I was trained as an instructional designer and have worked as one now for over a decade. As Brenda Bannan-Ritland said to me recently, "I honor that tradition." But I feel drawn to other disciplines that can inform it, unconventional design approaches that can improve it, and a new emphasis on learners as human beings, whose hearts are inseparably connected to their heads. When we learn, we feel, and not enough designers of learning experiences care enough about that. And it is worth caring about. It is worth designing for. It can make all the difference.
In this blog, I explore the many, many places outside the field (and a few inside) where designers have chosen to account for the human experience in a holistic way. I explore what it feels like to be a learner and how design can impact that experience. I explore how we can make learning rewarding to the human mind and enriching to the human spirit.
Please join me.
Joseph
3 comments:
I don't think I've ever encountered the term "holistic learning experiences "—of course, I'm not in the instructional design field. While I can speculate what you might mean by holistic learning experiences (and how it might differ from ideas such as integrated learning environments), can you clarify or provide examples of such approaches?
I look forward to reading more about your research.
I answered your question with a post to my blog. Please let me know if it was helpful.
Thanks for asking!
Joseph
Joseph,
Good stuff. I like the focus on the learner experience. Reminds me of Leamnson's Thinking about Teaching & Learning. In a talk I heard Leamnson give, he said he keeps a sign up in the back of his classroom--where he sees it, not his students--that says "What's going on in their brains?" It reminds him to stay focused on the the student experience, not just what he's doing or saying.
I'm excited to follow your quest.
Jon
The End in Mind
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