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The Learning Environment Design Landscape

Learning theorists and researchers have come to understand that we don’t so much “teach” as we create an environment in which people can learn. Learning facilitators design experiences and activities that allow people to grasp new concepts, learn required knowledge, and gain needed skills. More and more, these experiences and activities are embedded in the workplace rather than brought together in a formal course. Learning is a natural consequence of everyday interactions and ongoing work, and the need to gain knowledge and skills is more immediate and not able to be relegated to formal courseware.

When we need to support learning a specific knowledge base or skill, we need to expand the scope of our efforts into the workplace. We need to think about all the different ways that people learn and create an environment that makes learning resources accessible and gives people the support they need when and where they need it. That’s the vision that learning environment design brings to fruition.

The environment metaphor is an important one—it’s an image that encompasses all the components that surround living things. In a good environment, the components contribute to well-being and growth. In a well-designed landscape, for example, the environment includes sunlight, soil, water, and other elements, and the landscaper ensures the right elements to help the desired plants thrive. As defined here, a learning environment is intended to help people to learn and develop, and it, too, is designed using a wide range of components that support that endeavor.

LEARNING ENVIRONMENT COMPONENTS

To list all of the possible components of a learning environment would be as challenging as listing all of the possible plants to grow in a garden. Species of plants have multiple varieties, and new cultivars are created every day. In planting a garden, choices depend on climate, location, soil type, and gardener’s preferences.

A similar process takes place when designing a learning environment. There is a world of options for resources and activities—and because new activities and resources are created regularly, it would be impossible to list all the possibilities. Even so, it’s helpful to start with a solid list of potential components to include, such as those found in the learning components chart (Figure 1-1). This chart lists the six broad categories—resources, people, training and education, development practices, experiential learning practices, and learner motivation and self-direction—under which we can organize many different learning resources, activities, and practices.

Figure 1-1 enumerates a selection of the typical components that might be available in each category. These components can be curated into a learning environment to provide a wide range of possible supports for learning. Each project will have different particulars, and this list is not meant to be exhaustive; instead its aim is to prompt ideas for creating a robust, well-designed learning environment.

You’ll notice as well that several of the categories suggest specific tools—such as blogging or microblogging tools, screen capture software, and video tools—not because the tools are learning assets, but because the learners can use them to create and add to the learning components available in the environment. Designers often include links to these kinds of tools when they create the learning portals that act as the entry point to the learning environment.

It’s also important to notice how much of a learning environment is intangible, embedded in relationships and work practices. While an electronic portal is often useful for assembling materials and activities, the environment is physical and interpersonal as well as virtual.

The list of components is compiled from a larger pool of potential items derived from industry models and long-term experience. Those familiar with the theories will notice elements of blended learning, transfer of learning, informal learning, and social learning theory and practice, along with ideas contributed by personal knowledge management and constructivist learning advocates. Looking across these streams of thought yields a very rich list of potential learning resources, activities, and practices, which were categorized to make identifying and selecting them a bit easier.

Resources

Under resources we can list all manner of materials that can be accessed to fuel learning. These may be physical resources like books, journals, equipment, or artifacts, or they may be electronically housed resources accessible using a computer and Internet. Databases, videos, electronic presentations, job aids, and manuals are also potential resources. When learners search the Internet for information or to find out how to do something, they are accessing resources. They might also go to a library or another physical space where reference materials and other learning assets can be found. Resources are useful for communicating explicit knowledge, which is valuable for people new to a role or task, as well as for supporting just-in-time learning and more direct performance support. The trick is finding resources that are at the right level, high quality, and relevant to a particular context. Learners need to take in the information and then figure out how to effectively apply it for themselves.

