The design principles I have selected to guide design and innovation in my context are informed by our readings and assignments in the LRNT 524 course, and my own lived experience as a student in learning environments delivered online and in-person. I’ve benefitted from reading about concepts such as critical instructional design (Morris & Stommel, 2018), humanizing virtual learning (University of Waterloo, 2019), and reading about the design principles that guide the work of some of the most innovative, meaningful, and creative organizations toy companies to tech startups to health service providers.
The context which my project partner and I chose to examine was workplace training for managers in a decentralized organization where employee learners span different geographies, communities, leadership roles, subject expertise, and levels of experience with the employer. Through our Pecha Kucha assignment, we had the opportunity to work through this design challenge using the design thinking process, starting with empathy maps from the perspective of the trainers and the employee learner. We reflected on the tension that can exist between the intention of the employer and the needs of the employee learners. Using principles of Universal Design for Learning, we looked at how user needs and learner engagement could be strengthened through an intentional human-centered design process. The design principles I have for improving innovation and design thinking in this context are:
The principles:
- Start with learners’ needs (and do the work to know what these are).
- Design to support the desired end result or outcome.
- Build inclusivity into everything you will ask a learner to do.
- Be flexible and open to experiment, try new ideas, or approaches.
- Make individual parts connect to the big picture. Keep it relevant.
- Give people choice and agency on how to participate.
Our design challenge was partly informed by conversations with actual organizational development trainers who are in the process of redesigning manager training programs. They cited issues such as low participation, higher drop-out rates, inability of staff in smaller rural communities to access training, and the changing landscape that remote work has had on the practice of gathering people in-person for sustained, ongoing training programs. Making content relevant to learners’ disparate roles and areas of expertise is also a challenge.
These design principles that I’ve chosen would see learning designers do more upfront work to learn what present needs are though activities such as surveys and focus groups, and interviews. Strengthening inclusivity and choice could bolster participation and completion rates if learners had hybrid learning options, for example, where some lessons could be done remotely and asynchronously and not only in-person. Being flexible to suggestions for improvement, especially from the learners themselves might uncover a better way of doing things. For example, if learners wish to self-manage an online collaboration hub using a Slack channel to support one another, be open to how learners want to engage. Offering options on how learners can participate or giving a choice in learning activity can create a sense of agency and choice. Finally, especially for training programs that have a longer duration, making all the disparate learning components connect to the overall goal can help focus learners on the big picture. Taken together, these design principles could go a long way to support those delivering the training and the employees who are the intended audience.
References:
Morris, S. M., & Stommel, J. (2018). An urgency of teachers: The work of critical digital pedagogy. Hybrid Pedagogy. https://pressbooks.pub/criticaldigitalpedagogy/
University of Waterloo, Trent University, Conestoga College. (2019). Humanizing virtual learning: A guide to creating connection, engagement, and inclusivity. Published by same authors.
https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/humanizinglearningonline/