Do I Have the “It” Required to be a Learning Designer?

 Do I Have the “it” Required to be a Learning Designer?

Learning design is a creative process which engenders empathy for the learner at the heart of its practice. The goal of learning design is to drastically improve the nature and accessibility of learning for learners of a variety of backgrounds and instructional levels. The learner is always at the center of the creative process, and the designer engineers, creates, works, and reworks the design around the learner. Accessibility and adaptability are always at the core of the design process, and the designer is constantly learning as he or she is building and creating. “Empathic understanding is not binary, that is, it is not simply present or absent; rather, it is a skill that can be developed and deepened over time through experience and effort,” and “...the notion of an ‘average’ learner is a misnomer, and learner diversity (rather than uniformity) is actually the norm.” (Gronseth, Michela, & Oluchi Ogwi)

I had a vague idea of the definition of learning design, but after being in this class for the last three weeks, I have begun to see it very differently. In fact, I began to amend my definition most vigorously after Tuesday’s live session. I was somewhat thrilled to discover that learning design requires empathy for two reasons: first, because I am naturally empathetic, which is why I love working in the field of education, and secondly, because if learning designers have to be empathetic, then I will get along splendidly with other designers. So, my fears surrounding this degree are diminishing rapidly. I am starting to see why I was inspired to pursue this course, and why I am such a good fit.

A learner designer needs to be a bit of a jack of all trades when it comes to technology. It would be helpful to have some experience with graphic design, learning management systems, video editing and production, and so forth. However, they do not have to be experts. Perhaps the most important key words for design are adaptability, flexibility, receptivity to new concepts and ideas, and outside-of-the-box thinking. That is also exciting to me, because I have always been someone who looks at things from a unique perspective. Because humans are the central focus of learning design, then a human-centered approach is critical- learners’ diversity, accessibility, learner experience with the design, and so forth. I am not so much concerned with what I know about technology as to whether I have the human experience at the heart of my design. As long as that is my focus, then I will be motivated to learn whatever I need to learn to become knowledgeable about the latest technology. 

Our Foundations of LIDT textbook defines learning design adeptly, “Instructional design can start at any point in the design process. Often a glimmer of an idea is developed to give the core of an instruction situation. By the time the entire process is done the designer looks back and she or he checks to see that all parts of the ‘science’ have been taken into account. Then the entire process is written up as if it occurred in a systematic fashion.” (Wagner) This clearly demonstrates what I have mentioned about learning design having to be adaptable, flexible, empathetic, receptive, and creative. There is one more element, though, that this quote uncovers, which is the iterative process of design. Designers do not often follow one strict theory, set of design principles, or format. Rather, they get their creative juices flowing, dig deeply into the project, let the process move and motivate them to create, and when it is all over, they tack some kind of scientific process and theory to the whole thing in retrospect.

When I saw this determined flower blooming in the desert, I thought of the quote from Disney’s movie Mulan, “The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all.” This image is meaningful to me because I grew up in the western deserts, and I have been to many of the breathtaking national parks in southern Utah. 

This image goes hand-in-hand with my definition of learning design, because it took perseverance and determination for this flower to grow, in spite of all the odds. In order to thrive in such harsh conditions, the flower had to be adaptable and flexible, hoarding water during the rare rainstorm, and rationing it for drought. However, something that many may not have realized is that this flower also took a collaborative network to grow. While we see the beauty in the colorful petals, we do not often think about the fragile ecosystem and collection of leaves, stem, roots, sun, and water which all interplay to help it grow. If one part of this collection does not support the rest of the flower by serving its role, the flower will not grow and flourish. In this same way, the learning design field can feel like a desert of adversity. There are so many things to learn! Will we ever be prepared for a career in this cut-throat, competitive realm? On the other hand, we learn and grow so much through our associations with others in the field. I have found my colleagues to be incredibly collaborative, compassionate, and team-building. We all want each other to succeed, and we invest in each other. So, we are not an island, but a flourishing ecosystem richly supplied in abundant talents and skills. And, though the process of learning design can cause some growing pains and prickly moments, the final result will be an amazing flower.

References

Wagner, E. D., Wagner, & West, R. E. (1970, January 1). What is this thing called instructional design?. What Is This Thing Called Instructional Design? https://edtechbooks.org/lidtfoundations/what_is_instructional_design

(2024) PNG images and cliparts for web design. PNG images | 100 000+ Free PNG images. (n.d.). https://pngimg.com/

(1998). Mulan (M. Kelly, Ed.) [Review of Mulan].