Conclusion

(In which we say, “Thanks for sticking it out, folks!”)

Small children are natural learners—they just suck information out of their environment through curiosity and play.

Somewhere along the way, we lose that. We learn that learning is serious business, and that it’s hard and effortful.

Learning designers have an opportunity to defy that notion, and create marvelous, interesting, relevant learning environments. We can’t make anybody learn, but we can make much better learning environments for them.

Lately, I’ve been listening to a series of podcasts on storytelling (www.storywonk.com), and one of the points they continually make is that even incidental characters are the heroes of their own stories.

I’ve been thinking about that in connection to learning design. We typically design for audiences of “learners,” but each individual learner is the hero of their own learning journey. We just need to ensure they have everything they need to move along the path.