Overview
Welcome to Unit 1 of the course! Review the Unit 1 materials carefully and begin to map out a plan for how you will move through the activities and learning to arrive at a complete Assignment 1. Please note that all of the readings for Unit 1 are available in a list within the Moodle course shell. Most readings are open access, there are a select few that are in the Royal Roads Library collection only. Watch the following introductory video [9:10] to learn more about the course design and get started with connection and learning together.
Creating meaningful digital learning resources begins with identifying a learning need in your context followed by an exploration of what learners need and how they prefer to learn through consultation with prospective learners. In this unit, you will review the five phases of the human-centred design process with a focus on the Empathize, Define, and Ideate elements. You will build on the knowledge gained from LRNT524 and explore a variety of human-centered methodologies and approaches for needs assessment and analysis. You will engage in data collection with human subjects.
You will develop a needs analysis and learner personas that communicate the learning need you have identified–what small-scale training, mini-course, or self-directed app is needed in your context? You will use information that you have gathered through interviews with prospective learners to describe a learning solution that is needed and some specifics about learners (learner personas).
This Unit addresses Course Learning Outcome A: Identify a need that can be met by a digital learning resource.
Learning Activities and Assignments
- Activity 1 – Design Thinking and Alternative Human-Centred Design Frameworks
- Activity 2 – Identifying a Learning Need
- Activity 3 – Empathy Methods: Learning from Users
- Completing Assignment 1
Activity 1 – Design Thinking and Alternative Human-Centred Design Frameworks
In LRNT 524, you were introduced to human-centred design in the form of Design Thinking. In this course you will build on prior knowledge. You will review and apply the Design Thinking process to produce a digital learning resource that helps solve a learning need that you will identify. Each of the activities in this unit will lead you toward completion of Assignment 1, so reviewing the assignment details and the unit activities below will help you to consider how to frame your design challenge and complete this course successfully.
There are many variants of the Design Thinking process in use today. For purposes of this course you will begin by focusing on the five-stage model (Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test) proposed by the Hasso-Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford (d.school). To begin a review of the Design Thinking model, watch the videos (or copy and read the transcripts from YouTube) for the videos below created by Patty Hastings (2018) that summarize the five design phases:
Before you dive fully into the first phase of Design Thinking, take some time to consider Design Thinking’s connection to instructional design as laid out by Jill Stefaniak (2020) in The Utility of Design Thinking to Promote Systemic Instructional Design Practices in the Workplace.
Human-Centred Learning – An Alternative Lens for Instructional Design
Now that you have reviewed the classic Design Thinking structure, read the following article by Grau & Rockett (2022) that offers advice on learner-centred experiences. Consider what elements of Design Thinking resonate with you for your context and whether you might want to explore human-centred learning further for the design of your digital resource.
Grau, S. L., & Rockett, T. (2022). Creating student-centred experiences: Using design thinking to create student engagement. The Journal of Entrepreneurship, 31(2S), S135–S159.189.
Activity 1 – Take Action
Share your exploration about Design Thinking and human-centred design practices with your Peers in the Unit 1 Activities Discussion Forum in the Moodle Course shell and ask for specific types of feedback on your initial idea for a digital resource that will help you to create an effective learning experience.
Additional Unit Topics and Activities
Additional topics for this unit include the following:
- Identifying a learning need (Needs Analysis)
- Determining who your stakeholders are (Users) related to your needs analysis
- Connecting and communicating with Users effectively to learn from them (Empathy Methods)
- Analysing data gathered from Users
- Developing a proposal (Define and Ideate) for a digital learning resource and defining learner personas
Activity 2 – Identifying a Learning Need
As you continue to explore the Design Thinking process, it is valuable to spend some time framing your initial design challenge from the perspective of purpose. Asking yourself why you are creating a digital learning resource is a good path to help ensure you are using your time effectively. A well-conceived design stems from an applied learning need in your work or life context. This need (and potential solutions for it) are what guides and anchors you through the different phases of design thinking. Using whatever tools you prefer (digital or analog), think about your current instructional context and brainstorm some learning-related needs that puzzle or interest you that could potentially be addressed by the creation of a digital learning resource.
The following reading for Unit 1 was selected to help you explore and define a learning need related to your professional or life context. Review this reading to help you define and articulate a learning need that you can then use as a driver for the creation of a digital learning resource.
Stefaniak, J. (2021). Needs assessment basics. In J. Stefaniak (Ed.), Needs Assessment for Learning and Performance (pp. 15-25). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429287510
Indigenous Consultation and Inclusion in your Design Process
A key resource for this course is Lindstrom, G., & Anselmo, L. (n.d.). Indigenous Ways of Knowing Course Design [web resource]. University of Calgary Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning.
