Learning by Design The great UX opportunity to impact the future of learning

Joe GrantStLUX February 2011

Need Two Volunteers!

Would help if you really get into a role play

Need one to act as a TEENAGER

Need another to act as an AUNT or UNCLE

Should last about 5 minutes

Fabulous compensation$10 iTunes card for each

Come on up NOW if you want to serve this way

Introductions

Who’s been a student at high school or college in the last 5 years?

For whom has it been at least 15 years? ;)

The learning experience is remarkably different

Technology and How We Learn

Mobile phones

Google and search

Wikipedia

Books online

Facebook, emailZuckerberg even around when I graduated? ;)

Online access for courses

So What Excites You About Learning?

When?

Who?

What circumstances?

What works?

What doesn’t work?

iTunes Pedagogy

… and, yes, there will be a quiz ;)(Optional, of course!)

Best score wins $10 iTunes cardMight need a tie-breaker

Traditional Tethering for Students

How Do We Know You Know It?

Ties to Institutions, Formal Learning

How many, if any, of each of these ties are needed?

What do we need to know about someone claiming to be a nurse or doctor?

A UX practitioner?

Proposition: UX opportunity to be key in designing and realizing new world of learningSome of the ties could be radically changed, replaced, or skipped

Let’s Think About Learning

Need two volunteers

At the breakfast table talking about driver’s ed

Main Tasks for Learning

Gather all learning material

Practice in pseudo-realistic settings

Prep for class and tests

Take notes in class

Study outside class

Take tests

Learn from mistakes, repeat as needed!

Learn from real-world experience

How We Learn

Formal Learning Vs. Everything Else That Makes

You Good At A JobDo you want to see that broken bone sticking out?

For me... NO!

For nurses and doctors.... Yes!

Do others want to sit through hours of usability testing?

Who wants to observe and listen that much?

We do!

Long-time nursing expert told me someone as very smart would not be a good nurse

I thought this person seemed very smart, very savvy about learning tools and technology

The expert saw someone who lacked holistic sense of the patient, the anatomy, overall body functions

Challenge Of Finding Out How We Really Learn

DiariesSelf-reporting

Triggered by any time they learn

Provide easiest means for them to send diary entries, And for you to collect them

Interviews at schools

Adjustments needed during usability testingThink-aloud protocol

Testing how we learn not the same as testing how we get help for a task

Not same UX as online help or documentation

Learning tools directly supports the main task of the user

Designing How A Student Will Find A Topic

What kind of navigation should we use to content that had been in a textbook?

Table of Contents

Indices

Topics

Most read

Most correlated to high grade outcomes

Close to, but not the same as, the instructor’s perspective

Probably still dictated by the syllabus

Searching keeps growing in importance

Designing The Depth And Type Of Reading Content

Not the same as "writing for the web"Somewhere in between…

Traditional textbook

And best web content on typical sites

One approachProvide varying levels of same content

Learning

Particular Challenges Of Converting Content

• Especially relevant for medical education• How do handle transferring these from printed

book to a computer device?

Large Tables

High-res graphic and images

Should we even try? Do our customers adjust expectations with mobile?

Happens

Different Learning Styles- Fleming's VAK/VARK model

Very common and widely-used categorization of the types of learning

Visual

Auditory

Reading/writing-preference

Kinesthetic learners or tactile

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_styles

Different Learning Styles User Feedback

Sound familiar?

VisualAuditoryReading/writingKinesthetic

UX design today could involve any of the above

With most software and web sites, we’ve just been dealing with the visual and reading / writing

With new media, touch and sound become more and more relevantiPad and tablets

Mobile phones

Voice recognition

More

Do You Know What You Need to Know Better?

New world of early testing practice

RemediationUses examples of standardized test questions

Scoped to the area you're studying

Get feedback on how well do you against the standards

AND serve up teaching content specifically needed

Feedback on what weaknesses you need to shore up

Tracking Behaviors and Outcomes

Point-biserial correlation coefficient

What the good students studied

Which questions and exercises indicate who is doing well vs. who is not

http://www.Reachinformation.Com/define/point-biserial%20correlation%20coefficient.Aspx

Find

Out

Too Much Sharing?

Too close to Big Brother? Perhaps it has that potential

But also capacity for improving education

Close enough to what we preach anyway?Teachers / UX designers

Find out how they learn and think

Clarify goals

Refer to standard measures

Track and measure behavior

Iterate

Does fun belong in your studies?

My feeling is yes

In my studies, especially in a group settingStudents working with friends

Enjoying doing interactive exercises available on the computer

Do we know how to design something fun AND productive?

What Works

Does social networking belong in your studies?

Mixed results

Very difficult to create new social networking spaces

Serious students avoid too many time-wasting activities

…. and students

Major Changes In The Educational Industry

Online colleges

GoogleGoogle HealthGoogle ScholarGoogle Instant Search

Open access movement

Free?

Chris Andersen’s, Free: The Future of a Radical Price

Author of The Long Tail

Information wants to be free

Expertly customized information and services to the individual person or situation want to be expensive

Major UX opportunity to add value

Expertly Customized Information And Services Want

To Be ExpensiveFinding Facts or Knowledge is relatively easy

Jumpstarting to… Apply

Analyze

Evaluate

…. is hard

Major UX opportunity

For

SWOT Analysis – UX and the Main Tasks for Learning

Gather all learning material

Practice in pseudo-realistic settings

Prep for class and tests

Take notes in class

Study outside class

Take tests

Learn from mistakes, repeat as needed!

Learn from real-world experience

Forces Tethering Students

Your users

Quiz Results

Extra Slides

What Do You Need To Read And Study?

Print textbooks challenged more and more by new technology-enabled media

Tablets

E-books

Wikipedia

GoogleInstant Search

Scholar

Health

Evaluating the Shape of Learning

What are the critical values and defining forces?

Certification of health knowledge

Trusted recent content

Prep for the exams

Validation that the education provider is good

Major UX opportunity to add value

Incorporate New Technology

Every nursing student has computer had home

Everyone has mobile phone with at least texting

Many have mp3 players

Good number have iPod Touches

Not first adoptersAndroid

iPad

For