Julie Dirksen’s Design for How People Learn: A Review of a Beginner ID

You know how we always hear that the attention span nowadays is short and that even adults, they can’t stay focused for longer than 15 minutes? Well, this is bogus according to Julie Dirksen, who argues beautifully that, given the right amount of engaging and memorable learning experiences, your adult learners will be with you for as long as it takes to reach that goal, pick up all the rewards or become the champion of the office. This kind of thought-provoking information you will find in Julie Dirksen’s book Design for How People Learn.

Julie Dirksen’s book on Instructional Design is my Bible. I’ve read it twice, and I think I could read it one more time. This book continuously provokes my previous knowledge; it raises questions in my brain, and I know that the author will answer those questions. The writing style is light and humorously brilliant, very engaging in its attempt to simplify complex concepts, which Dirksen succeeded in. In this review, which is very long because I have numerous things I want to thank the author for, I want to focus on three main things I’ve learned from Design for How People Learn.

Firstly, this book taught me how to write learning objectives. Before reading this book, I had taken two university courses in ID, and the term learning objectives were just an idea in my head. Julie taught me how to tackle content, how to challenge the SME if I have to, but write precise, measurable and worded learning objectives, and this is big. I mean, this is the foundation of any course you want to build. So, thank you, Julie, for that.

“So, when you are creating learning objectives, ask yourself:

? Is this something the learner would do in the real world?

? Can I tell when they’ve done it?”

This book also taught me about the importance of making learners work, not giving them

everything ready for them to chew like mama birds feed their babies.

? Give learners some clues and then let them figure it out;

? Tell them about principles and then invite them to apply them in a precise context.

? Connect the prior knowledge to the new information but let them make connections.

These are just some ideas that will ensure better knowledge or skills retention and retrieval when dealing with real-life work-related challenges.

“By having some gaps, rather than having only tidy, correct answers, learners are forced to ?gure out parts of the process themselves.”

I knew of course about the goal of learning and how important it is for us to determine the learners’ destination with accuracy. The idea of the GAP in learning made me nod while reading as well. Reading about the types of memory and how we get learners’ attention was also a treat: clear and funny, in a this-makes-great-sense! kind of way. However, the How-To series of tips and advice is the jewel of this book. Julie gives us practical ideas, based on real examples, on how to design for knowledge, skills, motivation and environment. Here are some points raised that made me stop and think:

? Did you know that learning sessions spread out over time ensure better retention and later retrieval than if your learning sessions took longer and occurred in a single sitting?

? How about avoiding a steady stream of new information because it’s exhausting to your learners? Instead, “we should build in opportunities for the learners to get a little pro?ciency with the new information before we move to the next element.” It practically means that once the new information acquired, we should not hurry to give them the next chunk of new knowledge; instead, we should let them practice it, enforce it, feel proficient in it.

? This idea is my favourite: “Try to ensure your learners get the opportunity to observe and personally try new processes or procedures.” How many times do we build training without knowing if the learners get to practice what they’ve learned with us? I am hoping you will say: never, but I know this is not the case.

I could go on, but I’d instead encourage you to read the book yourself. It is worth your while. A must-read for any beginner instructional designer, Design for How People Learn will answer all or almost all of your questions: guaranteed.