# Design for How People Learn

## Metadata
- Author: [[Julie Dirksen]]
- Full Title: Design for How People Learn
- Category: #books
## Highlights
- For me, the goal of good learning design is for learners to emerge from the learning experience with new or improved capabilities that they can take back to the real world, that help them do the things they need or want to do. If your learners are on a journey from novice to expert, how can you help them along that path? ([Location 167](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=167))
- If learning is a journey, what’s the route like for your learners, and what’s the gap between where they are and where they need to be? Sometimes that gap is knowledge, but just as often the gap can be skills, motivation, or environment. ([Location 172](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=172))
- Your learners see the world differently than you do, and to design effective learning experiences, ([Location 176](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=176))
- you need to understand their view of the world. ([Location 176](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=176))
- The best learning experiences are designed with a clear destination in mind, but sometimes a clear destination can be harder to pin down than it seems. Learn how to determine your destination with accuracy. ([Location 178](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=178))
- Learn about how the brain works to focus on and retain information. ([Location 181](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=181))
- The first prerequisite for learning is to get your learners’ attention. Learn strategies for getting past the distractions and helping your learners to focus. ([Location 183](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=183))
- The most common type of learning experience focuses on teaching knowledge. Learn strategies to make this as effective as possible. ([Location 185](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=185))
- If you ask the question “Is it reasonable to think that some can be proficient without practice?” and the answer is “No,” then you aren’t teaching information, you are teaching a skill, and skills require practice. Learn strategies for helping your learners get the practice they need to develop skills. ([Location 187](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=187))
- If you’ve ever heard a learner say the words “I know, but...” then you are probably not dealing with a knowledge gap, but rather a motivational one. ([Location 191](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=191))
- We can get people to hold more information in their heads, or alternately, we can learn better ways to make information available to them in their environment, so they can get it when they need it. ([Location 194](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=194))
- Learning experiences are like journeys. The journey starts where the learner is now, and ends when the learner is successful (however that is defined). The end of the journey isn’t just knowing more, it’s doing more. ([Location 207](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=207))
- If you can identify those gaps, you can design better learning experiences. ([Location 213](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=213))
- In most learning situations, it’s assumed that the gap is information—if the learner just had the information, then they could perform. ([Location 231](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=231))
- Information is the equipment your learners need to have in order to perform. Having information doesn’t accomplish anything by itself. Something is accomplished when the learner uses that information to do things. ([Location 241](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=241))
- Having the information without knowing how and when to use it is like having a really great tent you don’t know how to put up or spending a lot of money on a really terrific camera but still taking cruddy pictures because you don’t have the abilities needed to use it. ([Location 245](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=245))
- If they can pick up less critical information as they go along, you can focus initially on the more critical knowledge that they really need to have with them the whole way. ([Location 251](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=251))
- As for all the rest of that information, think about how you can cache it for your learners, so they can easily pick it up when they need it. If they get the information when they really need it, they’ll also appreciate it more. ([Location 252](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=252))
- Learners in all disciplines are frequently in the same situation. They get handed the knowledge in a book or a class, but don’t get the opportunity to practice and develop skills. ([Location 265](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=265))
- Having a skill is different than having knowledge. To determine if something is a skill gap rather than a knowledge gap, you need to ask just one question: Is it reasonable to think that someone can be proficient without practice? If the answer is Yes, then it’s not a skill, but if the answer is No, then you know you are dealing with a skill, and your learners will ([Location 268](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=268))
- need practice to develop proficiency. ([Location 272](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=272))
- If somebody knows what to do, but chooses not to do it, that’s a motivation gap. ([Location 280](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=280))
- One of the things you may need to consider in your learner’s journey is if the new learning is going to require unlearning. ([Location 302](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=302))
- If you are asking your learners to change an existing habit or practice, you are probably going to have some motivation issues to contend with. ([Location 333](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=333))
- First, change is a process, not an event. You absolutely cannot expect someone to change based on a single explanation of the new practice. They need time and repetition to ease back on the old habit, and start cultivating the new one. ([Location 335](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=335))
- Second, backsliding and grumpiness are part of ([Location 337](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=337))
- that process—they don’t mean the change has failed (although that can happen too), but they are frequently an unavoidable part of even successful changes. ([Location 337](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0064CZ3XC&location=337))