One of the key aspects of any well-designed learning experience is empathy with your learners. You have to be able to understand the challenges they face, the barriers to their learning, and their strengths as well. But unfortunately, this is isn’t something that is often on the minds of faculty…

The first step to creating any engaging, meaningful learning experience is understanding the fundamentals of good learning design. The attached is a series of adjectives and attributes to be shared with educators, that can help them to build learning designs that go beyond ‘sage on a stage’ learning. It then…

Not all learning has to be complex, high-tech, or highly interactive to be effective. Sometimes it’s essential to stick to the basics and understand what it is you are trying to accomplish, and attack it using the most direct path possible. That was the goal of this particular learning experience—I…

Narrative and story can do work on both ends when it comes to designing engaging learning experiences. Not only do stories themselves provide an experience “hook” for learners to engage with, but telling stories on the other end about the experience can both be a means of engagement, and of…

Whether you focus in higher ed, K-12, workplace learning, or personal learning, there are certain design principles that hold true throughout. This is a recording of a conversation I had with Calvin Stevens, an educator at Morey Flex-Tech, an innovative school near Mt. Pleasant, MI. I share several strategies for…

This is a job aid created and distributed to faculty at Spring Arbor University as a part of a plan to encourage the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) in newly developed courses. It was accompanied by a brief conversation with individual Deans and department heads, further discussing the benefits…

Design and develop effective and engaging learning experiences, environments, resources, and assessments MSed – Educational Design and Technology, Goal 2 This is a guide created to help educators design interactive, learner-centered learning experiences. It focuses on ten specific strategies that educators can use, grounded in learning theory. In addition to…