People

The people category recognizes the fact that relationships are critical to learning. Accessible face-to-face or online, people can offer wisdom, feedback, quick answers, insights, and modeling, among other things. In short, they provide the active interpersonal connections necessary for deep understanding and collaboration. These relationships can be deep (as with mentor and protégé relationships) or fairly distant (such as experts followed on Twitter). People communicate tacit knowledge through interpersonal interactions—teaching, mentoring, answering questions, and discussing—and they are co-learners and collaborators. While ubiquitous, learning through interactions with others is often far from a simple matter, requiring trust, effective communication, and follow-up. This is discussed in more detail in chapter 4.

Training and Education

Formal training and education are valuable when learner needs and course objectives are aligned. Training and education provide the framework around which to organize thinking and can be very useful for bringing people new to a role or task up to speed. Courses can be classroom-based, online, e-learning, self-study, on-the-job training, or offered in some combination of these modes. They may be for credit or not for credit; offered within an organization or by an educational institution, professional organization, or vendor. The degree to which people learn from training and education depends a great deal on the quality of the courses. Research has shown that retention and application depend on relevance, deep engagement, practice, and feedback.

The two component categories in the two bottom rows of Figure 1-1 highlight a range of learning and development practices. Learning is not just accomplished through drawing on knowledge and skills from other sources; it is often accomplished through processing one’s own experiences.

Development Practices

The development practices category encompasses practices that the organization and its management team can implement to support learning. These practices require the active engagement of supervisors and managers, and play an important role in accelerating growth within the organization. Managers can ensure a culture in which self-directed learning can thrive through offering coaching and feedback as well as group reflection and continuous improvement activities. Development programs, on-the-job observation and feedback, strategies for sharing lessons learned among the team, and action learning projects are just some of the other ways that organizations support learning through development practices. In academic programs, there may be opportunities to regularly debrief work-based experiences and connect learners with one another on an ongoing basis. Specific development practices may also be listed under other categories (for example, mentoring could be a program under development practices or a relationship under people), but it’s often important to identify the mechanisms for organizational and management support in order to ensure a culture that supports learning overall.

Experiential Learning Practices

The experiential learning practices category lists some of what individuals do (alone or with others) to make meaning of experiences and transform them into concepts, ideas, and guidance for future action. When you ask people to describe how they learn, one factor that almost always comes up is learning by doing. Deep skill development is facilitated through practice and reflection, and new knowledge is created through action and collaboration. A designer or learning leader doesn’t necessarily create these experiences, but there may be ways to promote specific kinds of experiences and to nurture learning from them, most especially by making self-assessment and reflection tools available to learners. Constructive feedback is often an essential part of this learning process as well.

Learner Motivation and Self-Direction

Underpinning all these component categories is learner motivation and self-direction. Learners need to choose to learn, so without some degree of motivation, little learning can occur. (It’s true that learning can happen without conscious choice, but the kind of learning needs we’ve been discussing in this book are more often those which learners need to recognize and choose to address.) Learner motivation is the foundation for learning in all categories, and the components that promote motivation and self-direction can be found in all categories as well. You can imagine that some readings (resources) may be inspirational, prompting people to want to learn more, or that some thought leaders (people) may intrigue and exhort in ways that get potential learners on board, so motivation is promoted through many different components (although not necessarily all). Self-direction is important because a learning environment strategy assumes that the learners will access materials as they need them. There is much more on this subject in chapter 3.

LEARNING ENVIRONMENT STRATEGIES

In the grand scheme, learning environments fit nicely among existing human resource development solutions, such as instructional solutions and performance-support solutions. Formal instruction is best when a specific set of learning objectives needs to be achieved, and instructional designers can employ solid instructional design processes and practices to address them. Performance support is called for when there is a need to provide immediate help in the workflow, and performance support specialists can suggest approaches that will enable that.

But when an assessment uncovers a knowledge or skill development need that can’t be neatly addressed through instructional or performance support solutions, a deliberately curated learning environment may be the best way to provide the learning support required for people to engage productively in their own ongoing development.

There are many reasons why a learning leader might choose to design a learning environment; therefore, strategies are customized depending on the learning need and the characteristics of the learner groups they are meant to serve. The following sections discuss the four most likely scenarios.

