Module 4 Introduction

Congratulations! You’re into the second half of the Bootcamp, and that deserves a celebration!.

So far, we’ve explored the importance of empathy in learning design. You’ve strengthened your muscles for writing clear learning outcomes, and you had an inclusivity workout to help you create inclusive learning content. In module 4, we’re going to look at how to facilitate effective learning experiences, and in module 5 we’ll explore a range of technologies we can use to deliver these experiences. Then in the final module, we’ll explore the role of community in learning, and you’ll discover why we think community is the secret sauce in transformative learning design.

So, what does facilitation mean, and what does it have to do with learning design? A good response to these questions is a quote from psychologist Carl Rogers, who argued that ‘a person cannot teach another person directly, a person can only facilitate another’s learning’. I can’t underestimate how powerful that quote is, because it questions the belief that teaching involves telling people things. Instead, Rogers invites us to think of teaching as ‘creating the conditions for learning to happen’, which is a very different way of approaching teaching. 

When teachers and trainers begin their career, they often interpret teaching as ‘telling people things’. This means that they’re doing most of the work in a learning situation. But as they become more experienced, they get their learners to do more of the work by facilitating learning. The problems with ‘teaching as telling’ were clearly highlighted during the Covid pandemic. Although many teachers had no choice but to upload recordings of their teaching sessions, the reaction from learners showed that simply talking at people for long periods of time does not produce effective learning. Long lectures have always worked to demonstrate the knowledge of the teacher, but not the effectiveness of the teaching. This problem was clearly articulated by Professor Jeremy Hunsinger, who was a guest on our Ding-O-Meter podcast.

In the internet age, finding quality content isn’t a problem. This is why, as learning designers - and as teachers, we need to shift beyond a model of teaching as ‘broadcasting’ and towards a model of teaching as ‘facilitating learning’. This shift requires us to rethink the view of ‘teaching as telling’, and to embrace a view of teaching as creating the conditions for effective learning by empathising with learners’ individual needs. 

As learning designers, we play a fundamental role in this shift because it’s up to us to create the content, activities and environments that can facilitate learning. So as we move through Module 4, we’ll be exploring ways of helping learners learn through discovering and experiencing. You’ll have a go at producing some scenarios and a session plan to show how engaging learners’ imagination can produce more effective learning. And we’ll explore how learning designers can use effective facilitation when working with Subject Matter Experts.

If you have any questions during Module 4, please share them in the Module 4 Slack channel.

I’m really excited to be with you on this journey beyond broadcasting and towards facilitation. Head to the next lesson, and let’s start the journey!