Learning Design & Theory

Inquiry-based learning is the most suitable learning design for the topic of Insomnia. With inquiry-based learning, patients are expected to form their own questions on the topic. Insomnia can be a deeply personal condition depending on what symptoms manifest, and therefore patients will learn best when they are able to approach their specific situation and question how to solve it. Not only does this learning approach spark curiosity within the patient about varying types of Insomnia, but it may also lead them to seek answers from fellow patients afflicted with similar symptoms. 

While not the main learning approach, experiential learning is a relevant approach to learning design that is acceptable for the topic of Insomnia. In order to learn about Insomnia and find solutions to their specific symptoms, patients will inevitably have to learn by doing. Activities such as tracking sleep quality or scheduling one's sleep will need to be done repeatedly and adjusted in order for patients to find solutions to the issues preventing them from sleeping.

This inclusive design displays how our team decided that the learning theory would be behaviourism based. Behaviourism focuses on the idea that all behaviours are learned through interaction with the environment. The theory posits that all human behaviour can be explained by conditioning and reinforcement. Behaviourism emphasizes the role of the environment in shaping behaviour, disregarding internal mental processes and focusing solely on what can be seen and measured. Based on behaviourism, by responding to external stimuli, learners' behaviour is shaped through a process of stimulus-response associations. 

Desired outcomes for learners:

• For the learner to understand their behavioural patterns and how it affects their sleep

• Learn how their environment can affect their sleep

When deciding what learning theory should be applied to the learning resource listed, we realized that the activities chosen for the learning are heavily based on the interaction of learners with the environment. Taking the sleep diary as an example, the result is heavily impacted by the surrounding environment (e.g. the colour of the light in the room, noise, and electronic devices may be a factor that affects the sleeping quality of learners) and the external stimuli shaped the behaviour of learners, for instance, insomnia. 

This learning theory aligns with the topic of insomnia by learning how the learners environment can old stressors that could potentially affect their quality of sleep and how the learner can help create a more relaxing environment for themselves.