Enable Learners to Learn from Mistakes

by Dana Payne - Tuesday, 2 August 2016, 5:24 PM

What is the problem they are responding to (if any) that exists in typical e-Learning offerings?
Change is necessary to prevent the current downward trend of e-Learning failing to meet expected
standards for the learner and the teacher. Often, e-Learning courses are designed to be taught
within a defined period of time. Budgets are limiting, and there is a lot of content to cover. Course
content is not designed for the individual learner.
What are a few supporting principles that sound familiar from your studies so far?
Iterate in design, Development, and Deployment: Do not assume the first draft is right. Evaluation
and refinement will be made until the design goals are met.
If there are one or two of these principles that you think are the most important, which ones,
and why?
Engagement Principal
Promotes the idea that the learner needs to understand why the material is important, why they
should care, and why will it make a difference. The Engagement Principle recommends creating
situations where the learner learns to solves problems (The Serious eLearning Manifesto, 2014).
The Engagement Principal may be replacing or be added with the Attendance Principal. Typical eLearning courses were designed on the Attendance Principal. Learners need to spend a specific
amount of time on each subject, or assignment before advancing to the next. Think of building
blocks, or stepping-stones. Establishing foundations to build on.
Enable Learners to Learn from Mistakes
Failure is an option. We will, where appropriate, let learners make mistakes so they can learn from
them. In addition, where appropriate, we will model mistake-making and mistake-fixing (Allen,
Dirksen, Quinn, & Thalheimer, n.d.)
Whether in business, graduate school, or in graduate school supporting a business activity, learners
likely learn the most from their mistakes. After all, mistakes indict where more effort (e.g. study,
practice, testing) is required to attain the needed level of comprehension and/or performance.
Is there something on the list that you have not had a chance to try, but would like to
implement? What challenges do you think you'd face?
Customizing e-Learning lessons for the individual. Just as the wealthy client uses tailors to attain a
custom fit for their higher-end wardrobe; in a perfect world, Id like to be able to achieve e-Learning
experiences for learners that also achieves a custom fit. While I may desire the benefits of
customizing e-Learning, this would, in the very least, be resource extensive, time consuming and
most likely prohibitively expensive. While real-world considerations bound developers with time,
budget and other resource constraints, advances in technology makes the potential for custom
tailoring of the e-Learning experience more doable than previously possible.
Pick a principle and give an example of how you might follow it.
Industry leaders have created the Manifesto. The Manifesto is a promise, a pledge. Michael Allen,
CEO Allen Interactions, says that to elevate e-Learning to the height of its promise, we need to
begin with a personal commitment to a new set of standards are made (The Serious eLearning
Manifesto, 2014). Allen suggests turning e-Learning back onto the right path to meet organizations

needs and produce better outcomes. Allen, is the co-author of Leaving ADDIE for SAM: An agile
model for developing the best learning experiences.
References
Allen, M., Dirksen, J., Quinn, C., & Thalheimer, W. (n.d.). Serious eLearning Manifesto. Retrieved
August 01, 2016, from http://elearningmanifesto.org/
Allen, M., & Sites, R. (2012). Leaving ADDIE for SAM: An agile model for developing the best
learning experiences. American Society for Training and Development.
[The Serious eLearning Manifesto]. (2014, March 13). The Serious eLearning Manifesto. [Video file].
Retrieved August 02, 2016, fromhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a37IczsntD4