All You Need is Love: Compassionate Design for Better Teaching and Learning

Presenter: Walter Milner, Instructional Designer III, Learning & Educational Center, Academic Affairs

Description: In order to connect, engage, and inspire students we need to account for who they are as individuals. This can be accomplished through a compassionate approach to course design and course interactions. Compassionate design involves actively learning who our students are, actively approaching the design of course activities in a way that considers all learners and being conscious of our interactions with learners. Compassionate approaches to course design have the added benefit of demonstrating a model that transfers to society at large and makes the world a better place. This presentation will highlight each of these areas and demonstrate techniques that both instructors and designers can use to approach course design as compassionate educators. By approaching course design in this way, we form more meaningful relationships and ultimately help to develop better and more successful learners.

Learning Outcomes:
1. Identify the difference between empathetic design and compassionate design.
2. Formulate strategies for how to get to know their students and recognize how this connects to compassionate design.
3. Coordinate activities, techniques, and design strategies that are reflective of compassionate design.
4. Recognize that interactions are an element of a compassionate approach to teaching and identify how interactions can be designed to be compassionate.
5. Discuss how compassionate design approaches act as a model to students which transfers to society at large.