Short post, open thinking.
How often do you widen your view when learning? It can be very easy to focus on where you are on a particular path, in a specific moment in time knowing what is right in front of you. As a learner, this is the immediate learning need you’re trying to address and the learning task that will meet that need. You may be on a long or short path of learning, but the learning taking place right now is the focus.
Looking a bit further ahead, there may be a clear road towards your end goals, sometimes a hidden bend, or opportunity for divergence. There may be clear guidelines, framing the path and others on the same learning journey. You may see connections coming in from different learning paths, joining up ideas or avenues down which you may find new perspectives.
A bit wider, your learning path is set in a landscape full of rich detail and texture. Perhaps too much to focus on all at once, there may be elements of the landscape that grab your attention, something to explore later and discover what learning path may take you there. As a learner, you’re starting to see how your learning sits in a bigger picture.
However, one of the most valuable views is to turn around and look behind. Seeing a new angle on where you’ve come from and your learning journey so far, when looking back is a different view to the one you had when you were in the immediate moment of learning. It’s a wide view with a navigated path and with scaffolded progression of knowledge and reflection, what comes up next has more meaning. New learning is influenced by where we’ve come from, connecting new experiences to prior experiences in our lifelong learning journey.
Learning designers need to consider this learning journey, thinking about what learners bring individually and as a learning cohort to a learning activity. Designed learning experiences have an awareness of the paths, the possible divergences and the wider context of the learning. Whether the learning has a specific goal in mind, or the journey has an undefined destination (perhaps one the learner can adjust in the journey), designing for learning is not just about the immediate task, but the sequence, path and prior experience that leads learners onwards.
Short post, open thinking are posts of ill-formed ideas and notes that I’ve not expanded into articles. They are shared here in case they stimulate comment or ideas elsewhere.
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