Blended Learning Hub

As our electronic tools have grown, our blended learning strategies have gotten more sophisticated. Historically, blended learning has referred to some combination of e-learning, classroom-based learning, and coaching; however, more recently designers have found it valuable to cast a wider net for enrichment activities, application exercises, job aids, and support. Blended learning hubs are centered on the knowledge and skill targeted by a specific formal learning event, and the resources in this type of learning environment all rally around that event’s topics. Often, these hubs are accessible only to those enrolled in the program, sometimes at the cohort level.

This kind of complex blended learning strategy is useful when you are trying to support the development of a complex skill, which learners will need to continue to practice and gain facility through real experience over time. It’s important to support the on-the-job application of the skills with people, resources, and development practices that help learners continue to grow. The hub can also provide resources that help deepen learners’ knowledge or skill as they become more agile with the core content and behaviors.

APPLICATIONS OF A BLENDED LEARNING HUB

Example 1: A university economics professor wants to support her students in the field, not only after specific courses, but also after graduation. She opens a personal website to provide quick access to Internet resources, seminars, and conferences that are likely to be of interest. The site also holds an annotated bibliography of recommended books. To keep things fresh, the professor actively posts to a Twitter feed that shares links to new articles of interest, and she also writes a blog where she discusses current events. Former students and other followers are invited to comment, and the professor engages in ongoing discussion around the topics of her posts.

Example 2: An organization wants to train its management team in the concepts and approaches of design thinking as a way of encouraging innovation. Learning strategists design a set of courses to teach core concepts, but they also support learning by making book recommendations, identifying a number of articles and websites that speak to these concepts, creating templates and tip sheets, offering coaching on crafting and facilitating meetings intended to use design thinking approaches, and publishing a blog that highlights design thinking stories from within the organization. They organize all these materials on a webpage available through the company’s intranet.

Knowledge Exchange

The focus of a knowledge exchange is just that—giving interested parties the opportunity to share tactics, tools, results, and resources for the good of the practicing body as a whole.

This strategy works well when there is already a large body of accumulated knowledge that would be helpful for people new to a role or profession. It is also useful when knowledge and practices are quickly evolving, or when the learners are working on skills at an advanced level. A knowledge exchange supports advanced knowledge creation and allows experts to share their evolving knowledge so that less experienced people can access it.

EXAMPLE APPLICATIONS OF A KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE

Example 1: A large consulting firm has associates deployed worldwide, and the knowledge they are accumulating through experience is also dispersed. A knowledge exchange provides an outlet through which consultants can share their experiences, documents, and lessons learned, so that others can search for material that might be leveraged for their own projects. For more immediate needs, the consultants can share their activities and expertise by using microblogging tools for short Q&A, posting their profiles (so that finding people with relevant knowledge and skills is easier), and writing blogs about their experiences. The knowledge exchange also aggregates recommendations for beneficial training programs and professional activities.

Example 2: A group of center city activists recognizes that they are learning what works and what doesn’t through their own individual experiences, and they could increase their success by sharing what they know. They arrange to meet regularly to network and share their plans. In addition, they build an online space where they post resources, store documentation on their various campaigns, share a discussion board, and coordinate calendars so that everyone can learn from what others are doing (and occasionally find synergies).

Learning Resource Portal

In this scenario, the design focuses on creating a portal (Internet site) that aggregates a solid collection of formal and informal learning assets for an amorphous or diversified group of potential learners. The driving force here is featured content, rather than the assessed needs of potential learners.

This strategy is useful when the learners’ needs diverge considerably, in such a way that it may be difficult to form a cohort with similar needs. A learning resource portal allows learners to self-select the materials and activities that best suit their development goals.

