What is Learning Experience Design (LXD)?

LXD is the acronym for learning experience design and best refers to the process of creating learning experiences. The focus of creating such designs is to make the approach human-specific and goals inclined so the best outcome ventures from it.

Specifying LXD, it has several design disciplines at its core with the prime objective of the field of learning. Some key design principles used in LXD are interaction design, user experience design, experience design, graphic design, and game design. Let us get a clear picture of LXD by breaking the concept into 3 parts.

Experience

Knowledge comes to us from experience and might be in multiple forms, not limited to education. Knowledge gathered from home, any outdoor areas, or work and experience obtained from any place is worthy of a shot. These experiences are what matter. Hence, LX designers need to integrate such experiences.

Design

LX design is all about the creative design discipline, the applied form of art. Research, experimentation, ideation, conceptualization, prototyping, iteration, and testing goes toward the process of LX design. Designs of the process have one objective – provide value or provide elegant solutions. Here, the design discipline denotes a design detail that teaches.

Learning

Defining LX design is about how the candidates learn, not the teaching pattern or the training schedule. The catch is to know the designs and efficient approaches of using the design that endorses learning. The end game is to curate a learning experience that works and lets the learner absorb much.

Other facets to this concept as we already know are human-centered and goal-oriented.

Elements of Learning Experience Design

The success of the eLearning courses of LXD depends on four key elements as described. Before we go through the elements, let us brush up on the basics, that is, the difference between UXD and LXD.

UXD or user experience design is used to enhance user experience and is used in the product development field. On the other end, LXD leverages the UXD principle to provide an enhanced learning experience in eLearning courses. LXD makes technology in favor of the learners.

Now, let us get started with discussing the elements.

Understanding Learners

Learners do not necessarily begin from the same origins as others do. Some learners are newbies, while others have already built up the base level and wish to go advance. The experience curve that LX designs create does not have the same origin for everyone.

LX designers, with the help of multiple tools, learn about the experience level of the candidates. Then, they get started with creating the design and add facilitation of skipping a few sections. This allows learners with some knowledge to skip past the sections they already know about.

Experiential Learning

One of the primary reasons why traditional corporate training fails is because they are inclined toward tasks and not experience. Though mainstream training seems reliable, it may not essentially be of value and fun.

LX designs leverage the traditional aspects such as functionality, usability, and convenience and add the missing parts. LX designs let learners move past the traditional offerings and engage them in a great way. The learning has the end course of action where learners find the solutions themselves.

Engagement and Motivation

Content competence apart, LX designs must indeed design a course for humans. The idea should be to create a design that learners would find entertaining, engaging, and valuable. Learners must feel they are getting a lot more in return for taking up the course and there is no compromise.

Sensory Layer

While crafting the learning course, another aspect that LX designs consider is the sensory experience of learners. Each and every aspect of the learning program must be in line with the sensory experience of learners. Designers should ensure they collect from the learner’s senses and amplify the materials and instructions accordingly.

Phases of Learning Experience Design

When you want to create a learning experience design, you need to set for a journey of uncertainty and adventure. The approaches that LX designers use often reciprocate that journey and there is a streamlined process to it. There are 6 collective steps or a rough draft of how the design phases go:

Learning Design v/s Instructional Design

Confusion between LX design and instructional design is an obvious phenomenon. The look of it might be the same, but they are entirely different concepts when you dive deep into them both. Precisely, instructional design is teacher and teaching-oriented, while learning design is learning and learning outcome-oriented.

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What is Formative Assessment?

A formative assessment serves as a practice of the concepts learned. Moreover, it is specifically designed to monitor student learning and provide feedback to improve teaching. This means that formative assessment helps the students to identify their strengths, weaknesses, and improvement areas. Also, it helps the teachers to identify the learning issues that the students face and devise methods to resolve them.

However, formative assessments are not always about grading. The primary objective of formative assessments is to enhance the understanding and competencies of the students. Also, it gives a fair idea about the student’s needs and progress while they engage in activities like quizzes, conversations, and more.

What is Summative Assessment?

In contrast to formative assessments, summative assessment is a graded assessment that generally occurs at the end of a course. It is a periodical process that evaluates the overall learning, knowledge, proficiency, and success of the students along with the effectiveness of a course/program.

Moreover, unlike the practice-oriented formative assessment, summative assessment evaluates the students on their performance in standardized tests. The test scores, percentages, and grades determine the student ranks and indicate the quality of the curriculum. Thus, this type of assessment is result-oriented.

Formative vs Summative Assessments

Both formative and summative assessments are related yet different. As modes of evaluation, both tend to evaluate the areas of learning. A side-by-side comparison of both makes the differences obvious.

