The First 5 Things I Do When Designing An Educational Experience
I've created hundreds of educational resources used by millions of people around the world — books, videos, activities, board games, card games, mobile apps, video games, software simulations, massively multiplayer worlds, and more.
Regardless of what I'm designing, the process always starts the same way.
Here are the first 5 things I do. Perhaps this may help with your work.
1️⃣ Change in Behavior
I identify the change in behavior I want to trigger in the learner. This can be broken down by high-level learning outcomes identifying specific knowledge and skills.
2️⃣ Learner Profile
I consider the profile of the target learner — location, language, age, background, prerequisite knowledge and skills, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to learn, etc. And the level of human facilitation available to deliver the experience.
3️⃣ Time
I consider the time available and required for the experience, and potential scheduling constraints. Learning takes time. Deep learning takes more time.
4️⃣ Effort, Skills, Budget
I consider the level of effort, skills, and budget available to build a solution. There's no use designing something that is too difficult to build, takes too much time, or is unaffordable.
5️⃣ Learning Methods
I identify the best and most feasible learning methods to achieve the objective. This could be an activity, card game, board game, software game, software simulation, or blended experience.
What comes next?
Hundreds or thousands of other tasks that fall under these categories:
Develop design specifications.
Assign tasks to individual team members.
Team works on tasks related to information design, instructional design, graphic design, programming, writing, and more.
Build prototype, alpha, and beta versions.
Test and quality assurance reviews.
Build user and instructor guides, videos, marketing materials, and more.
When all is done, I feel good about our accomplishment for a few minutes and then stress about all the things I would have done differently if I had more time and money — the curse of the creator.
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I'm Mathew Georghiou and I write about how games are transforming education and learning. I also share my experience as an entrepreneur inventing products and designing educational resources used by millions around the world. More about me at Georghiou.com