APPLICATIONS OF A LEARNING RESOURCE PORTAL

Example 1: A professional association of local architects wants to support its membership’s learning needs. The members have many specializations and are at varying levels of expertise and tenure. A learning portal organizes a range of formal courses, certification options, videos, articles, books, blog feeds, discussion forums, and other learning materials for easy access. It even includes a listing of local architectural highlights with links to information about each building’s architect and history.

Example 2: A workforce development team wants to increase the number of potential employees who have coding skills. They partner with a community college to offer an array of courses, and also create a website with links to other learning resources, many of which are free. The site includes information about potential job opportunities coming to the region and the necessary skills needed to apply.

Collaboratory

A collaboratory is among the most innovative of the learning environments because its focus is bringing like-minded people together so they can share and develop new knowledge and practices. Collaboratories feature tools and resources designed to support collaborative knowledge creation in addition to knowledge sharing.

This emergent learning environment strategy is particularly useful in cutting-edge areas of practice. Professionals in these environments are often using their own ingenuity to create what they need when they need it, and they are frequently experimenting with new practices. A collaboratory gives co-learners space to work together and discuss issues with one another, sharing their work, successes, and failures for the good of all.

APPLICATIONS OF A COLLABORATORY

Example 1: A talent development team in a large technology-oriented organization has decided to adopt a badging strategy to help track knowledge and skill sets across the organization, and to recognize ongoing development and accomplishments. (Badging is a way to recognize skill sets and contributions; “badges” are given to people by peers or governing bodies in recognition of an accomplishment or competence.) Colleagues working on the talent development strategy create an intranet space where they can share articles of interest in the emerging practice of competency badging, and where they can co-create and document the strategies they are crafting inside the organization. A discussion board and instant messaging tool allows them to ping one another as new questions arise, so that they don’t need to reinvent practices if others have already worked on similar projects. They often meet over coffee to discuss the organization’s needs and to help one another brainstorm how to structure badging criteria.

Example 2: A local library converts its basement space to create a “maker lab” for inventors who want to take advantage of 3-D printing technology. It houses computers, a variety of 3-D printers, digital design software, and other equipment. A page on the library website contains links to a variety of relevant Internet resources. The lab offers workshops for entrepreneurs and hosts networking events. Most importantly, it is a place that encourages interaction among people with ideas.

Figure 1-2 summarizes these strategies. While the descriptions are helpful in considering the possible uses for learning environments, they are not all-inclusive or mutually exclusive. Often, learning environments incorporate elements of several strategies to meet a unique need.

CURATING AN EFFECTIVE ENVIRONMENT

When you curate the components for your learning environment, you do so primarily on the basis of the relevance and quality of the resources. A comprehensive learning environment contains components in each of the major categories: resources, people, training and education, development practices, and experiential learning practices (promoting motivation and self-direction can be accomplished within these components).

How do you determine whether you have enough of the right components to ensure you are giving your learners what they need? Your search begins with your purpose—as illustrated in Table 1-1, different purposes call for different types of components. Your learning environment may incorporate several purposes; you can determine which components work most effectively together by asking, “in order to achieve this purpose, what kind of components might learners want to access?”

The examples in the table are not meant to be all-inclusive; they simply demonstrate the process of thinking through what might be necessary to achieve a specific aim, and show how certain components more directly align with specific purposes. (The example purposes are drawn from Figure 1-2.)

