How Do I Love Thee: Perceiving

My personal definition of perceiving is when a person consciously analyzes an artifact (person, place or thing) beyond their own initial recognition of the object.

At first I really struggled with this assignment. I could not wrap my mind around viewing an artifact, image, taste, scent etc of my chosen topic; Adult Learning with an emphasis on Training. I very quickly felt regretful of choosing that topic. After thinking about all the e-learning modules I have taken, seen and made I was overwhelmed by the presence of the arrow. A simple shape that stands for so many things. The arrow is everywhere! Not only is this object an image but it represents how the curriculum is designed and how it will be consumed. I started thinking about how the arrow made the curriculum overwhelmingly linear. In my opinion the arrow makes the learning very  controlled and stiff. When I imagine the future of e-learning I envision something more adventurous and engaging to the learner. In a perfect world all e-learning would be adaptive to each individual. But we are a bit aways from that technology yet. Still setting the bar high I imagine a learning environment where the learner feels in control of their learning and can interact with it as they wish. A module that expresses freedom and fluency with the curriculum. I believe that any learner no matter their age, attain and retain content better when they feel empowered. To truly learn the student must make the decision to learn. When and if e-learning can be delivered in such a way that rewards the learner for their actions, the more likely it is that they will complete the curriculum and be able to apply it to their own experiences.

I started to think about how long we have used the arrow in self driven curriculum. In a way it feels like we (instructional designers) cannot let go of the wheel. We are basically back-seat drivers. We try to lock down our modules so that they are viewed as we created them. We need to break out of the “arrow-shell”. The easiest way to apply this to adult learning or training in the aspect of e-learning is to use a different image, shape or object as the form of navigation. Just by revamping this simple component immensely adds a uniqueness or freshness to the course. This small innovation can go a very long way with the learner. How many of us have taken a training module that dated back to the 80’s? I know I have, and as a learner I wondered why I was learning curriculum the company didn’t believe was important enough to keep updated.

The next option is to design the course in such a way that the user does not need navigation to obtain all of the information being presented. This is tricky design wise and technology wise, but in my opinion not impossible. It may not work for every type of content or audience, but we can certainly start small to work towards the bigger picture.