Creating a learning experience that mirrors the real-world

Todd Rich, York University

Track: Learning experience design / Volet: Conception des expériences d’apprentissage 

Type: Innovative teaching, technology or design technique

Name of the innovation:

I thought this background info might help frame the proposal. Our Certificate in Learning Experience Design, launched in 2021, is a 3-course, part-time program for those who are seeking to enter roles such as Learning Experience Designer, Instructional Designer, Learning and Development Specialist, Facilitator or Adult Educator. The Program takes 6 months to complete and includes an integrated project where students build a 30-60 minute training module for a real client (onboarding staff, training staff, etc). Projects are sourced through Riipen. The certificate is cohort based – one purchase and students complete all three courses as a group. 26 students registered in the first cohort.

The hallmark of the innovation was creating a learning environment that mirrors the real-world and that allows students to learn by doing. 

• The first and perhaps the most significant innovation was to think about the process a LXD designer goes through to build a training module by identifying the milestones a practitioner would complete on the job (needs analysis, personas, curating content, prototyping, testing, etc) and then map them with a real-work project. Most milestones became graded assignments. 

• To facilitate the learning in real-time, we moved the “capstone” project to the beginning of course one and threaded it through each course in the program. This project then became a through-line of learning ensuring that students are gaining skills and techniques that directly support the type of work they will be doing on the job. 

• In addition to the innovative and integrated learning design of the course, we also created “learning pods” to address students’ dislike of group work and their need to manage their time effectively as working professionals but still collaborate with peers.

Type of innovation: Design

How the innovation works:

Note: this works best in a year-long course or multi-course certificate that has the same cohort of students. 

• The Program Advisory Council helped us identify the key LXD milestones and overlayed those with the project. For example, in the milestone to build a Persona, students learn about the topic and then complete a Persona Activity by speaking to several end-users from the partner organization. 

• Milestones were mapped to the program-spanning project to determine how the courses will be laid out and what content needs to be taught each step of the way. We also considered the effort and time needed to complete each milestone to decide the duration of each course (8 weeks, 6 weeks, 10 weeks). 

• A visual journey map was created to shows the pathway for students 

• Students were assigned to Learning Pods (4-5 people) based on similar projects, interests, career pathways, etc.