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One way to design for learners is to keep the learner at the center of the design process through the use of learner personas.
One way to design for learners is to keep the learner at the center of the design process through the use of learner personas.
Because learners have different backgrounds and come to a learning experience through different circumstances, it is important to consider these factors when designing. Rather than try to understand the nearly infinite ways that a given set of learners will differ from one another, it is important to understand the most salient dimensions of learner difference when it comes to learner-centered design.
Learner personas are a useful tool for keeping track of these different dimensions and understanding how they will affect the main learner groups’ learning experience. As I created the different learner personas for Bookmarkd, I thought through how I could support learning across a wide variety of the design's target learners. These dimensions of difference included personal reading goals, likes, needs, and frustrations. For instance, I included three learner personas (pictured below): one would use my design to support their reading habit, another to expand their vocabulary, and the last to enhance their reading comprehension skills. In creating these personas, I developed empathy for my potential learners as I thought through the implications of their individual characteristics on my design.
Another important principle to remember when designing for learning is to remember that learning occurs through repeated, related interactions as learners gradually build islands of expertise around different skills they are learning.
Another important principle to remember when designing for learning is to remember that learning occurs through repeated, related interactions as learners gradually build islands of expertise around different skills they are learning.
Though "islands of expertise" was an explicit influence for two of my projects (Pollinator Protectors and Community-Based Math Teacher Resources), I continuously returned to it in each of my designs. Deep learning does not happen through a single, one-time engagement with an idea. Instead, we build expertise through a series of momentary interactions, some of which are more mundane and informal (Symmetry Dot Grid), and some are structured and formal (Artful Analytics).
In this way, learning is a "tapestry" that tells a story over time: learners weave different experiences and interactions together to create their "tapestries" of knowledge.
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