Pedagogical Design of a Technology-Enhanced Learning Experience

Kozma recommends that, "Designers should provide students with environments that restructure the discourse of …classrooms around collaborative knowledge building and the social construction of meaning" (Kozma, 2003, p.9).

What do you think designers of learning experiences should do? How would you design a technology-enhanced learning experience?

When I think of design, I think mostly in terms of the artistic dimension that contrast with form and function. So in learning experience design, I think of the aesthetic effects on the learners, and how they will appreciate that experience. Kozma seems to concentrate on the collaborative social constructive type of learning in his design but I think that there may be other types of design that may be more appropriate for different sets of students. As an example, I think of design in light of a story teller. I think students may appreciate learning through a similar process of listening and interacting with characters in a story. In that case, design means constructing a well formed story rather than creating a collaborative environment for students to learn. However, I believe designs can have multiple dimensions. It is possible to combine a collaborative learning environment with a story. Students can learn to interact with a story in a collaborative setting.

In any case, to design such an experience with technology, I would think of the students starting off on a journey. That's where the story will begin. I will think of the destination or final chapter of this story where it ends, and then think of how the story unfolds to allow learners to learn with the use of technology. It will be like creating a storyboard. Within this storyboard, I would include different emotions that I like the students to experience such as identification of themselves with the characters, such as surprises, disappointments, puzzled, lost, enlightenment, etc. I will think of the lesson plan in terms of the affectives to be experienced by the learners. The lesson to be learned will be embedded in the story, and the lesson will be decorated with how these affectives will be experienced through the story telling.