Learning experience design has gained prominence among instructional designers at learning institutions all over the world in recent years. To make the learner experience successful, learning providers – whether calling themselves LxDs, teachers or instructional designers – should focus on the quality of the learner experience. As a learning experience designer, how you deliver instruction will greatly influence your learners’ engagement and their degree of interest. Here are 5 important tips that you should consider when designing learner experiences:
- Design Lessons with the Learner in Mind
Every lesson, course, or unit should be designed with the learner in mind irrespective of the significance of the unit to the entire course. This is something that the most successful learner experience designers always bear in mind when working on their projects. A learner will have to engage in the experience of your module to truly learn from it, and thus it is important that you make the experience great.
To make the experience great, think of your learners’ experiences and expectations and embed them in the design of your lessons and course work. Think about how, when and where they will experience your course. Certainly, this has implications on how you deliver it. Make the course relevant and accessible. Create a holistic view of the learner and put that profile at the center of the learning process so that it drives your design decisions.
- Create the Right Content for Your Learners
Content is still the king when it comes to the learners’ experience. Whereas you have to deliver a specific message for each of your lessons, there is a need to tailor-make the content to resonate well in the mind of the learners at whichever level you are dealing with. Usually, the experience the learners have with the content will affect their mood, which in turn will impact if they get the message or not.
Good content will create authenticity and trust in the learners. This is essential for creating the right frame of mind that will promote learning. As a designer, you hold the key to great learner experience. Understand the learners’ environment, expectations, and life experiences, and create content with examples that your learners can relate to.
- Make the Technology Transparent
With the rise in the use of technology in learning, it may become a challenge to a learner experience designer to balance between technology and the message. Don’t make the presentation of your learning material so complex that it shadows the content. It’s easy to get so absorbed in the potential of a new technology or interaction that one loses focus on solid instructional design, and this is a sure fire way for an intervention to lose sight of its goals.
Always make the design of your courses and lessons simple with a clear message that is not obstructed by design works. Focus more on your learners’ needs and preferences in making your design, and avoid over-reliance on advanced graphics that may distract your learners from getting the message.
- Add Emotions to Your Work
Emotions help set the right mood for learning. This should be your guiding principle when designing your lessons and coursework. Use colors, presentation techniques, graphics and examples that will invoke feelings of empathy and trust. This is one of the best ways you can use to improve the learners’ experience and their understanding.
With the right content and design, your learners will be in the right mood to absorb the message being passed to them and will actively participate in the learning. By inserting emotions in your design, you get the learners engaged in the learning and this improves the success of their whole learning experience.
- Use Predictability
Quite often when designing the learning experience the element of surprise may keep the learning process fun for the learners, but they also need to know what to expect from you. Employ elements of predictability. Use of predictability not just in the theme, layout, and presentation of your materials but also in the general outline of your course work will help improve the concentration of your learners and their participation in the learning process as they know what to expect.
Create and label content uniformly and make all major aspects of the course predictable to the learners. This will give them the freedom to read ahead and thus be in a better position to easily follow your presentation. This will help improve their learning experience as they can easily ask questions where they don’t understand.
Learner experience design is an increasingly essential skill for all learning professionals. Designing a learner experience with the learners in mind can help ensure you deliver quality learning experience for your learners. Follow the above five tips and you will see a great improvement in your learning programs.
