WEBVTT 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (Stephen Downes) So, Hello, everyone. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'd like to state for the record: I love the blue dots. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (LAUGHTER) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I've been sitting here watching the blue dots. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, I've been cast in the role of the person who finds the problems 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with the topic that we're all praising. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I do like agile design, I like it a lot. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I like the concept of agile learning design, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I like it a lot. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But, you know, I've been in the field of programming for many years. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I've been in the field of learning design for many years. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I've worked on small projects, I've worked on big projects, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I've been the peon at the bottom of the pile 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and currently I'm the program leader responsible for producing outcomes (check). 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So I've seen it from different angles. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And there's so many ways it can go wrong, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 especially when we move from the fairly static domain of software design 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to the far less static domain of learning design. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's (check) learning design, it's the least agile thing you'll ever see. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's actually a graphic from IMS 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 which produced the learning design specification. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's supposed to be pretty open and flexible, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's like a play with a director and roles and all of that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But, you know, once you're into the thing, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there isn't a whole lot of flexibility happening 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and it leads to questioning just what is it that we're up to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when we are talking about agile learning design? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Are we talking about agile 'learning design' 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or are we talking about the design of agile learning? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Two different things, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and it seems to me that it doesn't make sense 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to give the instructional designers all that freedom and flexibility 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if they're going to march students lockstep through 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a predefined kind of process. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Here's what agile learning design ought to look like. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's a flow. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is agile design generally, right? and it's an iterative thing, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and then people don't talk about that so much 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but it's an iterative thing: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 each iteration is like designing a full and complete product, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and then you might spin off some side things, some prototype things 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as you need to, but, you know, version 1, version 2, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you're doing the same thing over again. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 No course in the world -- well, maybe not no course, but -- 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 few courses in the world are designed that way. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Courses progress from Lesson 1, Lesson 2, Lesson 3, Lesson 4. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They don't cover all of geometry and then all of geometry in more detail 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and all of geometry in more detail. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's a different way of thinking about the process. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, what are the major concepts in agile learning design? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In agile design generally, it's the Scrum. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The Scrum is basically a self-organizing development team. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It is originally drawn from the idea that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 programmers are the smartest people in the world and do not need management. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 No, I'm just kidding. (3:36)