Keywords

1 Introduction

Today, we have an education system which is burdened with the responsibility of preparing students to face all and any eventualities that may show. Dealing with this burden causes stress and anxiety that is automatically passed on to the consumers of education namely the teacher and the learner. Teachers are constantly trying to complete the vast syllabus and learners struggle to cope up with their learning. Such circumstances have resulted in generation of quick fix methods. The overworked Teachers are barely able to deliver the subject instruction let alone ensure student learning outcomes. Students who are left to themselves to cope with huge content and clear exams to get certification, use the technique of shallow learning. Deep learning as a concept has almost become an unachievable goal for most.

Through the schooling years, in order to cope, students develop the skill to memorize the content to enable answering questions in the exams. Once the exams are dealt with, the mind purges the matter that was hurriedly crammed in, to make room for further such actions. Most students complete school with little recollection of what they studied. Times have become so competitive that the mental state of the Young Adult Learner who is finishing school and entering the phase of Higher Education is so pressurized that it begins to crave for empathy, support, recognition and acknowledgement to help face the challenges of life (Fig. 1). Such students face difficulties when they arrive to receive their higher education.

Fig. 1.
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Factors influencing the mental state of a young adult learner.

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2 Theories in Instructional Design

Meanwhile, academicians and researchers have been working with data, findings and experiences to devise methods to suitably overcome the issues faced by the learners and their teachers in the current education system. Concentrating on Instructional Design, three categories of theories have emerged–Behaviorism, Cognitivism and Constructivism. These theories delve on the need to prepare a strong educational structure that may systematically facilitate sustainable learning.

The Behaviorism theory is based on observable behavioral changes. It focusses on creating a system of repeating desirable behavioral patterns till they become habits (as in automatic) [1]. Whilst experimenting with behavioral patterns in animals, it was seen that when food was provided to a dog after ringing a bell on successive days, the dog developed a conditional response of salivating each time the bell rang. This behavior developed to a point that each time the bell was rung, the dog salivated irrespective of whether the food was provided or not. The theory examines how student behavioral patterns can be conditioned similarly to respond to academics and its processes. Testing the theory, it was felt that an instruction may evoke a good learning outcome but the individual performance of learners may not be enhanced. But then, it was realized that learning takes place when the bonds are formed into patterns of behavior [1, 2]. Another issue is that the current student remains too distracted to get involved with their learning process. Building into the stimulus, the art of finding relevance sensitively [3] draws the student attention quite effectively. In response to this theory there is apprehension that creating behavioral patterns may be inhibiting for creativity. Well, maintaining a conceptually oriented approach to allow for free application of thought will work seamlessly in such cases [4]. Though this process needs time and continuation to bring about behavioral changes, using the Skinners Operants’ conditioning mechanism for behavioral shaping [1] could help bring in quicker success.

The theory of Cognitivism examines behavior, to establish the thought process behind it. Observing the changes in behavior, one can make sense of what’s happening in the mind of the learner by using them as indicators [1], basically, identifying the individual needs of different learners or their emotional requirements [5]. The mind thus develops structures of knowledge through its learning and understanding experiences [6] which in turn explain the interpretations of the mind. To address the issue of Unobservant and preoccupied mental state of the learner, this theory suggests aligning the cognitive behavior of the learner with the curriculum, using relevance of learning [7]. Often, the lack of interest in exploring subjects is overcome by Inclusion of exploratory exercises that offer challenge [8]. Establishing the connection with the social context in which the learning needs to happen takes care of that potential challenge [9]. Sometimes lack of communication and understanding between the teacher and the learners causes gaps in the relationship resulting in poor engagement and performance of students [10]. A Teacher needs to build the bridges of communication from the student's end so that his instruction begins from where the student is located (in his understanding) and definitely not from where the teacher would have liked to begin his instruction [10].

