Questions
Some of the questions that I’m intrigued about are:- What motivates a learner?
- What role does agency play in learning?
- Do we need formal/institutional instruction?
Key Definitions
Learner
Learners are agents who have physical bodies with strengths and limitations, a spirit and a
mind constructed of diverse life experiences and beliefs. Learners can expand their Zone of
Proximal Development (ZPD) with their knowledge already built and can expand it even
more with the help others can provide.
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
“The range of things that children can do with the help of adults or in collaboration with them, the range of these processes, Vygotsky called the “zone of proximal development,” distinguishing it from the zone of actual development, within which children manage all actions independently.”
Reference: Zaretskii, V. K. (2009). The Zone of Proximal Development: What Vygotsky Did Not Have Time to Write (volume 47, issue 6, page 71). Journal of Russian & East European Psychology
Instructor
Instructors are facilitators and can help create a safe space where learners can obtain knowledge, reflect on what was learned, and choose how the knowledge will impact their lives.
"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn." - Benjamin Franklin
Image of Benjamin Franklin: Wikipedia
Design Process
- Empathize: Understand User/Learner
- Define: Needs and Problems
- Ideate: Challenge Assumptions
- Prototype: Create Solutions
- Test: Try the Solutions
Based on the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford (d.school)’s process guide called “An Introduction to Design Thinking“
Services
Analysis
Design
Development
Evaluation
