Presenter
Eugene Jars, Pima Community College
Session Abstract
This session focuses on Learning Experience Design (LxD). In this session we cover the differences between instructional design and learning experience design and why you should consider the learner experience when designing your online classes. We cover how creating a good learning experience requires different skills than the traditional Instructional Designer uses to create a course. I provide a brief history of the roots of Learning Experience Design, including how LXD evolved from User Experience Design (UX). We’ll then go over a few basic tools for designing the learner experience, including how to build simple personas and a user journey map. These tools help you plug the loopholes in your traditional online courses. You walk away from this session with an understanding of how LXD focuses on the learning experience and why designing for the student learning experience is just as important as designing for the content and course objectives.
My Thoughts/Notes
Parts of the definition of LXD
- Experience
- Design
- Learning
- Human-Centered
- Goal-Oriented
Differences between instructional design and LxD
- Typically ID focuses on content, the what and how (delivery).
- LxD focuses on the learner and how they acquire knowledge.
- Less about building modules and more about curating the learning experience.
LxD is a new concept to me, although not so new in terms of the principles. I appreciated hearing about the history of LxD and how it evolved. Knowing that helps see the evolution of design.https://twitter.com/chambo_online/status/963159764673871872One of the interesting distinctions between LxD and ID. In Instructional Design, the most common design model is ADDIE. But one of the LxD models includes:https://twitter.com/evinsmj/status/963160684367290368I think the issue that I have with this model, as well as how ADDIE is typically presented, is that it’s a linear path. Whether you’re looking at ADDIE or the model above, it should be a cyclical process. Continuous improvement is incredibly important, but usually isn’t included in visual representations.https://twitter.com/chambo_online/status/963163722016481280Another thing that he points out is that empathy is the strongest difference between ID and LxD. Focusing on student/learner feedback, by allowing small “focus groups” evaluate and provide feedback on the course, will help in design the course for learner experience. He suggests that having a group of 1-5 students provide feedback will identify 30% of issues in the course. This is different than course surveys because these focus groups review the course beforehand (or during), not after.https://twitter.com/evinsmj/status/963164146060570624Moving away from the background/history – what tools are available for LxD? He identifies the creation and use of personas – user profiles of fictional students that you can keep in mind as you design courses. By focusing on the personas, you can consider how someone that doesn’t have access to a tablet device or an ESL student would proceed through your course and identify points in which they may get stuck in the course. He then mentions xtensio.com that allows you to create personas.https://twitter.com/marcdrumm/status/963167169872764928Overall, I really enjoyed this session. It’s not often that I sit in a session where the content is completely new/foreign to me. The only thing that would have improved this session is to take a real example and walk through the difference in ID/LxD approaches. Take a math/English/science class or module and walk through what the approach would look like. Regardless, this was a great session and I look forward to learning more about LxD.
Matthew Evins 