From Management to Connection: The Evolution toward Learner-Centric Design

As the holiday season approaches, it is a poignant reminder of the importance of empathy and reflection, connecting our daily work with an essence of compassion and understanding.  With a new year shortly upon us, the education community is beckoned to reflect on those unique journeys of a quickly changing demographic of learners – more working adults ages 25 and older are returning to college or pursuing education for the first time than ever before.

With online-education options increasingly available to those balancing work and school, there is a growing representation of students from diverse ethnic, racial, and socio-economic backgrounds pursuing learning, making geographic barriers less of a restraint. Industry articles regularly cite data collected about changing student demographics, educator and learner preferences, and how digital transformation is impacting learning. A few highlights: the majority of learners, especially those from historically marginalized communities, increasingly depend on their mobile phones for some or all their online learning experience.  Students communicate flexibility as a key driver in their decision to pursue education as well as a key determinant of their ability to stay in school.

A profound influence in my career is the privilege to have personally heard the voices of tens of thousands of learners directly sharing their personal and educational experiences as well as factors impacting their decisions. For many years, I worked in partnership with Universities and Colleges, leading student recruitment and retention teams who proactively contacted students to understand their motivations for pursuing education and the barriers that stood in their way.  Online learners were from Universities and Colleges that were diverse in geography, distinction, and student populations; the struggles and frustrations students expressed across institutions were very similar. Online learners’ communicated barriers such as time constraints, financial limitations, lack of flexible and engaging learning options and delivery methods that were fragmented, lacking a cohesive forum for connected engagement.

Learning Management vs. Learner-Centric Models

Today’s online learning experiences are well equipped when it comes to Learning Management.  Most Learning Management Systems (LMS) are conventionally focused on organization, delivery and tracking of educational content through a digital platform. While this system serves administrative functions, it often falls short of addressing the individual needs of the modern learner.  Fragmented delivery systems that lack a connected forum for engagement leave many learners feeling isolated.  Rapid advancements in technology and user-centric design in modern technology experiences are driving expectations for a learning experience that is mobile optimized, intuitive (learners should be able to accomplish tasks without extensive tutorials and instructions), and one that facilitates social interactions, sharing and collaboration that go beyond a siloed threaded discussion forum that sits apart from the primary learning activities.

The Cost of Ignoring Learner-Centric Approaches:

The consequences of adhering to a one-size fits all model are twofold.  Not only do students seeking a more flexible, engaging education stop-out, often with accumulating debt and without a path to higher-paying jobs, but institutions subsequently invest in marketing and recruitment efforts to re-engage those stopped out students.  Even when the goal of re-engaging is successful and students return to give their education another chance, they are often returning to the same learning environment that they previously felt was not a fit.

A Call to Shift Toward Learner-Centric Education Models:

Student needs inside and outside of the classroom are diverse and increasingly complex.  A shift toward a learner-centric model calls for a shift away from a one-size-fits-all education delivery model.  The shift toward a learner-centric model calls for empathy, inclusivity, and community engagement.  It acknowledges the realities that changing student demographics and industry-driven workforce hiring needs are making varied learning pathways a national imperative.

With the modern learner balancing so many competitive priorities, creating diverse learning pathways is a great start, but is just the beginning.  Delivering a learning experience that is accessible, engaging and connected to modern learner user expectations and experiences is key. Aligning learner expectations with the experience is essential.

Imagine other environments in which expectations and experiences are disconnected.  Picture a quarterback dropping back in the pocket, confident that the new receiver on the team will run the expected route.  Anticipating that the receiver will make a sharp cut and run the slant route, the quarterback releases the ball.  The receiver, who had little practice with this route was not there, and the pass was incomplete.  The disconnect is not due to either the quarterback or receiver’s athletic abilities or lack thereof.  It is due to misaligned expectations, miscommunication and being out of sync, which results in missed opportunity.  The same can be true in learning delivery.  Understanding those individuals receiving the learning, their diverse perspectives and aligning on expectations is key to leading learners to course completion.