TABLE 1-1. SUGGESTED COMPONENTS BY PURPOSE

Purpose	Suggested Components
Support exchange of explicit knowledge.	Knowledge databases, shared documents, procedure manuals, e-learning modules, job aids, training courses or education, after-action reviews, learning by doing
Provide ongoing support for developing routine skills.	Performance support, procedure manuals, role models, peer support, foundational training, e-learning demonstrations, practice exercises, structured feedback, coaching, learning by doing, experimenting
Support exchange of tacit knowledge.	Shared documents, peer support, social media, discussion forums, expert databases, after-action reviews, mentoring, collaborative projects
Improve craftsmanship; support building of deep skills.	Social media, communities of practice, professional networks, role models, mentoring, advanced education, coaching and feedback mechanisms, stretch assignments, self-assessment tools, collaboration and teamwork, learning by doing, critical reflection
Support application (performance).	Job aids, performance support resources, people to provide support and feedback, social media, discussion boards, supervisory support, tools for self-assessment and feedback, learning by doing
Capture and spread new knowledge.	Shared documents and wiki spaces, user-generated content sharing, social media, discussion boards, peer teaching, rotational assignments, after-action reviews, critical reflection, collaborative projects
Provide support for solving problems.	Shared documents, job aids, peer-support systems, expert directories, professional networks, on-the-job training, supervisory support, experimenting, collaborating
Nurture a community of practice.	Shared documents and wiki spaces, peer-support systems, social media, cohort or team training and education programs, action-learning programs, collaborating

LEARNING ENVIRONMENT DESIGN FRAMEWORK

Curating components and organizing them into a strategy for learning constitutes learning environment design, which exists within a larger system for learning and performance. The entire framework is captured in Figure 1-3.

The framework shows the overlap of performance and learning environments, and it highlights the components in each, which form a fairly complex system. Getting the lay of the land so that you can effectively conceptualize a learning environment therefore requires surveying a pretty big terrain, so let’s take a look at each more closely.

The Performance Environment

We know from studies of human performance that performance outcomes are the result of interplay among a variety of factors, which include:

• Performer capability: The knowledge and skills an individual brings to a task.
• Expectations: The degree to which people know what is expected of them.
• Workflow and systems: The practices and systems (including computer systems and hardware) that enable the work to be done.
• Performance resources and tools: The support resources like job aids, manuals, and databases, as well as physical tools.
• Supervisory practices: How supervisors and managers enact their roles.
• Team dynamics: The quality of the interpersonal and work relationships among team members—how well they work together.
• Incentives and rewards: The structure and nature of formal and informal recognition for jobs well done.

These factors make up the performance environment, and the effectiveness of each of these systems and practices directly influences the performance outcomes achieved. Performance consultants know how to analyze the entire system to determine recommendations to improve performance or eliminate barriers. Describing all the factors related to human performance is beyond the scope of this book, but see the additional resources section for more comprehensive books on the subject.

Understanding the desired performance and related performance factors is an important prerequisite to creating environments that deliver valued outcomes. Before embarking on a project to support learning, it is important to understand the degree to which all other performance factors support the desired on-the-job behaviors. If there are any strong barriers or counterinfluences at work, then simply helping people gain knowledge and skills may not actually result in the desired performance and business outcomes; energies may be better spent elsewhere. When learning projects fail to affect performance, that failure can sometimes be traced to the fact that employee capability was not the only—or most important—factor that needed to be changed in the performance system. (For example, work procedures weren’t supportive, or supervisory practices needed work.)

If your front-end needs assessment shows that increases in knowledge or skill (performer capability) will positively affect performance, then you’ve got a bona fide learning need. (See chapter 2 for more on assessment.) There are many strategies to support learning, and designing a learning environment is one way to align a number of those strategies to a common goal.

The Learning Environment

As discussed, the learning environment is made up of resources, people, training and education, development practices, experiential learning practices, and learner motivation and self-direction. The fact that components in the learning environment are also part of the performance environment is an interesting dynamic. The learning and performance environments overlap; some learning is embedded in the performance environment (for example, collaborating on a project, accessing performance support tools for learning), and some learning is accomplished by stepping outside the performance environment (mentally or physically) for a brief period. Assets that support performance can sometimes also be leveraged for learning, and vice-versa.

The Learning Environment Design Processes

The learning environment design processes of envisioning, finding, curating, assembling, and cultivating are applied to designing the environment as a whole. These processes are discussed in detail in chapter 2. To some degree, these processes can also be applied to designing a performance environment.