Indifference of the system to learners with special needs creates a serious impediment in their cognitive learning process. These learners may be categorized under various heads. Students with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder), have social and emotional issues, and limited educational outcomes [11, 12]. These students cannot follow instructions, nor finish tasks on time. They interrupt people, cannot sit still or just stand up with no real purpose. They have problems interacting quietly, are generally messy, prone to easily distracting themselves, constantly interrupting the teacher/other students and moving from chair to chair. They do not finish tasks on time, talk aloud, do not focus on teacher instructions, occasional attention-getting behavior and sometimes showing a small degree of fidgeting [11, 13]. Special provisioning for such students would include: seat closer to the teacher, extra books for home, repeat directions, incorporating visuals, short quiz, outlines of notes/lesson, color coded assignments, break down Tasks/work, detailed rubrics, directions are written/spoken, limit room distraction, organizing notebooks, teaching using `concrete’ methods before abstract, create a behavioral plan, Poster projects - more student centered, minimize length of Qs., Use sticky notes [14]. Then there are learners who may have sight impairment, hearing or speech impairment issues. For the visually impaired Braille books and more articulation in verbal instruction would help bridge the learning gap substantially. For the hearing and speech impaired students, instruction to be more graphic and illustrative. Encouraging students to communicate using hand gestures, drawing and other visual methods. Similarly learners with physical disabilities need considerations like simplification of assessment methodology and creating requisite infrastructure that would provide for a supportive learning environment.

The Constructivism Theory believes that depending on our individual experiences and schema, we construct our own perspective of the world [1]. The Constructivism approach basically prepares the learner to problem solve notwithstanding ambiguous situations i.e. relating one step to the next [15]. To tide over remembering after understanding issues, constructivism suggests learners use flow charts, metaphors and analogy making [16]. This theory recommends sensitizing students to the fundamentals [17] and building the bridges of correlations and relevancies by aligning the Teacher, curriculum and social construct. From the students’ perspectives, engaging teachers were those who communicated, cared, and enthusiastically presented active learning opportunities [10]. Not being able to apply knowledge and skill in new situations or even form abstractions, is quite normal in the initial stages of contextualized learning for any learner [18]. Thus, frustration and confusion during these stages is quite expected [19]. They should be allowed to develop and build their own understanding and the teacher, work with them to develop their higher cognitive skills [20]. Even though the joy of learning through discovery may excite the learner, the old habit of simply aping the better students may keep them from building on their own knowledge structures or construct meaning [18]. Collaborative ways of teaching encourage discussions, clarifications and evaluation of others’ ideas [21]. New curricula should focus on problem solving models and be intricately designed to respect, factor-in and make good the gaps that may occur between the previous and the new learning experiences of the learner. [22]. Constructivists believe that assessments should only be used as an important tool to ascertain the learner’s progress for the teacher, and for the student, a method of enhancing his/her learning. It may cause stress and demotivate learners if used as an accountability tool. [23]. The philosophy of building the learner’s reasoning, finding meaning and understanding should be done through facilitating and interacting proactively on the teacher’s part [20].

Our individual schema and experiences help us create our own perspective of the world, is the primary basis of the Constructivism Theory. No matter how ambiguous the situation, it prepares the learner to problem solve. The theory got further divided into two categories - Cognitive Constructivism and Social Constructivism. The former talks about how an individual interprets objects and events to construct his/her knowledge based on beliefs, mental structures and experiences from the past, thus creating their own reality [1]. Whereas Social constructivism, talks about collaborative work, peer learning, learning from each other. Discussion with others always helps in thinking through ideas, exchanging views, perspectives and how others describe things. Indulgence in such social experiences will provide for strengthening our logical conclusions [24]. Discussing ideas promotes `socially construct’ knowledge and almost always results in shared agreements and a better understanding of the facts [25]. Interpretations of societal conditions by the older generations often push and encourage the younger generations into the competitive mode wherein sharing is considered detrimental to the building of the self. Being introverted and selfish on achievements is considered beneficial by this older generation due to their own insecurities, which they inadvertently pass on to subsequent generations [26]. Miro a virtual tool, allows people to collaborate virtually on a platform [27]. Cognitive Constructivism is better understood when divided into two components - Realistic constructivism and Radical constructivism. Realistic constructivism says that cognition involves the process of learners using external structures located in the environment to construct their own personal mental structures. Whereas, Radical constructivism is about cognition servicing the organizing of the experiential world of the learner, rather than to discover ontological reality [1]. Often misinterpretation of certain truths and inclusion of these into the mental structures result in derailment of the thought building process. According to the Realistic Constructivism theory, elaborate teacher-learner discussion and debate on fundamental concepts after ascertaining the level of previous understanding of the learner can prevent the misinterpretations [28].

