We Can’t Know It All

How would learners feel if you addressed only part of who they are and what they need?

During a needs analysis, designers seek and gather information about learners’ personal, academic, social, emotional, and cognitive needs to inform engagement, content design, and delivery strategies. While good intentions may guide the creation of a learning environment, it is difficult to account for all variables and create an experience that meets each learner’s needs.

A whole person is part of the learning community, and if a whole person is not considered, designer’s personal biases, systemic biases, and inequitable decisions in the design will have consequences. Equity mindedness means acknowledging that some learners experience barriers to access and opportunities due to intentional and unintentional bias or systemic structures.

How will learners present socially and cognitively when they enter a learning space? Instructional designers must make design decisions that affirm what is known about learners as well as support engaged facilitation based on learner characteristics that are acknowledged during the learning experience.

We Can ACT Intentionally

Instructional designers are in powerful roles to influence and affect learning outcomes.

They should participate in intentional, corrective work to remove any barriers and prioritize access and opportunities for all learners. The decisions made during the design process affect elements of learner agency, such as choice, motivation, and self-efficacy, as well as the learning power structures, which include how learners engage with the facilitator, their peers, and the content.

Interrupting the design process to remove barriers can range from pausing and clarifying the design’s purpose to removing practices that limit learners’ potential to a particular worldview. Consider three ways to interrupt the design process through authentic expressions, community building, and transparency (ACT).

Integrate opportunities for authentic expressions. Model excellence by offering access to diverse experts, technology, and cultural practices. Create a chance for learners to make meaningful connections by thinking critically and applying new knowledge through engagement. This may be as simple as using reflection as an engagement tool to bring in diverse perspectives or using experiential learning strategies to allow learners to control how they engage with experts and peers and demonstrate mastery.

Consider ways to encourage community building. Identify formal and informal spaces where learners can create a balance between individual ownership and shared responsibility for their learning. Through relationships and shared power, learning becomes a co-created experience. When content curation and engagement practices are driven by and reflect who is participating in the learning environment, community building can begin. Use technology to support both synchronous and asynchronous interactions as part of the learning experience, and consider strategies that promote peer-to-peer connections, like role-playing, group study, and mentorships.

Be transparent about the value of the learning experience. Explicitly connect formal and informal learning experiences to career and social goals. Having insight into learners’ characteristics and needs means understanding how they may want to use their learning experiences in ways that make sense for them. Aligning discrete skills that are valued professionally and socially moves learning beyond demonstration within a specific training program into transferable application in different contexts. Alignment happens not only in objective descriptions but also in how new knowledge is created, practiced, and assessed. The organization and pacing of the learning experience should connect content with engagement and prioritize the development of higher-level, portable skills.

Instructional designers can create wonderful experiences that help learners reach their potential by choosing to actively interrupt the design process and create experiences with all learners in mind. Making intentional choices about how to support and accelerate learning can be an effective way to address equity issues in instructional design.