The Total Learner Experience

How Teenagers Connect Transforms Learning

Forming a meaningful connection is the most powerful way to learn. Statistics show that how teenagers connect to one another can dramatically affect how they learn.

Market research indicates the consumers mostly likely to send and receive text messages are those between the ages of 13 and 24. Last year, 158 billion text messages were sent nationwide, nearly double the number in 2005, according to CTIA, the Wireless Association.

I've said for years that rich media is not necessary to build a meaningful connection between a learner and the learning intervention. People do not necessarily discern between low resolution graphics, such as IM emoticons, and higher resolution, more detailed graphics unless the graphical information is the focus. You actually diminish cognition by placing an irrelevant or obtrusive image on the screen.

What builds meaning and connection is not dependent on an overly designed UI or an immersive 3D environment. Instead we should strive to build a connection through relevance, immediacy, and action.

We Don't Need Motivation to Learn

Humans are inherently motivated to learn. As an instructional designer it's not my job to motivate someone to learn. Learners come to the table already motivated.

Let me digress just a tad: Instructional designers can be a lot like programmers. Get a circle of us together and it's not long til you overhear heated discussions surrounding theories, algorithms, the latest hype or jargon, and assumptions about what's best for the consumer (consumer, in this instance, meaning the learner). It's not often that the learner is the first item of discussion. Which is the problem.

We have a critical opportunity in the first few seconds of a learning intervention. That opportunity is not about motivation. It's about stimulation, engagement, and interest.

The "instructional assault" is what will kill that critical opportunity. If the learner becomes bored, frustrated, angry, or feels the information is irrelevant, the critical opportunity to transfer skills and knowledge is lost.