Learning in 3D – Chapter 4 – Architecting Learning Experiences
May 16
When I was reading this chapter I thought: how can I use this in my work and not read this as an academic piece. To give some context to my work: I work for Shell and I design and develop learning events, call it an instructional designer if you like.
Principles
Chapter 4 starts with grounding principles to develop immersive and engaging 3DLE’s. The core for these grounding principles are:
- All 3DLE’s should be grounded in solid instructional design approaches and…
- Require reflective synthesis at the individual and team level
From these core principles the following principles are mentioned. One Key Question (KQ) is added per principle to relate to the work of an instructional designer. There are more questions per principle taken from table 4.1. on page 77.
a) Instructionally Grounded. Like any other learning intervention it should address a business need and the objectives should be tuned to address that business need
KQ: Is the learning intervention addressing a vetted business or educational need?
b) Reflectively Synthesized. In a 3DLE there always should be reflection of the skills taught. Participants should not leave the experience without passing a reflection loop.
KQ: How is personal reflection accommodated in the design?
c) The Experiential Principles. In a 3DLE participants experience and internalize the learning in visceral or intuitive way.
KQ: No Key Question mentioned in table… What would you as instructional designer ask?
The following six remaining principles are aimed at the 3DLE design process itself.
a) Participant Centered. The participant should be the center of the learning experience. Their (inter)actions have consequential outcomes within the learning experience and the contextual design must accommodate this. Learning objectives are not covered conversationally but through experience.
KQ: Does the design place the participants in the center of the experience?
b) Contextually Situated. The more authentic and engaging the challenge in a 3DLE, the more powerful the learning experience will be.
KQ: What situational contexts best accommodate the learning objective of the intervention?
c) Discovery Driven. In a 3DLE the motivation must be built into the flow of the participant’s (inter)action. By selectively revealing information (e.g. cues, clues) and incentives over time motivation can be sustained.
KQ: What information or incentives can be selectively revealed to motivate engagement and collaborative action?
d) Action Oriented. 3DLE’s are situational and problem-centered and revolve around tasks not topics. It’s not about being there, it’s about doing there.
KQ: What are the key actions and interactions that trigger teachable moments for the participants?
e) Consequentially Experienced. Moving back and forth between action and reflection, getting immediate constructive feedback, to improve performance.
KQ: What are the consequences of failure for the participant?
f) Collaboratively Motivated. Shift from structured teaching to social and situated peer-to-peer learning where participants are simultaneously consumers of and contributors to the learning experience.
KQ: How is collaboration encouraged by the design?
For me these are the most important principles mentioned in this chapter. I could take these principles and the appropriate questions into any discussion when talking about a learning event. I realize these are specifically for 3DLE’s, but I like them as additional learning principles for any learning event to shift people’s mindset to learning in the 21st century.
Macrostructures
A macro level architectural blueprint is presented to make designing a 3DLE’s more effective. These macrostructure overlay the earlier presented design principles. For each macrostructure I will mention the related Grounding Principle (GP). Figure 4.2 on page 79 also shows the relation between the design principles and the macrostructures.
The four macrostructures are:
1) Agency: Ability of the person operating the avatar to take action.
GP: Participant centered
2) Exploration: Ability to navigate the environment and examine it to gain knowledge.
GP: Discovery driven
3) Experience: Engage in activities, have meaningful interactions, encounter consequences.
GP: Action oriented
4) Connectedness: Interact with each other to create and build knowledge and understanding.
GP: Collaboratively motivated
Archetypes and Sensibilities
Archetypes are the basic building blocks of 3DLE’s. Each achieves a specific set of learning outcomes and activates a specific macrostructure. I won’t mention the Archetypes as they will be discussed in more detail in chapter 5. To get a feel for the Archetypes and their relationship to the macrostructure, check out figure 4.3 on page 81.
In a similar way the 7 sensibilities presented in chapter 3 are overlaid on the macrostructure. I will not go into details on these sensibilities here. Please refer to Figure 4.4 on page 82 to see the sensibilities in the wider macrostructure. If you put that picture next to table 3.1 on page 62 you’ll have a full picture.
A 3DLE Architecture
Summarizing the overall 3DLE architecture consist of:
1) Principles
2) Macrostructures
3) Archetypes
4) Sensibilities
Alignment of these elements makes the architecture mostly valuable. I was left with the question how does alignment look like… See also figure 4.5 on page 83.
Top ten 3DLE design principles by Randy Hinrichs.
Reading through Randy’s principles I mapped how these relate to the earlier presented grounding principles. Some for sure have more links, but I have mapped the one that stood out for me. Have a look at Randy’s principles at page 84 and see if you agree how I mapped.
1) It’s not about Me, It’s about We (Collaboratively motivated)
2) It’s not about Technology, It’s about Neurology (Discovery driven)
3) It’s not about Revolution, It’s about Evolution (Instructionally grounded)
4) It’s not about Being There, It’s about Doing There (Activity oriented)
5) It’s not about Electrons, It’s about Physics (Contextually situated)
6) It’s not about Theory, It’s about Rapid Feedback (Consequently experienced)
7) It’s not about Application, It’s about Integration (Collaboratively motivated)
8) It’s not about Data Base, It’s about Human Race (Collaboratively motivated)
9) It’s not about Instructional Design, It’s about Experiential Design (Participant centered)
10) It’s not about Globalization, It’s about Localization (Collaboratively motivated)
Poll question:
Open-end questions:
1) Alignment of the 3DLE architecture is important. See also figure 4.5 on page 83. How does alignment look like when you design a learning event?
2) What Key Question(s) for “ The Experiential Principle” would you add to table 4.1?
Lawrence
May 17, 2010 @ 12:56:05
Thank you for a clear and concise summary.
Vis the observation that the core principles could/should be applicable to any event, I note the following on p.86:
Its not about the application, it’s about the integration…synthesis…Let the integration of the environment and the tools for decision making merge I’m virtual spaces.
As a general comment on the chapter and the development of the text, I am disappointed that, having descibed the new opportunities afforded by learning in the immernet, a framework to enable innovation through increased incidents of knowledge