According to an article in the American Educator, the achievement gap between students of color-white students and high- low income groups tend to widen with the constructivist teaching methods, when observed from the Radical constructivism standpoint [29, 30].

3 Challenges Faced by Design Learners at Various Stages of Design Education

A Learning Experience Journey Map (Fig. 2) has thus been created as the framework to facilitate effective design learning in higher education. The framework comprises six phases in which the teaching will happen to ensure the learning. Phase 1 is called the `Orientation Program’. The common issues noticed are that no proper guidance as to program selection is provided and learner aspirations and identity issues get mostly ignored. This phase deals with providing guidance for Design program selection based on the aspirant’s vision and the exact learnings required to achieve the vision through experiential and exploratory methods. Phase 2 is called `Foundation Program’. This phase deals with negating the prevailing unaccommodating practices, indifferent attitudes and time/syllabus driven teaching methods. Being the formative stage for learning to begin, it shall promote patience, tolerance, flexibility, empathetic approach and behaviorism. It will facilitate regular feedback to the learner to provide for encouragement and push for higher results. Phase 3, `1st Year Design Specialization’ is essentially implementing Cognitivism based instructional strategies. Having gone through Behaviorism instructional strategies in Phase 2, the students now need to interpret and internalize the thought behind their behaviorism and actions. Phase 4, called `2nd Year Design Specialization’ builds on personal experience and schema. It encourages step by step problem solving in ambiguous situations using an instructional strategy based on the Cognitivism theory. Phase 5 or `3rd Year Design Specialization’ deals with confidence building, ownership taking and practicing all the variants of constructivism theory. This phase helps build the structures of knowledge and skills for the students, based on their realistic and radical cognitive experiences as well as the social constructivism learnings. Phase 6, the last phase is called `Convocation’. In this final phase, students are guided to select appropriate topics to showcase their acumen most accurately. Mentors consistently provide for motivation and confidence through empathy and emotional support. Students receive full support and mentoring to help render them fully industry ready in all respects.

Fig. 2.
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Learning experience journey map.

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4 Problem Solving with Instructional Design

We use printed/online maps to provide geographical location, projection maps to discuss organizational growth strategies, fitness/training schedules for athletes etc. Essentially, though we know where we are going to start and where we wish to finish, we need to prepare the road map for our journey to arrive at the decided finish. Logically approaching the matter we find that we need to accurately prepare this journey map on four counts. These four counts would be understanding current situation, final goal expectations, preferred method/technique and execution strategy. In education, Learner Maps help to chart out the teaching/learning strategies for various courses. In this case the four counts are named Learner characteristics (understanding the current situation), Learning Goals and Experiential Expectations of the Learners (final goal expectations), Teaching/Mentoring Pedagogy (preferred method/technique) and Instruction Presentation Medium (execution strategy). Learners Maps for courses in Design education can be seen in Fig. 3 (Learner’s Map for Theory Course) and Fig. 4 (Learner’s Map for Design Studio Course). A Learner Map has proved to be a wonderful tool to solve problems encountered in Instructional Design.

Fig. 3.
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Learner’s map for theory course (Name of course: material technologies II).

