Design for How People Learn

by Julie Dirksen (New Riders, 2011)

Five Gaps

Design for How People Learn explores course design driven by empathy for learners. Dirksen identifies five gaps that typically separate learners from their goals (knowledge, skill, motivation, environment, and communication) and devotes chapters to designing for each. For knowledge gaps, it is important to engage learners in wrestling with new ideas rather than conveying them smoothly, to highlight misconceptions, and to apply new knowledge in multiple contexts to flesh out its dimensions.

Identifying the primary gaps in a specific course is key to thoughtful design. In drug-resistance education, for example, it was once assumed that arming teens with information would protect them from drug abuse. But communication is a more important gap than knowledge: the gap that matters is between typical teens and savvy teens prepared to manage social situations that introduce drugs, so rehearsing plans to exit awkward encounters safely is the more modern and effective practice.

The Rider and the Elephant

Dirksen tackles attention with the analogy of a rider atop an elephant. The rider is like executive function, where we consciously steer our attention; the elephant is everything else the mind engages in, and teachers can engage the elephant as well as the rider. Steering the elephant taxes one's energy, can only be sustained for limited spans, and degrades as the rider tires. Breaks can therefore come from material that entices the elephant: stories, novelty, social motivation, and habit.

The Elephant in My Classroom

The rider and the elephant show up in my class when students focus on problems they will hand in, even when the assignment is not very formal. In those moments, the elephant is pulling in the same direction as the rider.

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