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(MT) Before we jump into our topic, can you provide a synopsis again of Learning Science as a whole?
(JZ) Sure, this is mostly a summary statement, but I think it helps us understand the main elements. Learning science is a field made up of a variety of disciplines focusing on how people learn and develop. It draws on principles and theories from psychology, education, neuroscience, cognitive science, sociology, linguistics, behavioral studies, and consumer science to study the factors that contribute to effective learning and skill development.
(MT) How do instructional designers apply learning science as they design learning experiences and programs?
(JZ) Instructional designers aren’t experts in all of these fields but should have a good broad understanding of them. I like to think about the proverbial bookshelf full of reference books that an instructional designer can pull from when needed. Each book represents a different discipline of learning science although I suppose that analogy is pretty outdated. When an ID approaches a new project, they use their knowledge of the learning sciences and filter that through the grid of instructional design to create the best possible learning solution in that given situation.
(MT) Thank you for the helpful segue. Let’s introduce our learning science topic for this article which is consumer science. First of all, I have to admit, consumer science seems a little odd. It doesn’t seem as obvious a choice.
(JZ) Agreed. It’s definitely not as obvious. I think we associate this science more with marketing, advertising, or economic choices rather than learning. At its most basic level, Consumer science studies the choices people make in the face of scarcity. Consumer science tells us that people have limited time, energy, attention, financial, or other resources and we are competing for them. It is a field that focuses on understanding consumers’ behavior, preferences, and decision-making processes related to purchasing goods and services. The goal of consumer science is to provide insights that can be used to develop products, services, and marketing strategies that better meet the needs and preferences of consumers.
(MT) Ok that helps. I’m starting to draw a connection but what is consumer science’s connection to learning?
(JZ) Consumer science helps to identify the factors that influence learning, such as motivation, attention, and memory. By understanding these factors, instructional designers can create more effective learning experiences that are engaging and impactful so a learner (consumer) is more likely to choose to participate in the learning process.
Consumer science can also provide insights into how individuals process and interpret information, which is essential for developing effective communication strategies and instructional materials.
The learners we work with face numerous distractions and competing demands on their time and attention. They have a multitude of options for how to allocate their focus and efforts. Each learner makes decisions about their learning path. While some learning activities may be required and monitored, even this does not guarantee active engagement with the material. It’s important to differentiate between participation and genuine engagement, as they are not the same.
(MT) I think I hear you saying that time is a commodity and our learners have precious little of it. They are also distracted and may not see the value of the learning. So, what can we do about that?
(JZ) To begin, consumer science always seeks to understand the consumer (maybe that’s obvious) but the connection those in the learning profession often miss is that the learner is the consumer. So to begin, I always recommend creating a learner persona. Maybe that seems like nothing new, but it’s a key building block of instructional design. You need to know who your consumer/learners are. What are their motivations to engage? How do they make decisions? How do they process information, and where do they see value? Even if you’re in an established L & D department and you seem to serve the same learners all the time, you should review your personas frequently. New hire demographics are always changing and certainly our world the past few years has changed rapidly, so make it a point to create learning personas often.
(MT) Ok, that makes a lot of sense. What other ideas do you have?
(JZ)
- Identify learning delivery preferences: Using consumer science, instructional designers can gather data on the learning preferences of employees within the organization. For example, they might conduct surveys or interviews to learn how employees prefer to learn and what types of content or delivery methods resonate with them. This information can then be used to create learning materials and activities that cater to the diverse learning preferences of employees.
Notice I said here, preferences, not learning styles. We’ve had the debunking of the learning styles conversation before so I won’t go there again but IF there is an opportunity, it’s always nice to deliver learning materials in a way that best suits your learners. For example, I just talked with a client for whom we’re creating a series of podcasts. We were quite excited to do both audio and video but our client said they wanted them to be in a format where the learner might listen on the way to work, on a break, or while working at their desk. She didn’t want an additional layer of complexity or distraction.
- Create user-centric designs: Consumer science principles can be applied to create user-centric designs for corporate learning platforms and materials. This might involve conducting user testing to ensure that learning experiences are intuitive and easy to use. Instructional designers can incorporate feedback from learners to refine the design and make it more engaging and accessible.
- Build persuasive learning experiences: Obviously we always hope learning is persuasive, but I really think it’s important to call out that word. Instructional designers can leverage consumer science insights to create persuasive learning experiences that motivate and engage corporate learners. For example, they might incorporate elements of behavioral economics to incentivize participation in training or use persuasive design techniques to nudge employees towards desired learning outcomes.
- Test and validate: Consumer science can provide instructional designers with methods and tools for testing and validating the effectiveness of corporate learning designs. By collecting and analyzing data on employee engagement, performance, and feedback, instructional designers can continuously optimize and improve their designs to better meet the needs of the organization’s learners.
(MT) I am also reminded of on-going conversations we have at Ingenuiti about the importance of marketing new learning programs and creating on-going communication plans for our learners/consumers.
(JZ) Yes, definitely. We’ve done a webinar, podcast, and two articles, I believe. But yes, too often we forget as learning professionals that we are in the business of marketing. We’ve been talking about it this entire article. But it’s even more important to think about when launching a new program or one that is mission critical. So again, by communicating well and creating a good plan to market our learning programs, we’re engaging all kinds of consumer science principles.
(MT) Jerry, thank you so much for your time and detailed explanation of consumer science. I know your background in business certainly informs this discussion well.
