The VE Design Team is continuing to host its series of think tanks to explore the future of VET and what today’s top educators and learning designers are working on right now.
Our fourth gathering, held on 27th August, focused on student led learning. The question we put forward was, “How can we achieve meaningful personalised and student led learning in VET, skills and industry training programs?”
Four experts from various organisations joined us:
- Claude Gomes – Lead Consultant at Reflector
- Tania Teese – Manager, Teaching and Learning Enhancement at Box Hill Institute
- Ramon Marmolejos – Co-founder of Emzingo and Learning Design Facilitator at Kaospilots
- Aimee Gonzales – Senior UX design consultant at Transpire
Claude emphasised the importance of knowing one’s audience; how they will unpack the information we provide, and how they will undertake their learning journey. He discussed the benefits of understanding personality types and factoring preferences into the learning design. Claude introduced the Prosci ADKAR Model – a goal-oriented change management model – detailing the five outcomes an individual must realise for change to be successful: awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, reinforcement.
Tania reflected upon her understanding of the Box Hill Institute student cohort: They’re busy, employed, young and older adults who are very interested in the world of work. She sees a demand for information that is presented in a way that allows students to construct meaning from their own experiences. She talked about incorporating interesting projects that students can approach through a problem-based enquiry model, and the popularity of just-in-time learning (in particular YouTube) as a learning resource for today’s students.
Ramon talked about how design thinking can transform the way we develop and deliver learning. He explained the KAOSPILOT approach which inspires and promotes creativity, engagement, innovation and risk-taking in learning spaces. The key to this approach appears to focus on three things: Keeping the learner at the centre of our work; focusing on their knowledge and skills; and engaging them through problem-based learning. Ramon stressed that designing lessons which promote curiosity, lateral thinking and action is the best way to prepare students for what the world needs – leaders, entrepreneurs and problem solvers.
Aimee’s approach to creating meaningful, personalised learning involves taking a look at one’s own experiences with self-directed learning and incorporating those insights into the design. Understanding how it is we approach problem solving – what works for us, why is it we’re good at what we do, how do we find purpose within our learning journey – is key. Yes, our task is to design learning that gives knowledge but in order to achieve innovative, exciting, relevant learning experiences, we must design with the mindset of a developer. Aimee emphasised the importance, too, for students to decide what they wish to learn and to exercise choice in their learning journey.
