Participatory Design for Value-Driven Learning

Abstract

Designing learning experiences that initially spark students’ interests and sustain their engagement throughout the educational experience is difficult. Frequently, in the learning sciences, we contextualize learning with initial interest, or hooks, that are useful to engage a specific group for a short period of time. But as John Dewey (1913) suggests, external attempts may catch someone’s interest, but holding it and engaging learners in persistent effort and identification with a topic are much more difficult. What should educators do when initial interest can be sparked, but economic, cultural, or other considerations conspire to impede sustained learning? In this chapter, we explore how participatory design has shaped our interest-driven learning experiences into value-driven learning experiences. Using two case studies, we demonstrate how traditional participatory design practices and a meta-design approach to participatory design can help craft value-driven learning that enables students to navigate seemingly countervailing values, nurtures their interests, and creates supportive contexts in which to pursue those interests.