Crafting the Learning Experience

Conversation with USA Program

Brent G. Wilson

30 October 2007

Why did you choose this field?

Technology can transform learning

Good blend of my tech skills with preference working with people

Help peopleLike making things

“Nobody ever set out to make a bad picture”

…or a bad course!

Do we have a quality problem?

eLearning - rise and fall - rise again?

Templates and Repurposing

Professionalism - everyone’s a designer

Evaluation - impact, cost control, ROI

Why do poor courses get made?

Lack of knowledge/skill

Don’t care

Overriding constraints

Lack of toolsNotice: I didn’t say lack of theory!

Leaving out the learner

No real voiceInput

Ownership

Meaningful participation

Videogame Envy

Why can’t we make instruction as compelling as

Halo?

Heard this before? It’s partly a red herring, and partly true.

The Hegemony of Psychology

Learning theory is privileged over design practice

Science over everyday craftsmanship

Research over contextualized reasoning

Engineering is over art

Learning Sciences over IDT

Practitioners Using Theory

AECT Study with BYU - Theory is barely on the radar!

Irene Vissher report of reflection training

Design grounded in theory (Hannafin) or problem (Wilson)

Restoring the parity between practitioners and theorists

Designing what?

Behavior Activity

MaterialsPrograms Learner

ExperienceThoughts

LearningPrograms

Experience Mediates Learning

Experience LearningPlans

Two Senses of Experience

Immediate “lived experience”

Constructed experience - stories used to interpret our lives

and

Lived experience

Pacing

Engagement

Compelling Invitation

Flow

Challenge

Heightened Awareness

Suggestive, evocative

Constructed experience - rising to the story level

What learning experience explains something about you?

These can be transforming - shaping your sense of self; community membership; vocation

The Living Dead

Our students are often in need of redemption!

Bringing the Dead Back to Life

Aesthetic qualities - heightened experience, drama, challenge

Mythic qualities - hero’s journey, ritual, symbols

Surrender to the situation - beyond teacher/learner control

Examples

Scott Switzer’s management course

Joni Dunlap’s Comp-Sci capstone course

Kathy Sierra’s blog and Head First programming books

Ike Choi’s Ill-Structured Problem-Solving Work

Aaron Doering Adventure Learning

Charlie Miller’s ASL Tutoring Materials

Sasha Barab’s Quest Atlantis

Good vs Great Design

Everyone loves good design

But NOT everyone loves GREAT design

Don Norman, Emotional Design (2004)

Holistic Practice

Theory AND Practice

Research and Design

Engineering and Art

Psychology and Design Crafts

Efficiency, impact, and quality experience

Implications - Early Stages

Better metrics for instructional outcomes

More attention to crafting processes - what great IDs do in practice

Research on what works for learning experience

Improved research and assessment methods

Fin

Questions?

Thank you!