Learners intuitively learn when they learn by doing. Action based practice is of central importance in positioning learning as both active and usable. In being able to undertake an action based approach, learners must also know through intuitively connecting with themselves and others. The fundamentals in the context of ‘Act’ informs the design of the action based, and applied practice, that should be central to all learning experiences. This needs to be underpinned by an instructional learning design approach. The instructional design approach needs to inform what, and how, the learner needs to learn. Learners intuitively embrace instructional strategies, and related assessments, that are aligned to clear learning goals and outcomes. The harmony of these fundamentals, or learning design, provides a consistent learner experience.
The notion of action learning, or active learning, is instrumental to engaged learning experiences that connects with our cognitive processing. Applied learning practice, and learning by ‘doing’, is integral to our fundamentals for designing for engaged learning. The fundamentals of action learning is also dependent on connecting to our own learning through mastery, or deeper learning. And so, the fundamentals of ‘Act’ is dependent on instructional design for ‘Connect’ and ‘Act’ that are fundamental enablers for developing capabilities and competencies for impactful learning. Our design of instructional content supports action learning for engaged learning experiences. Leveraging existing knowledge, and scaffolding new knowledge, builds an integrated approach towards learning that is both inward and outward in focus. This enables integrated flexibility with our cognitive processes, and actions, to embed and extend our learning. There is a need to understand and design for both process and content. Our integrated flexibility approach toward designing instructional content and process is strategic for enabling deeper and more impactful learning experiences. The fundamentals for ‘Act’ inform both what the students should learn through action and raises the need to integrate content and process, as one, in the Learner Experience Framework (LXF). Engaged learning experiences are realised when instructional strategies and assessments are aligned to specific learning outcomes.
The integration of these fundamental components provides continuity to the learning experience and provides purpose. Learning outcomes describe the capabilities, competencies, and impact to be achieved by completing a course. Learning outcomes are a means to establishing an activity pathway for the learner and an approach to tracking the learning journey. Such an approach, based on learning outcomes, provides an approach that is an enabler for action learning and formative feedback in delivering effective course design. This is a way to focus on delivering engaged learning experiences that is rooted in intentions, deep learning, and outcomes.
The learning experience, for many, is enhance when rooted in education that is facilitated through practice. It is important to note the context, or learning setting, enriches and authenticates the learning experience. This is central to instructional strategies when designing learning for practitioners and professional development programs. Learning in context, for all learners, is a way to connect knowledge acquisition from personal mastery through to practice. Applying knowledge in real life contexts is a way to both embed learning but also integrate rapid acquisition of future knowledge. An integrated LXF that designs from learner intentions through to learning outcomes is a way to design specifications, which integrates a personal approach to content and process instructional design techniques. This is a way to provide deeper meaning to the lifelong learning personal pathways.
