As an instructional designer have you been looking for a practical way to learn about instructional design and where (even as a novice designer) should a reader even begin? I recently had the pleasure of reading a very conversational and witty instructional design book: Design for How People Learn by Julie Dirksen. I am happy to say that Dirksen's book covers these questions as well as several other areas designers should look at when creating courses. This book explores the learner, our brains and memory, environmental factors to learning, knowledge or motivational gaps, evaluation techniques and much more.
Design For How People Learn (2nd Edition) by Julie Dirksen
ISBN-10: 0134211286
ISBN-13: 978-0134211282.
This book can be purchased on Amazon for around $30 (click book cover image below).
About the Author...
Julie Dirksen is an instructional designer and independent consultant who has almost 20 years experience working with clients like fortune 500 companies helping them design interactive e-learning experiences. Dirksen first published her book "Design for How People Learn" in November 2011 and then published a second edition in December of 2015. For the purpose of this book review I will be looking at the 2nd edition version although I personally read through the majority of the first edition as well and feel it is just as worthwhile to consider reading. The information in both editions is essentially the same but with a few updates including the addition of 3 new chapters.
Dirksen also has a very informative blog at http://usablelearning.com/blog/. She welcomes comments and contact from her followers.
Book Breakdown...
First, as a educator and instructional designer I respect the structure of this book. It is a quick read for a 304 page book because of HOW the information is presented. Written as well as visual aspects of the book will appeal to many types of readers and learning styles. Dirksen pairs simple stick figure drawings with real world images that discuss real life applications and antidotes. These images, charts and drawings grab a readers attention and allow them to really grasp the information being discussed by using different mediums.
Image excerpt from Chapter 8: Design for Motivation, Pg 222 (Dirksen, 2015). A sample chapter of the book may be viewed through the Author's Blog: http://usablelearning.com/the-book/
The chapter layout also appealed to me because Dirksen starts first with the learner and how people learn and retain information. Then, through a series of subsequent informative chapters she delves into what and how to design for different learners by exploring topics like knowledge, motivation, and environmental factors. The book closes with how to design successful evaluations within courses to help the instructional designer be able to properly measure the success of the information they have designed.
Chapter 1. Where do we Start? - This chapter looks at learning as a journey and how the learner not only needs to know more but needs to be able to "do" more with the knowledge they are gaining in a course. Gaps in knowledge like: skills, motivation and environment are also explored
Chapter 2. Who are our Learners? - This chapter dives into the particular audience you will be designing for and what do they already know and what learning styles should be taken into account when designing instruction.
Chapter 3. What's the goal? - This chapter explores and asks what as a designer are you trying to accomplish in your particular instructional design? Are there any gaps (discussed in Chapter 1) that need to be addressed
Chapter 4. How do we remember? - This chapter goes into great detail explaining the different types of memories and why do we remember some things over others as well as how our brains work to help us remember.
Chapter 5. How do you get their attention? - This chapter digs into getting your audience interested in the material by eliminating oustide distractions. How do you make your learner focus?
Chapters 6-9. Design for: Knowledge, Skills, Motivation and Habits - These chapters look at each of these topics individually and explain how to make sure your design process is meeting the needs of all of your learners including those with motivational issues and practicing skills for better retention
Chapter 10. Social and Informal Learning - This chapter discusses how social learning is innate for humans since one of our greatest skills as species is communication. (Author's Blog also gives some great links to other resources that dive into this topic more even relating to social learning vs social media learning)
Chapter 11. Design for environment - The chapter goes into how a persons particular environment impacts their learning and how we as designers should appeal to knowledge they already have on topics.
Chapter 12. Designing Evaluation - This chapter hits on several points on why designing evaluation is so hard and how to make it more applicable to your audience so as a designer you can see and determine that retention is occurring.
Personally I enjoyed Chapter 4 the most. I am not new to the online instructional design world but am also not an expert. This chapter helped me tap into how my audience thinks, remembers and retains the information that is being presented on a deeper level. I think as a designer sometimes we are so focused on the content itself and WHAT we must teach that we forget or overlook how important it is to approach the design aspect from a point of view of HOW this should be taught to reach more learners.
While reading this chapter I found myself back in a Psychology 101 class saying to myself "ahhhhh I remember" which is really the point of the entire chapter! The most beneficial aspect of this chapter to me was looking at simple methods of taking large information and breaking it up for better memory retention...chunking. Also, looking at how much is too much and at what point do our brains hit a limit on memory and how to avoid that in the design process?
Final Thoughts...
The one drawback I encountered to this text was that it was geared towards adult learners. The examples included adults in the work force working on different projects. While the idea of K-12 students is not really explored a designer that may be working with younger students will still find this book extremely beneficial. The designer no matter what age audience will be able to learn tools behind how we learn and remember as well as effective design strategies to help them create effective instruction that will lead to better retention.
Overall this was an enjoyable read and I was able to quickly go through the chapters as I had a free moment (which are few and fleeting with 2 almost 3 kids, a home to run and working as an online educator). I found myself really enjoying the break up of text with the images included. Dirksen ties in several "characters" throughout her chapters like Marianna (Chapters 1 and 8) which help sync each chapter to one another.
This book will appeal to those just starting out in the design world as well as those more experienced designers that may be stuck following just one design model. For me, the book included great reminders of many topics I already knew or had learned but was able to see presented in a new, fresh light. The practical examples and antidotes found within the text help a designer make real world connections with the practices discussed.
For the instructional designer no matter the audience this is a great and beneficial handbook to keep close by during your design process.
