Learning Nerd’s Diary #80
Welcome back Learning Nerds!
This week's diary is all about choices.
It's an homage to all those tiny little decisions we take as learning experience designers. The ones that go noticed AND the ones that don't - especially those.
Decision making is not easy - and as learning designers, it's especially hard!
👀 Sneak peak
Here is what I have in store for you this week -
💭 Learning About Learning: Decision Making for LxDs
🥜 Learning Nugget: Learning Theories & Colours
💥 Coolest Thing I Learnt This Week:
Four Approaches to Choice Menus
Documenting Design Decision
Decision Matrix
🔦 Spotlight: LxD Lab ft Decisions
Let's jump right in!
💭 Learning About Learning
It’s been an interesting week at the LxD Lab. After 2 months of diverging on what we’re doing, the last few weeks have been all about converging and if I’m being honest? It’s not been easy!
As Learning Experience Designers, decision making is hard.
Anyone designing learning experiences takes countless small decisions and it can really get to you. Here are 5 lessons I’ve learnt the hard way -
1/ Embrace constraints ⛓️
Learning and constraints go hand in hand. From budget to timelines to resources - constraints are plenty. Instead of looking at constraints at roadblocks, we can reframe them as enablers to helping us find the best solution for the given context.
There is no perfect learning solution. But constraints help us think creatively and find innovative solutions within the given boundaries.
Before starting the design experience, articulate:
“What are the constraints that are external? (Budget, timelines, resources etc)
What are design principles this experience must follow? (E.g. Learning by doing)”
Your ideal experience will lie at the intersection of both.
2/ Iteration over perfection ⚙️
As learning designers and facilitators we’re often caught in this rut of trying to get it right the first time around. But learning by definition is all about iteration and getting better at things over time.
By adopting an iterative approach, you can create a prototype or test a first version, gather feedback, and then make improvements based on that feedback. This allows for continuous improvement and also ensures that the learning experience evolves and adapts to meet the needs of the learners.
When trying out something for the first time, think about:
“What is the Minimum Viable Product? What is the core assumption that you need to test for this to work?”
Prioritise getting that right, the rest can improve over time.
3/ Not all decisions are irreversible 🔁
We often view decisions as fixed and unchangeable once they were made. This perspective can be quite crippling, leading to the fear of making the wrong choice.
But not all decisions are irreversible.
While some decisions may have a significant impact and require some thought, many decisions can be revisited, adjusted, or even reversed if needed.
When faced with a decision, ask yourself -
“Is this decision reversible or irreversible?”
Act accordingly.
4/ Some decisions are like planting a seed - they need time to surface! 🌱
Learning requires a whole lot of patience - on the learners side but even on the designer/ facilitator side. We take decisions and expect immediate results. But some decisions have an incubation period before their results show.
In the interim, we get impatient and take another decision instead. This can be counter-intuitive. Instead of knowing if the first decision was right or not, now we have taken 2 decisions and don’t know which one is right.
While taking a decision think about -
“What is the incubation period of decision?”
Evaluate this decision only post that!
5/ Some decisions just cannot be taken democratically 🫵🏻
As learning experience designers we’re juggling many stakeholders - from learners to subject matter experts to business teams to marketing teams. The good and bad thing about learning?
Everyone seems to have an opinion on learning.
As someone who is in the driver’s seat - you can see the problem from different perspectives and are the best person to take the decision. Trust your judgement!
When you’re getting contradictory information while takeing a decision, think about -
“What does your gut say?”
More often than not it will serve you well!
In a Nutshell 🌰
Decision making in the realm of learning experience design can be a daunting task. However, by reframing certain aspects of the process, we can take the pressure off and make more informed choices.
Embracing constraints, designing for iteration, recognizing the reversibility of decisions, giving decisions time to fruition, and trusting your gut are all valuable perspectives that can help simplify decision making and contribute to the creation of meaningful learning experiences.
🥜 Learning Nuggets
Asking a learning experience design which learning theory is best is like asking an artist which colour is the best.
We can have favourites but at the end of the day the context decides best.
💥 Coolest Thing I Learnt this Week
Four Approaches to Choice Menus
I came across this amazing article on student agency and how can we create structures that provide choices for students. From teacher-directed (less autonomy) to student-directed (more autonomy) - the article talks about different levels of student agency.
Documenting Instructional Design Decisions
While researching for this newsletter, I also came across this paper on documenting instructional design decisions. I loved 2 things about this -
It talks about the different types of decisions we need to take as learning designers
It talks about the different tools we can use while documenting those decisions
We all feel like going back to our past selves and saying this! I know I do :)
Decision Matrix
At NextLeap we ran 6 cohorts on Decision Making for Product Managers. One of my favourite tools from the course is the Decision Matrix -
By classifying decisions into the above 2x2 matrix, even as learning experience designers - decisions can be taken quickly & more efficiently.
🔦 Spotlight
After 2 months of blood, sweat and tears (& so much more!) the LxD Lab finally agreed on all these decisions regarding our handbook -
There are many more to make! But this is a great start :)
Love & Learning
Until we meet next week!
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