Agile Learning Design

The approach to learning design that has evolved in the Online Programs Team seems to have a different flavour than other Learning Design teams I have been a part of. It is a different way of operating that underpins how we do things and why it might seem a be bit different and unconventional. What has evolved over time is a way of adapting an agile way of working. Rather than seeking to force our work through a specific and singular process or template our Online Programs Team have sort to find ways of combining the bespoke nature of design to suit the context and content of the courses we work in, with the broader need to scale up our production and capacity. What has come out of that effort are some distinct principles that guide how we work. And as good agile practitioner we are always iterating and evolving our way of working, taking what we learnt and our experience in order to shape and change what we do next.

Understand the constraints

Start the process off by understanding the constraints you are operating in – what’s the timeline for development, what’s the duration of the course, what’s the expected study time, what are the outcomes and how do we evidence that. Know your audience – their motivations, desires and skills and learn about their intents.

Design with purpose

Design with intent and purpose. Know what you want in the course and design it in. Ask and map out the points of Wow and Joy and design for them. We get to define the whole experience, so don’t leave it up to chance.

Ask big questions for little details

From the outset ask big questions – like how do you want to change students? What will they remember in 5 years or 10 years after this course? We often remove this perspective from the design and get too bogged down in the details. Yet often the answers to these big questions contain little details, snippets of ideas that help to define what the course and the experience will be.

Shape is emergent, the scope is set

The shape of the course will emerge from the process, don’t seek to do it too early. The scope of the course provides the constraints and they will help guide decisions, but the shape of the course is malleable. Remember, it’s just text on the page — mutable and adaptable. Don’t force the course structure too early.

Containers and fidelity

Content is content until it is something else. We use “content” as a container to get things out of the SMEs head. Write it all out to start and iterate through it. Begin with dot points, add paragraphs, add guiding comments and increase the fidelity over time. Text is mutable, it’s easy to transform into a HTML page, a video script or an interactive – but you can’t do any of that without knowing what the content is.

The key to success is to iterate

Snowball not waterfall. Map, plan and then add detail. The course is fluid until it’s built. Everything is just text on a page so it’s easy to change and manipulate. Move things around, don’t be afraid to change and adapt. As you go through you might edit out content, that’s ok. It’s as important to remove as it is to add.

Be water

As the Learning Designer the roles and responsibilities in the process need to adapt to the course, the discipline and the individuals you’re working with. Don’t define your role or pigeon-hole yourself. Be there to support and ask what needs to be done. Match the needs of the course. Learning Designers can write, model, check and develop — so be comfortable with your expertise and with the fact that what you do may need to change. Your role is to shepherd the course through its development. The most adaptable thing is your relationship with the SME.

There is a set of blog posts that sketched out this idea and each principle The Principles of Agile Learning Design.