What UX design principles help you create responsive digital learning experiences?
I’m big proponent of "affordance" making it intuitively clear to users how to interact with elements. In learning design, leveraging affordance can significantly enhance the learning experience by making educational materials more accessible and easier to navigate. Using visual cues like icons, colors, and shapes can guide learners to interact with the content in meaningful ways. If a button looks like it can be pushed, learners are more likely to press it to see what happens next. Incorporating elements that resemble familiar real-world objects can aid in understanding complex concepts.
What are the most commonly used digital tools for instructional design?
It is important to remember that these tools do not perform the work on your behalf; instead, they augment your existing capabilities, facilitating the implementation of superior and more effective learning design.
The prevalence of a tool does not necessarily correlate with its quality. Instances are common where Microsoft software such as Word, Excel, and Visio is employed beyond its optimal application.
When considering tools, it is important to explore all available options and select those most suitable for the specific task. I strongly advocate for simplicity. I prefer plain text and Markdown over a Word document laden with inadequately applied and malfunctioning styles.
How do you balance assessment methods?
Designing enduring assessments is fast becoming a priority. Assessments that remain valid, reliable and authentic across multiple delivery events and cohorts without requiring significant rework or amendments. Also providing opportunities for learners to contextualise assessments to their specific situations, preventing the misuse of AI and safeguarding academic integrity.
How do you get participants to share knowledge?
Make sure participants feel safe sharing their knowledge and experiences with others, with incremental increases in engagement expectations.
Start with opportunities to think and reflect, followed with sharing in pairs. Slowly increase the the number of people being shared with and the complexity of the context of the sharing.
Avoid putting participants in situations that make them feel uncomfortable or vulnerable until it’s appropriate and necessary.
How can you use VR to teach coding?
While the VR coding apps and course are an amazing resource, It's also worth considering how VR could be leveraged to make "Unplugged" lessons more collaborative, accessible, and engaging for learners in distance and remote learning environments.
How do you lead digital learning teams?
Selecting appropriate tools to facilitate meaningful collaboration is key to getting to best out of a team, especially in a remote environment.
In my experience keeping track of comments and changes in Word documents is a nightmare and the added complexity of fonts, colours, and styles distracts from the creation of great content. I definitely prefer the simplicity of markdown type editors.
Setting ground rules for communication expectations can help make the process smoother.
How do you ensure reliable digital learning?
Identifying the connections between new and previous learning is important. Helping learners build on their existing knowledge and experiences, and providing a more comprehensive learning experience.
Also, assessing how current learning enables opportunities for future learning and growth is equally important.
inclusivity, diversity, and accessibility are principles that are frequently discussed together. Crafting a learning environment that caters to the diverse needs of all learners, regardless of their background, abilities, or circumstances is the goal of all educators.
Accessibility solutions often don't have to be a complicated addition to your tech stack. For example, don't put important text information in an image, use heading styles correctly, and only use tables for tabular information. If you can get the basics right, you're already 90% there.