Learning Engineering: The Next Wave for eLearning

On October 23, members of the Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE) Industry Consortium on Learning Engineering willhost the day-long Learning Engineering Summit at The eLearning Guild’s DevLearnConference & Expo to introduce the emergingfield. Hosts include Ellen Wagner, Avron Barr, Robby Robson, and MeganBowe, along with The eLearning Guild’s research director, Jane Bozarth.

This summit will provide an overview to learning engineering,a discipline envisioned by Nobel Laureate Herbert Simon more than 50 years ago.Over the past fivedecades, technology has become central to our learning lives. New disciplines applytechnology in teaching, learning, and training, while learninganalyticscontinues to actively expand as we attempt to discern whether our efforts areachieving reliable, repeatable results.

Todeal with these changes, many educational technologists, instructionaldesigners, and eLearning professionals find themselves in serious need of substantialtechnical guidance. The establishment of an engineering discipline that canhelp bundle scientific methodologies needed for learning product developmentcan bring a different sensibility to learning product design. In the era ofdata analytics, the pressure to make the achievement of learning results a morescientific undertaking has made learning science a desirable approachfor pursuing learning excellence. Learning science enables quantification of specified analytical resultsfor using technological tools or codified practices that can optimize andstandardize learning outcomes.

ICICLE guides development of learning engineering

Recognizing a needto support the development of learning engineering as a profession and anacademic discipline, in December 2017 the Standards Association of the IEEEapproved the creation of the IEEE Industry ConnectionsIndustry Consortium on Learning Engineering (ICICLE). It was formed to define and support thisburgeoning field and to advocate for the development of both the professionaland academic disciplines of learning engineering.

Planned as atwo-year activity, ICICLE is an open forum and community-driven platform thatcurrently comprises more than 50 organizations in industry, academia, andgovernment, with a common goal of supporting the development of learningengineering.

In addition toprinciples of engineering design and learning science, ICICLE proposes that thelearning engineer will need to understand:

• Current and historical product trends,and the strengths and weaknesses of a variety of learning technologyimplementations
• Data standards and regulations aroundlearning data and privacy
• Best practices in technical projectmanagement and in the design of learning technologies and learning ecosystems
• The factors contributing to successand failure in the design, development, deployment, and outcomes of learningtechnologies

The consortiumcurrently supports nine special interest groups that are helping to define theparameters of this evolving field. The special interest groups include:

• Artificial intelligence and adaptive learning technologies
• xAPI and learning analytics
• Competency frameworks and certification
• Learning technology data standards
• Learning engineering among the professions
• An academic curriculum for learning engineering
• Data governance and privacy in learning contexts
• Learning experience design
• Augmented, virtual, and mixed realities from the learning perspective

Long-timeobservers have been quick to point out that there have been multiple waves oftechnological innovation that have taken a strongly scientific position in thepast, almost to the point of being observational and behavioristic. They remindus that we have always had this push-pull between scientists and humanists. Inthese days of Watson and artificial intelligence, perhaps it’s time to bringmore learning stakeholders, engineers, and humanists alike to consider what thefuture has in store for all of us. That is the purpose of the upcoming learningengineering summit: to provide a forum and a communication network for thisconversation. Please join us!

Editor’s note

The LearningEngineering Summit takes place prior to the Guild’s DevLearn 2018 conference.