The Learning Machine: Combining Information Design/Visualization with Persuasion Design to Change People’s Learning Behavior

Abstract

Finding a means of stimulating and managing learning is a twenty-first century global challenge. This challenge applies to all students, teachers, and education managers in all schools, from pre-school to graduate schools, in universities and colleges, in all professional areas, in North America, as well as in Europe, India, China, other Asian countries, South America, and Africa. Learning management systems (LMSs) are software applications for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting, and delivery of education courses or training programs. Massive online open courses (MOOCs) have gained international attention. Unfortunately, many of these tools/offerings only focus on one side of education, teaching or learning, instead of both sides. Furthermore, while mobile solutions are emerging, most tools primarily exist as desktop and Web applications. The few mobile and tablet applications are limited to resources and update slowly, which cannot satisfy users’ needs. Lastly, these tools lack effective persuasive techniques to convert users to active participation in the learning process and real-time interaction with teachers and classmates in the face of new technologies and global education uncertainty. While communicating critical data helps build awareness, it does not automatically affect behavioral changes. The education community is changing. The question becomes: How can we better motivate, educate, and persuade people (both students and teachers) to manage their own learning/teaching behavior, process, and resource consumption, and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of learning both in the short term and in the long term? The AM+A Learning Machine project of 2012 researched, analyzed, designed, and evaluated powerful ways to improve learning behavior during the process of learning. The project intends to persuade and motivate people to streamline their learning process, connect to peers and experts, and to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their learning efforts by means of a well-designed tablet-application concept-prototype design. AM+A has designed and tested analogous application prototypes in the recent past: The Green Machine of 2009 aimed to change energy conservation behavior (Jean and Marcus 2009; Marcus and Jean 2009). The Health Machine of 2010 aimed to prevent obesity and diabetes through better behavior regarding nutrition and exercise (Marcus 2010). The Money Machine of 2011 (Marcus 2012a) aimed to assist retiring baby boomers with wealth management. The Story Machine of 2011 (Marcus 2012b) aimed to change story-sharing behavior across generations (among grandparents, children, and grandchildren) of asynchronous, dispersed family members. The Innovation Machine of 2012 (Marcus 2013a) aimed at promoting innovation within corporate environments so that all employees can more effectively contribute innovation to products and services. The Travel Machine of 2012 (Marcus 2013b) aimed at promoting a change to cultural tourism, instead of typical leisure and business travel. The Driving Machine of 2012 (Marcus 2013c) aimed at promoting improved safety and sustainability through a tablet-like dashboard. The first three projects won design awards in an international competition sponsored by the International Institute for Information Design, and the Green Machine philosophy was incorporated into an enterprise software application by SAP. The Learning Machine uses similar principles of combining information design/visualization and persuasion design. AM+A’s presentation and this chapter explain the development of the Learning Machine’s user experience, user interface, information design, information visualization, and persuasion design. These documents also showcase the results and outline the next steps of research and design.