Situating Learning Engineering and Human-Centered Design of Learning Technology in a Geoscience Teaching and Learning Context

Learning engineering is an emerging field that seeks to understand and describe how individuals and multi-disciplinary teams work together to design and produce effective learning support technologies that can scale (ICICLE, 2019). Iterative human-centered design cycles are at the core of learning engineering work because desired learning outcomes depend on how humans engage with the technology, which is influenced by a variety of factors independent of the technology being designed to support learning. This conceptually suggests that the better designed the technology is to leverage our understanding of human factors, the better the resultant learning outcomes. How does the work of the emerging learning engineer community relate to the work of the geoscience education researcher, teaching and learning practitioner, informal educator, textbook publisher, and scientific outreach specialist communities? Examples of how learning engineering work and geoscience education work are intersecting will be shared (e.g., personalized and adaptive tutoring systems, dashboards in learning management systems, mobile applications, VR/AR experiences). Opportunities for knowledge exchange and collaboration between these disciplines to drive innovation in their respective fields will also be discussed.