Examples of Formative and Summative Assessments

Formative Assessment

A formative assessment is often conducted in the form of various fun and interactive activities. Such activities engage students and induce learning. For instance:

• Classroom Discussions
• Group Activities
• Homework Assignments
• Polls, Surveys, and Quizzes
• Reflection Writing Assignment
• Class Presentations
• Educational Games

Summative Assessment

A summative assessment takes place at the end of a unit/course. It measures the students’ learning and determines their rank, grades, and percentages. Thus, it can be conducted in the following forms:

• Standardized Tests
• Final Reports and Projects
• End of Unit Tests
• Achievement Tests
• Final Presentations
• Mid-Term Examinations
• End-Term Examinations

Therefore, Formative and Summative assessments play an important role in the assessment of learning. While formative assessments encourage communication and cooperation among peers, summative assessments serve the purpose of evaluation. This implies that formative assessment is qualitative, whereas summative assessment may be considered quantitative in nature.

Moreover, summative assessment primarily takes into account the percentages, marks, and grades that often overshadow the qualitative aspects of learning and the skills acquired by the student. Therefore, the right balance of assessment methods must be employed for effective conduct and evaluation of learning.

Read more about assessments in our previous blog.

Research article: AES Education

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Now that there was a concept to improve instructions, a need to devise measures to employ it emerged. This gave way to the development of Instructional Design models. Educationists have developed innumerable models of instructional design over the years, but only a few have been widely accepted as resourcefully effective. This article takes a deeper look into these instructional design models.

Widely Used Instructional Design Models

I. ADDIE (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate) 

This model consists of five phases, which are:

Analyze:

Examine the need for training by defining the needs of the learners. This determines the need for training, instructional environment, skills, opportunities available, constraints, and the abilities of the learners and trainers.

Design:

Determine the objectives of learning and instructional strategies. Additionally, choose the look, feel, and operation and delivery methods of the instructional material.

Develop:

Assemble the content into a final design to produce instructional material. Instructional Designers review and revise the content multiple times for quality analysis.

Implement: 

Deliver the finished course to the intended audience/learners and register the impact of the product.

Evaluate:

Assess the impact of the instructional material using a variety of evaluation tools.

II. The Assure Model of Instructional Design

Teachers use this model to design and develop the most suitable classroom learning environment. It is an amalgamation of Robert Gagne’s events of instructions, which tries to ensure the effective use of media in lesson delivery.

A – Analyze learners 

S – State standards and objectives 

S – Select strategies, media, technology, and objectives 

U – Employ technology, media, and materials 

R – Require the learner to participate 

E – Evaluate and revise

Further reading on the Assure Model 

III. Gagne’s 9 Events of Instruction Model

This is based on the behaviorist approach to learning. According to Gagne, adults require certain mental conditions for learning. For this reason, the following nine events of instructions were developed using these conditions.

1. Gain the student’s attention

Activities such as storytelling or asking thought-provoking questions set the foundation for learning and retention of knowledge.

2. Inform students about the objectives

This step is for the establishment of certain expectations from the course and to set a criterion for the measurement of success or failure.

3. Stimulate recall of prior learning

Learners acquire new knowledge using their existing knowledge.

4. Present the content

This is the most important step for teachers. They must employ their skills and knowledge to come up with new forms of presentation. This is done for the maximum utilization of resources and for achieving the desired learning outcome.

5. Provide learner guidance

Supplement the learning material with case studies, classroom activities, discussion papers, and other forms of instructional support materials. This provides a better understanding of concepts.

6. Elicit performance

Challenge the learners to recollect, employ, and evaluate their learning.

7. Provide feedback

Use immediate feedback for reinforcement of knowledge.

8. Assess performance

Test the learner’s knowledge as per established criteria.

9. Enhance retention and transfer to the job

Use content retention procedures for appropriate job aids and to retain the knowledge gained.

IV. Merrill’s Principles of Instruction Model (2002)

It is a consolidation of five learning principles, which are:

A. Task-centered principle:

Learning must begin with a real-world task that the learners can relate to.

B. Activation principle:

Activate the previous knowledge of learners so that they can link it with new knowledge.

C. Demonstration principle:

The course must illustrate knowledge in multiple ways. This may include visual storytelling so that it caters to the varied learning requirements of learners and helps in knowledge retention.

D. Application principle:

Learners must be taught to apply their new knowledge.

E. Integration principle: 

The learner’s world must be integrated with new knowledge. This can be done through the process of discussions, reflections, and/or presentations of the new knowledge.

V. The Kemp Model of Instructional Design  

Also known as the Morrison, Ross, and Kemp Model, it incorporates the following 9 steps:  

Step 1

Identify the problems and specifications of the goals of instructional program design.

Step 2

Examine the aspects that must receive planned attention.

Step 3

Identify the subject content and analyze the task components according to the stated goals and objectives.

Step 4

State instructional objectives for the learners.

Step 5

Arrange the content as per the instructional unit of logical learning.

Step 6

Design instructional strategies to help each learner master the skills.

Step 7

Plan appropriate instructional activities.