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Fig. 4.
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Learner’s map for design studio course (Name of course: domestic interiors).

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In most classrooms, the learner thinks the teacher will teach and learning will happen. Meanwhile, the teacher is thinking the learner will learn, as he (the teacher) is teaching. Either of the two assumptions don't work. The instruction needs to begin from where the student is located in his understanding and not where the teacher would like to begin his instruction. Some learners need help to develop recollection abilities for their learnings. Only when the student feels confident & ready to apply his learning to solve problems is the teacher’s job successfully done. An instruction may evoke a good learning outcome but offering the relevance of the same, citing examples to illustrate application is key to true learning. Young adult learners who remain distracted, feel most comfortable with `friends’ who listen and align well with their aspirations. Teachers who are empathetic will find a responsive and receptive attitudes in their learners as they get included into the `respected friends’ category. Specifically in design courses, students need to be guided sensitively and systematically, demolishing the preconceived notions (due to over-exposure to set patterns) and mental blocks, making way for unconstrained futuristic thinking. Offering reinforcement (increase behavior) of desirable traits & punishment (decrease behavior) of undesirable traits, healthy learning habits can be formed through behavioral control. Repetition of this process will slowly habituate the learner to follow good academic behavioral patterns (Skinners Operants’ conditioning mechanism). Students who doubt their self-capabilities need help in developing self-confidence and overcoming their insecurities and short-comings. Encouraging them to speak-up, opinionate and offer supportive arguments for their thoughts, provides for confidence building. New Topics/subjects that are considered invincible monsters should be introduced in their friendliest and simplest forms. Encourage and facilitate building informal relationships between the learner and the subject matter by identifying for the learner, his location (of understanding), and help in establishing the bridges of understanding. Learners normally study subjects to pass exams and carry no recollection afterwards to allow for fruitful application. Providing strong references to events and processes from everyday occurrences in the lives of the learners, helps in developing interest in a subject. This motivation leads the learner to begin his own exploratory journey. Inclusion of exploratory exercises that offer challenge would supplement this experience. For effective learning to happen, issues such as lack of social context need to be managed using Social Constructivism. As design essentially services society, the learning will never yield positive results if the learner is unable to connect his learnings with the social context. Using flow charts, metaphors and analogy in the teaching learning process will bring better design learning results. To prevent constructivism or any other reform movement from failing, it is important to build the bridges of correlation and relevance by aligning the Teacher, the curriculum and the social construct. Contextualizing of learnings into abstractions and then converting into knowledge and skills, is extremely important in constructing their own understanding or it will lead to confusion and frustration in learners. It therefore becomes necessary that the teacher contributes toward the healthy development of higher cognitive skills of his learner. If the assessment of the learner’s learnings focuses on the factors of evaluation and synthesis of his/her reasoning, they will each actively construct meaning and build an appropriate knowledge structure for themselves. Instructors of design subjects need to emphasize on problem solving models and find all means to fill up the gaps between the learner’s learning experiences of the past and the present. Based on meaningful interaction and facilitation, the learners should be encouraged to construct their own individual meaning and understanding.

5 Conclusion

The mental state of a young adult learner in present times is heavily burdened with external factors, preventing stable and sustainable growth for the future. These external factors include economic constraints (thus missing opportunities), inability to pursue aspirations, the impact of social media, parental and peer pressures, anxiety about the future (lack of vision), domestic issues, personal relationships, studying irrelevant subjects, negative influences of company (pubbing, clubbing etc.), and dealing with academic pressures coupled with unsupportive teachers. These young people have come to crave empathy, support, recognition, acknowledgement and opportunity for themselves. The instructional strategies mentioned in Table 1 will help design educators to cater the GenZ (new generation) learners at various levels and needs. It is possible to validate the developed framework for instructional design in near future.

Table 1. Strategic and instructional solutions to problems encountered by design students.
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