Reimagining Learning Delivery

Many times throughout history, technology has been used to reimagine user-experiences. Companies like Uber, Netflix, Amazon, and Apple have transformed user experiences in ways we could not have imagined before such innovations.  Now we struggle to imagine a world in which we are standing on a street corner waiting for a taxi, driving to the Blockbuster, shopping for 10 individual items on 10 different websites or typing on the keyboard on our Blackberry.  In a post-pandemic world, technology adoption has accelerated and it is integrated into daily lives. People are leaning into using technology as a vehicle for work and learning.  Following the isolation of the pandemic, people now also expect those technologies to foster connection and community.  The expectations have never been higher.

We are embarking on a new era of Education in which Learner-Centric Design is more than providing online access to content, an instructor, and live zoom session links in a platform – it must also focus on the emotional, psychological, and social aspects of the learning journey.  To do this, we must begin a true learner-first approach with empathy.

Key Considerations for Learner-Centric Design:

Understanding Individual Learners:

• Avoid preconceived expectations and put oneself in the online learner’s shoes.  As an example, a nursing student who is accessing learning from a mobile device during a shift break and returning home to care for three kids is making sacrifices to prioritize learning.  User experience is paramount for this learner.
• Design and tailor experiences to meet learner needs, reducing friction and barriers – no matter how seemingly small.
• Avoid sidelining communication channels and community building activities. Sending students to separate conversation spaces, away from the learning exercise, inadvertently creates the online equivalent to “hallway water-cooler conversations” in which learners may miss organic and authentic opportunities to participate.
• Minimize cognitive load by providing bite-sized learning and light-weight ways to recall, respond and contribute.

Accessible and Inclusive Learning:

• Provide a mobile-first experience: Widespread ownership of mobile devices and tablets allow learners the flexibility to access educational content, conversations, or activities anytime and anywhere.  While many learners toggle between devices, a truly mobile-first design lowers the barriers to engage.
• Design for diverse abilities, accommodations and learning styles.
• Select easily navigable learning technologies, providing an equitable experience for those with varying levels of technology fluency.

Fostering Sense of Community and Belonging:

• Honor the positive correlation between sense of belonging, student engagement and subsequent academic performance and retention.
• Albert Bandura’s social cognitive learning theory emphasizes the importance of observational learning and modeling behaviors through social interactions.  Therefore, creating a learning environment in which opportunities to observe instructor or peer reactions, comments and discourse should not be exclusively reserved for synchronous live sessions or side-bar threaded discussions.  Rather, create opportunities for collective engagement and shared learning throughout both asynchronous and synchronous learning.
• Elevate the Educator-Student relationship by empowering instructor voice - and equal opportunity for student voice - to share points-of-view within all learning content and activities.

Human-Centered Tech:

• Distinguish between learning management and learning engagement strategies and leverage systems that prioritize emotional resonance and connection.
• Select tech that augments and scales the work of designers and instructors by removing barriers to creating and delivering transformational student learning experiences.
• What do you feel when you use tech to create learning or participate in learning?  Joy?  Delight?  Overwhelm?  Frustration?  The emotions you feel as a creator are likely to translate to the learner experience as well.

Empathetic learning design starts with a collective recognition that modern day learners are navigating the pressures and demands of balancing work, family, and caregiving alongside their learning.  Meeting today’s learners where they are is about more than course location or modality.  It is about intentionally creating learning experiences that are accessible, inclusive, and engaging – with students and instructors at the heart.

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Referenced Articles:

Megan Louise Pedler, Royce Willis & Johanna Elizabeth Nieuwoudt (2022) A sense of belonging at university: student retention, motivation and enjoyment, Journal of Further and Higher Education, 46:3, 397-408, DOI: 10.1080/0309877X.2021.1955844

Charlotte Nickerson (2023) Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Learning Theory: Definitions and Examples.” Simple Psychology

Gloria Niles (2023) The Digital Divide in the Digital Classroom, Bridging Gaps for Inclusive Education. Education Technology Insights.