as possible. Anderson (2014) noted significant learning gains after interactive learning was utilized. One example in the machining program is using simulators like these to help students learn how to read measuring tools. I plan to incorporate similar resources if they are available as OERs, if not I will advocate for development of them as they will aid in student development.  

6.Learning is a Journey 

“Learning is a journey with the potential to take us from where we are now to places we have only imagined and even places we never thought we’d reach” (Pearson, n.d., para. 1). The final principle I would like to incorporate is that learning is a journey. As an instructor or designer, it is my job to aid them in their journey and help equip them to overcome challenges in the future. To do this, I must incorporate real world problems so that learners can develop the problem-solving skills that will help them over their learning journey.  

I hope to implement these principles to help guide design and innovation in my context at SAIT. I enjoyed establishing these principles and have printed them and hung them in my office. After researching and reflecting on these principles, it would be beneficial for all designers and instructors working in higher ed to establish their own principles to help guide them. This will enable them to develop better curriculum and content for learners. 

References

Al-Bashir, M., Kabur, R., & Rahman, I. (2016). The value and effectiveness of feedback in improving students learning and professionalizing teaching in higher education. Journal of Education and Practice, 7,38-41. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1105282.pdf

Anderson, J. (2014). The benefit of interactive learning. Harvard Graduate School of Education.  https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/14/11/benefit-interactive-learning

BC Campus. (n.d.). What are open education resources? https://open.bccampus.ca/what-is-open-education/what-are-open-educational-resources/

Getting Smart. (2015). What would happen if we put students first? https://www.gettingsmart.com/2015/12/18/what-would-happen-if-we-put-students-first/

Interaction Design Foundation (n.d.). Design principles. https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/design-principles

Nicol, D., & Macfarlane‐Dick, D. (2006) Formative assessment and self‐regulated learning: a model and seven principles of good feedback practice, Studies in Higher Education, 31(2), 199-218. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075070600572090

Pane, J., Steiner, E., Baird, M., and Hamilton, L.  (2015). Continued progress: Promising evidence on personalized learning. RAND Corporation. https://doi.org/10.7249/RR1365

Reeves, T.C. (2012). Interactive Learning. In Seel, N.M. (eds), Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-6_330

University of Adelaide (n.d.). Open educational resources https://libguides.adelaide.edu.au/OER/benefits