Empathy in Instructional Design: A Rising Tide
Imagine a ship at sea that struggles against an ill-directed wind and an unfavourable current. It would be a foolish Captain that toils to change the sea and sky. Instead, a wise Captain adjusts the sails to suit the conditions. The progress may be slower than they’d like, but fathom by fathom, the ship moves forward.
Architect, scientist, and inventor, Buckminster Fuller, says, “If you want to teach people a new way of thinking, don’t bother trying to teach them. Instead, give them a tool, the use of which will lead to new ways of thinking.” You cannot change people, only their environment and people will inevitably change with it. To achieve this adaptation, we must tend to a few foundational guiding questions:
- What are learners doing today?
- What do I want them to do?
- What will guide them from point A to point B?
The second question in that list is perhaps the easiest for an Instructional Designer to answer – it is often informed by learning objectives, curricula, and policy. The third question requires a long thoughtful answer founded in the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), culturally responsive assessment strategies, as well as ADDIE and SAM instructional design models and more. When deploying these models, it’s important to note that they all acknowledge the fact that in any field, successful user experience (UX) design starts with the user. That is why the first question is arguably the most important to get right.
Needs Assessments
Instructional Designers should aim to understand their audience through an empathetic lens during a Needs Assessments. We should aim to understand with what experiences and expectations the learners arrive in the course. With what level of collaboration are they comfortable? Do they have experience with a variety of eLearning tools and their interoperability? What navigational elements, assessment strategies, learning materials, and pace of learning would be perceived as obstacles to learning?
There will be times when the answers to these and other important questions will be at odds with generally accepted eLearning best practices and with the goals of the course you’re designing. Infusing empathy into your course design does not mean remaining bound by these limitations. It does not mean that the answer to question two in the above list is compromised nor that our strategies for question three need to be thrown out.
What it does mean, however, is that a certain level of compromise may be necessary, a diligently scaffolded progression towards the learning behaviours and habits you intend is employed, and course elements are introduced that motivate learners. Let’s look at an example for each of these considerations.
Brightspace Tools to Consider
Regarding compromise, Discussions are a powerful tool to incite collaboration, debate, discourse, and sharing of ideas. However, not all learners revel in this mode of learning. Weekly Discussions may be a desired part of a course’s evaluation scheme but many learners may view them as disruptive to their thought process and a cumbersome activity that brings them little value. With this perspective, Instructional Designers may wish to consider leveraging Assignments, Quizzes, or the use of office hours to conduct these assessments.
Scaffolding
If a collaborative discourse is a central learning habit to your course (and, contrary to what the previous paragraph might suggest, I will never argue against its value), consider using a light touch for the first few modules and being flexible on deadlines for participation. As the course progresses, you may wish to introduce a quicker cadence for Discussions but having the same expectation for involvement at the beginning of course as at the end is not always appropriate.
Consider Gamification
Finally, regarding motivational elements, it is to any Instructional Designer’s benefit to become well versed in game mechanics and gamification. This does not mean turning a serious subject into a slapstick badge-laden affair. Rather, it means understanding a learner’s core motives and demonstrating how their success in the course satiates those desires. For example, if a student has an altruistic character, including case studies and stories about how the efforts of people in their field have benefited others can be quite motivational. Narrative is a powerful and often overlooked element in eLearning.
Empathy in Instructional Design translates into an infinite combination of design choices because every learner and every course are unique. What works on one sea will not necessarily work on another. Empathy is the lens through which designers of any ilk can ensure a truly user-centric design. That is why it is important for Instructional Designers, as the captains of these eLearning ships, to take careful stock of for whom we are ultimately creating these learning experiences and respond based on which way the winds blow.
Image References
Kasjan Farbisz from Pixabay
Gerhard Bögner from Pixabay