Step 8

Develop instruments of evaluation for assessment.

Step 9

Select appropriate instruction and learning sources.

VI. Kirkpatrick Model of Instructional Design

The Kirkpatrick Model determines a learner’s aptitude by analyzing and evaluating the results of the educational program. It is a four-level process carried out as follows:

• Level 1 (Reaction)

•  Measure the reaction of the learners to the provided training.

• Level 2 (Learning)

•  Analyze the level of understanding.

• Level 3 (Behavior)

•  Record the application of the concepts learned.

• Level 4 (Results)

• Determine the impact of the material delivered through instructional design.

This model of evaluation is applicable at all stages of training because of its systematic evaluation process. For this reason, it is the most widely used model in business training assessment.

There are dozens of other instructional design models that teachers/trainers use to create different types of instructions for the various needs of training. Training designed with the help of Instructional Design models proves to be effective in inculcating knowledge about a topic. Trained professionals carry out this task, and they ensure that the lesson is delivered effectively. 

Read about more Instructional Models here.

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What is Instructional Design?

The established trends in education are changing with the advent of new technology. This is easing the process of teaching-learning, which is where Instructional Design comes in. It is the process of designing, developing, and delivering online learning materials/products and targeted experiences to learners. These learning products may include various instructional materials such as online courses, instructional manuals, video tutorials, learning simulations, and so on.

Instructional Designers are responsible for producing these materials. They are the designated architects of learning experiences and directors of the Instructional System Design (ISD) process. What’s more, they are the people responsible for devising and providing learning products for K-12, higher education, and government organizations.

Attributes of Instructional Design

Numerous Instructional Design models are already available on the Internet. However, the components of these models are often similar, and they include analysis, design, development, and evaluation.

• Analysis – Instructional designers examine the reasons for producing learning material and training requirements. They also pay attention to the needs of learners.
• Design and Development – Instructional designers outline and develop the instructional material, along with the methods of delivering them.
• Evaluation – Instructional designers determine the end goal of the learning objectives provided by the instructional material. This is done through a variety of techniques where a learner’s skills are assessed.

Instructional Designing Process

The main objective here is to focus on the needs of learners. As a result, Instructional Design is a learner-oriented approach. It proceeds as follows:

• The process begins with determining the needs of the learners.
• Determining the end goals and objectives of the instructions comes next.
• After establishing the goals and objectives, the planning and designing of the assessment tasks takes place.

The final process involves designing the teaching and learning activities to ensure the quality of instructions.

Some Proposed Instructional Design Models

Instructional Design is based on certain principles that are followed while designing instructions for particular course material. Instructional designers produce these instructions following a set of steps. The steps are then incorporated into models of instructional design.

These steps should meet all the requirements of the teaching-learning process conducted using the instructional material. While there are many models, the following five are the most common ones-

• ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation) Model
• Assure Model
• Gagne’s 9 Events of Instruction Model
• Merrill’s Principles of Instruction Model
• Kemp’s Model

Strengths and Limitations 

Instructional Design is a strong learning tool primarily because of the following reasons.

• Cost-Effective: The lessons are easily accessible to learners at a low cost.
• Customization of Training: It allows teachers to create customized lessons for training learners.
• Student-centered Learning: Students participate in the learning process, which makes it easy to gain and retain knowledge. With this method, knowledge acquisition becomes a practical process.
• Result-oriented: Lessons focus on achieving results without interference from unnecessary distractions.
• Consistent Approach: Teachers can use the same instructional material repeatedly and yet maintain originality in the teaching-learning process.

Although Instructional Design is a handy tool for learning instructors, it does have its share of limitations.

• Cost: The cost factor is a double-edged sword here. The low cost of availing instructional material is an advantage for learners. However, a huge workforce, along with the latest technology and equipment, is essential for instructional material development. This costs a lot of money. As a result, the producers of instructional material may suffer.
• Quality: The quality of the instructional material can differ if it is not produced by expert instructional designers.
• Requires Adequate Training: Teachers require adequate training to use and operate the new technology.
• Lack of Resources: Instructional material cannot be accessed if there is a lack of adequate resources, such as appropriate electronic devices and a stable internet connection.
• Requires Guidance: Instructional materials may not always be the best tool for learning as they may not contain detailed information on a particular topic. A teacher or facilitator should guide learners through these materials.

Real-World Implications and the Future

Instructional Learning is a constructive approach to the teaching-learning process. Additionally, many label it as a cost-effective e-learning approach. This enables the creation of an effective, stable, and experiential learning environment. What’s more, the 3-D technology used in instructional learning allows a teacher to virtually turn anything into a form of digital reality at a surprisingly low cost.

Technology-related learning ventures provide many opportunities for the application of instructional theories. This, in turn, provides a pathway to achieve the desired learning outcomes. The future holds great opportunities for Instructional Design.

The following website was referred to while researching this article:

Instructionaldesign

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