Design for How People Learn
Julie Dirksen
“What’s everything else we could do besides in-person training that will allow learners to succeed?
What I like
an interesting blend of educational design and product design with immediate utility
use of structure and concise, organized chapters, hierarchy to core concepts, funny pictures, elephants, i really like how this book is organized
The conclusion is ONE PAGE
What’s I think is missing
it’s a little bit long and it takes a long time to really grasp the big picture, which I think is fine since this book leans academic
some chapters felt a little long but that may have been due to images and graphics
Some concepts are all too familiar as a designer, but that’s okay because this is a book for educators as well
Review
Design for How People Learn is a unique book because it strikes a balance between education, psychology, and design. As an educator I can see how this book would introduce design concepts to improve their classroom. As a designer, I can see how I can borrow from education concepts to make understanding products more intuitive. It’s a nice balance. If you are the type of reader who likes academics sprinkled into theory, you will appreciate this book. Chapters reference implications and insights from research in educational psychology, as well as examples of concepts applied. In that sense the book loses a bit of novelty- some designers will find design concepts to be common knowledge, some educators would probably find some education concepts to be common knowledge. A metaphor of an elephant might be more easy to grasp if you have read Thinking Fast and Slow. Understanding mapping or knowledge in the world will be easier if you have read Design of Everyday Things. In this way the author introduces familiar things that we as a designer or educator can build into our mental closets.
Coming out of this book I’d encourage anyone read this that wants to learn about educational psychology, theory, and how to apply that to design. Specifically, designing educational content.
Insights
A habit is an acquired behavior regularly followed until it becomes involuntary.
Attention is one of the hardest things for designers to get, and even after you get attention, maintaining engagement can be even more difficult.
Behavioral change requires motivation which is hard.
Designing an environment for learning means taking information out of the learner’s head and putting it into the world.
Feedback helps us understand if learners are doing things in the world the way they were taught:
Habit formation requires a few things from the person trying to create the habit.
If something can be done without practice then it is not a skill.
Intrinsic rewards are far more effective than extrinsic rewards when it comes to learning.
Learning experiences are a lot like a journey, which starts from where the learner is now and ends with the learner being successful at what they learned.
Learning styles are a myth, and what’s more important than trying to bucket different types of learners is understanding that not everyone learns the same.
Memory is formed with connections between neurons in our brain.
People are social creatures.
People have intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for learning.
Problems in learning are typically gaps. By understanding the problems or gaps we are able to identify learning goals, and subsequently solutions to making that goal a reality.
Some information is better learned in a formal learning session, especially if it’s complex and requires understanding a set of rules or principles.
There are a few ways that designers can make content more memorable, but requires additional effort from the learner, making them think about thinking before learning (aka meta cognition).
When creating learning activities there is a simple framework we can use: Context, Challenge, Activity, Feedback.
When deciding how to go about teaching something it’s important that we are intentional and reasonable about how much we expect learners to learn with the time, resources, and gaps available.
When we are actively learning a skill, our brain is put under a lot more stress than if we already know something, actively burning glucose.