Design for How People Learn Quotes

“I’ve heard the argument that learners don’t know what they don’t know, and that they need guidance and directions. This can be a justification for less autonomy in an environment, but there are always ways to give options to even the most novice learners. Some ways you can give learners autonomy: • Let them help determine what’s learned. • Let them choose where to start, or what order to approach the material. • Have them make decisions about what assignments or projects they do. • Have them bring their own questions, projects, or problems to the table, and focus the learning experience around addressing or solving those challenges. If you genuinely can’t give learners any autonomy, then stay away from any kind of rewards as a way to drive attention.”
― Julie Dirksen, Design For How People Learn

“Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist, did an experiment in which people were paid to make LEGO® shapes—a small sum for each shape they created. In one group, each LEGO shape was displayed prominently when it was completed, and in the other each shape was broken back apart in front of the person, and the pieces dumped back in the bins to be re-used (Ariely 2008). Participants in the first group made significantly more shapes than people in the second, even though the financial rewards were exactly the same.”
― Julie Dirksen, Design For How People Learn

“I wince now to think of when I was a new teacher, and said things like "This is really important stuff" or "You'll be really glad you know this stuff later on.”
― Julie Dirksen, Design for How People Learn

“Ask interesting questions. If the question you are asking can be answered using a simple online search, it’s not an interesting question.”
― Julie Dirksen, Design for How People Learn

“Improving the environment is about clearing out as much of the stuff that learners don’t really need to carry around in their heads, and instead letting them focus on the things that only they are able to do.”
― Julie Dirksen, Design for How People Learn

“Learning designs should show the learners how something new is useful and easy to use.”
― Julie Dirksen, Design for How People Learn

“Lack of visible feedback or consequences is one of the most common attributes of a motivation challenge.”
― Julie Dirksen, Design for How People Learn

“know, but...” frequently comes up when there is a delayed reward or consequence.”
― Julie Dirksen, Design for How People Learn

“• When you hear “I know, but...,” that’s a clue that you’ll probably need to design for motivation.”
― Julie Dirksen, Design for How People Learn

“There are two kinds of motivation that learning designers need to consider: motivation to learn and motivation to do.”
― Julie Dirksen, Design for How People Learn

“You want to figure out ways to increase friction (germane cognitive load) while minimizing extraneous cognitive load.”
― Julie Dirksen, Design for How People Learn

“Engagement is often not property of the learning materials, but something that the learner brings when the materials are relevant or timely.”
― Julie Dirksen, Design for How People Learn

“Retrieval practice has been well studied and is one of the most effective study methods, found in one study to be more effective than traditional studying or mind-mapping.”
― Julie Dirksen, Design for How People Learn

“Learner will be able to state whether or not JavaScript is an appropriate programming tool for a specific task and give a correct rationale for the decision.”
― Julie Dirksen, Design for How People Learn

“They use words like define, describe, and explain because those are observable actions—you can witness someone describing, defining, or explaining.”
― Julie Dirksen, Design for How People Learn

“So when you are creating learning objectives, ask yourself: • Is this something the learner would actually do in the real world? • Can I tell when they’ve done it? If the answer to either of those questions is no, then you might want to reconsider your learning objective.”
― Julie Dirksen, Design for How People Learn