To get us started about online and technology-mediated learning, let’s focus not on the technology, but on the interactions that take place. Learners need to interact with materials (texts to read, audio to hear, video to watch, files for practicing, and the like), as well as with one another, with their instructors and support people, and with the wider world.
In order to make those interactions more effective and to allow the greatest number of our learners to take part in our tech-mediated learning spaces, we have to think about how humans learn thing generally, and then apply that knowledge to the ways we set up our online learning interactions, specifically.
The brain research on how we learn shows that when we learn anything, in order for it to stick, we need to activate three different chemical pathways in our brains. While this course won’t go into the details of the acetylcholine uptake pathways for attentional fixation in the nucleus accumbens, the ideas that you’ll read next are based on that level of neurochemical research.
Put plainly, in order to learn, we have to have a reason for learning (the ‘why’), a way to take in information (the ‘what’), and a way to practice and embed new learning into existing knowledge (the ‘how’). Too often, the design of technology-mediated learning spaces offers few options for getting engaged, taking in information, or taking action and expressing ourselves as learners.
This why-what-how structure is the basis for the principles of UDL, a conceptual framework that was first formalized in the 1990s by the neuroscientists at the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) in Boston. First adopted widely in the elementary and secondary-education systems in the United States, UDL has recently gained attention in higher education and organizational learning and development. UDL is an approach to the creation of learning experiences and interactions that incorporate multiple means of engagement, representation, and action and expression (CAST, 2014).
There is also a simpler way to think about UDL: the ‘plus-one’ approach. Think about the interactions that you want your learners to have with materials, with each other, with their instructors, with support staff, and with the wider world.
Is there only one way that those interactions can take place right now? Create just one more way: this is the plus-one approach, and it helps you to narrow your scope and effort when you apply inclusive design ideas like UDL. The ideal, of course, would be to design learning interactions in an inclusive fashion right from the beginning (and UDL helps us do that, too). But most of us are not designing brand-new interactions, so the plus-one approach helps us to focus our limited resources where they will have the biggest positive impact.
In technology-mediated learning, the most common learner challenges have to do with time management and access to tools. Providing learners with tools, spaces, and options for each is a key ‘step zero’ that amplifies the benefits of all of our other teaching approaches and design strategies.
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