As you can see, learning environment design exists within a very dynamic context. Achieving desired performance can be a complex task, as can ensuring that people have the requisite capability to do their part. Too often, formal learning events alone don’t account for this complexity, and they only attempt to affect a small portion of the whole system. That may well be appropriate for some needs, but with a well-curated learning environment in play, you have a much better opportunity to support people in developing the knowledge and skills they need to succeed.

RELATED IDEAS

There are a number of related ideas that can be leveraged to conceptualize a designed learning environment. You’ll find more information on these ideas in the additional resources section and on my website (www.L4LP.com) if you want to explore them further.

Learning Ecosystems

Definitions vary, but in general a learning ecosystem is the combination of people, processes, technologies, and content that support learning and performance. In their 2014 whitepaper, Marc Rosenberg and Steve Foreman defined a learning and performance ecosystem as one that “enhances individual and organizational effectiveness by connecting people and supporting them with a broad range of content, processes, and technologies to drive performance.” The components in their model include performance support, knowledge management, access to experts, social networking and collaboration, structured learning, and talent management. Like any ecosystem, a learning and performance ecosystem is constituted by its interdependencies; the parts don’t work nearly as well if they are out of sync with one another. The “ecosystem” label is appealing because it conjures a metaphor about growth, cyclical regeneration, and mutual support that feels appropriate when we are discussing how people learn in dynamic organizations. While the terminology is still evolving, learning ecosystems seem to be under discussion when learning leaders are trying to strategize the organization’s culture and infrastructure as it relates to supporting learning. A learning ecosystem is writ large. On the other hand, a learning environment, as discussed in these pages, is related to a specific learning need and learner group. Learning environment designers select the relevant aspects of the learning and performance ecosystem to curate a set of resources and activities for learning a specific knowledge base or skill in context. The ideas behind the terms ecosystem and environment go hand-in-hand, and many people will interchange them.

Personal Learning Environments

Also called personal learning networks or personal knowledge management, a personal learning environment (PLE) encompasses a collection of resources, people, and practices that an individual pulls together to support his or her own learning. PLEs often have many technological components, because the Internet opens pathways to abundant resources, and we have access to electronic tools (storage, presentation tools) that have proven quite useful for supporting and promoting self-directed learning.

Communities of Practice

A community of practice is based in the interactions among a group of people who have a common domain of practice; who share similar processes, procedures, tools, and approaches (often with a specialized language as well); and who genuinely want to advance their knowledge and practices by interacting with and supporting one another. In this context, the community is primarily defined by the people and their interpersonal relationships, but these days there is often a website, discussion board, or communication tool offered as well to support openness among community members.

Environments Conducive to Learning

It’s interesting to note that teachers and facilitators often talk about creating “an environment conducive to learning” (also called a learning environment) by which they mean creating a space in a classroom, home, or workplace that acts as a petri dish for learning and growth. Generally, they are talking about characteristics that are not tangible, such as openness, tolerance for experimentation or potential failure, and psychological safety. A positive environment for learning could also be a place where certain encouraging behaviors (such as helpful feedback, genuine caring among people, collaboration, or coaching) are common. Even the features of the physical environment can contribute to learning: the quality of the light and sound, the comfort of the furnishings, and the potential of being surrounded by others who are also learning. A successful learning environment (as defined here) represents many of these characteristics as well.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

The core idea in learning environment design is to provide learners with more support in finding and accessing learning resources when and where they need them. Savvy learners have always been able to manage on their own, and they have been given a real boon with the explosion of available materials and connections on the web. But that massive amount of material also has drawbacks—it takes time and judgment to find the right materials, and many learners don’t have the time or background to adequately judge the quality and applicability of the resources they find. They may not know about the leading thinkers and experienced experts in their companies or their fields. They may not even be able to describe the competencies they need to become more effective in their roles.

Learning professionals can draw together specific materials and activities that they have vetted to support learners in developing their knowledge bases and skills. The concepts and processes laid out in this book may help you imagine how this might be achieved. With the high-level framework in mind, we can now explore the approach and theories behind it in more detail.