Beyond Learning Outcomes: Designing for Humans or Learners?
When designing learning experiences, instructional designers often hear terms like "human-centered design" and "learner-centered design" used interchangeably. However, these approaches, while complementary, serve distinct purposes and involve different methodologies. Understanding the nuances between them can dramatically improve your instructional design outcomes and help you create more effective learning experiences.
Human-centered design (HCD) takes a holistic approach to problem-solving by considering all stakeholders involved in a learning system, not just the learners themselves. This methodology originated from design thinking principles and includes five key stages: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. The empathize stage involves deeply understanding users through observation and interaction. In the define stage, designers articulate the specific problem they're addressing. Ideation involves creative brainstorming for potential solutions, followed by prototyping to create tangible versions of these ideas. Finally, testing with actual users provides crucial feedback for refinement. What makes HCD particularly powerful is its consideration of the entire ecosystem—instructors, administrators, technical support staff, and other stakeholders—ensuring that all touchpoints within the system are optimized for human experience.
Consider an example of implementing an LMS onboarding module at a university. Using human-centered design means thinking beyond student learning outcomes to consider how instructors will support students, how IT staff will maintain the system, and how accessibility requirements will be met across the platform. This comprehensive approach ensures that all human interactions with the system are considered and optimized. The goal is to create a holistic user experience that works for everyone involved, not just the primary learners.
In contrast, learner-centered design narrows the focus specifically to the needs, goals, and preferences of the learner. It's essentially a specialized subset of human-centered design that prioritizes learning outcomes above all else. When employing a learner-centered approach, instructional designers ask targeted questions: What do learners already know? What do they need to learn? How do they learn best? What motivates them? What barriers might they face? The answers guide the creation of learning experiences that are relevant, engaging, appropriately challenging, and supportive of specific learning objectives. This approach is particularly effective for adult learners who benefit from personalized and empowering educational experiences.
When designing a sales training course for new employees, a learner-centered approach would involve understanding their previous experience, identifying knowledge gaps, and building content directly connected to their job roles. Offering choices in how learners complete modules further personalizes the experience. The methodology draws heavily from established learning theories, needs assessments, and scaffolding techniques—all focused on optimizing learning outcomes for the specific learner population. While human-centered design applies to any product or service, learner-centered design is specifically tailored for educational contexts.
The beauty of understanding both approaches is realizing they aren't mutually exclusive. In fact, many successful instructional design projects combine them, starting with a broad human-centered approach to understand the entire ecosystem, then narrowing to learner-centered principles for specific content development. As instructional designers, the key is asking the right questions throughout the process: Who is this for? What do they need? What will help them thrive? By thoughtfully applying both human-centered and learner-centered design principles, we create learning experiences that are not only effective for learners but also seamlessly integrate with the broader systems and contexts in which learning occurs. As the legendary designer Paul Rand noted, "To design is much more than to simply assemble; it is to add value and meaning." This is a philosophy that perfectly captures the purpose-driven nature of both design approaches.
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Photo by Fabian Wiktor: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-writing-on-white-paper-3471423/
Jackie Pelegrin
Instructional Designer, Author, College Professor, and Podcast Host
Jackie, an Arizona native, leverages decades of experience as an instructional designer within both higher education and the corporate world. She holds an MBA and a Master of Science in Instructional Design and Technology, both acquired through online learning. In addition to her full-time role, Jackie serves as an adjunct instructor, teaching online courses at Grand Canyon University. During her leisure time, she delights in reading books across a range of genres, enjoying movies and TV shows, playing games, listening to uplifting music, and spending quality time with her family and friends.
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