Using this website, you will explore the importance and process of inclusion of Indigenous ways of knowing and practices of design as part of your human-centred design thinking. Consider what prospective Indigenous learners might need from you as a designer and teacher. Ensure Indigenous design elements are part of your design plan and where possible, invite and consult with one or more Indigenous learners in your data collection and development of personas for Assignment 1.
Apply what you learn in this reading to the concept if identifying a learning need. In what ways might you engage in Indigenous consultation and inclusion as part of discovering learning needs in your context?
Activity 2 – Take Action
As part of your preparation for Assignment 1, describe the learning need that you have discovered and decided on as your focus. Ensure that you include information about your professional or life context, the context of your learners and other stakeholders, and how a digital learning resource may help to solve the learning need you describe. A learning need can be as simple. For example:
Many of my faculty colleagues would like additional knowledge about open educational resources in post-secondary teaching contexts.
This was the learning need defined for a doctoral dissertation which led to an effective research project and significant learning about leadership and innovation in a mixed methods action research context. It is the type of statement that can inspire a simple digital learning resource or a much larger project.
Incorporate concepts from the Lindstrom and Anselmo (n.d.) reading into your description of a learning need where possible.
Share the learning need you identify with your peers in the Unit 1 Activities Discussion Forum
Activity 3 – Empathy Methods: Learning from Users
Once you have defined a learning need, it is time to consider your stakeholders. In particular, learners that would need to engage with your digital learning resource to address the learning need you have described. It is important to gain an informed understanding of user needs in order to design effectively. Empathy is an excellent pathway to learning more about learners. Empathy is the capacity to step into other people’s shoes, to understand their lives, and start to solve problems from their perspectives. This process involves observing, engaging, and immersing with the people you are designing for to understand their experiences and motivations.
Please review the Empathy methods described in the IDEO (2015) Design Kit (i.e., Interview, Group Interview, Expert Interview, Extremes and Mainstreams, Immersion, Analogous Inspiration, Card Sort, Peers Observing Peers, Collage, Guided Tour, and Draw It) and think about which methods you feel would be most helpful to understand the needs of the users you have in mind related to the learning need you have identified.
Worsham and Roux (2019) and Brescher Cook and Worsham (2018) have developed a design process and rapid prototyping framework (complete with Toolkit) that provides templated activities related to the learning design process. This model, including the Empathy phase of human-centred design may be used as a foundation for your work in this course. Review the associated webpages, with a particular focus on the Design Values pages (the Manifesto is a great activity) and the Design Process through the Empathy phase. Explore the concept of a manifesto on your own and see what types of inspiration you find. Use the Empathy Map template to explore and articulate your findings from the Empathy method you choose.
Review the following advice on creating learner personas as you get ready to complete this unit:
How to Create aUser Persona for Course Design
Trainer Central – Creating a Persona (corporate professional development context)
Activity 3 – Take Action
Using the Let’s Build Something toolkit, create an Empathy map that condenses your findings from potential users. Share any artifacts you create, along with some reflection on these processes as a Unit 1 Activities Discussion Forum post. Provide feedback and comments for your peers through their posts. The Empathy method you choose, the users you define, and the data you collect and analyze should contribute to your written learning needs analysis and the development of personas for Assignment 1.
Preparation for Assignment 1
For Assignment 1, you must gather and analyze data from stakeholders in your context, particularly prospective learners, to inform your idea for the design of a digital learning resource. Ensure you follow research ethics practices and that you find sufficient time to recruit, gather data, and analyze during the first two weeks of this course.
Ethical Review
For Assignment 1 in this course, you will need to conduct interviews, design and collect surveys, or engage in formal observations with end users (learners). On your behalf, your instructor has applied for and received blanket ethical approval for LRNT 527. This means that you will not have to apply to RRU on an individual basis before conducting your assignment research.
You will need to read and become familiar with the Research Ethics Guidelines for this course. You will also need to fill in the Consent Form and provide it to any external participants in your research assignment.
If you have any questions about the ethical review, please ask the instructors by posting in the general discussions forum in Moodle. You may also contact the Office of Research Ethics at ethicalreview@royalroads.ca; 250.391.2600 ext. 4425. Further information is available on the RRU Ethics page.
Assignment 1: Digital Resource Design Needs Analysis and Personas (Individual)
The purpose of this assignment is to provide you with the opportunity to frame a work, life, or study-based learning need that might be solved, in part or in full, with a digital learning resource. Toward this purpose, you will engage in a human-centered needs analysis (gathering data through Empathy methods) to learn from potential stakeholders, form a preliminary plan for a digital learning resource that meets the needs you describe, and describe three different types of prospective learners in details (create learner personas).
This assignment helps determine your achievement of course Learning Outcome A – identify a need that can be met by a digital learning resource. Instructions for the assignment are found on the Assignment 1 page.