Matt Crosslin Dual Layer and Future 1-19-16 from Dr. Andy Berning on Vimeo.

Some of the work we do at LINK Lab is creating ways to help learners maintain autonomy over their learning process in the digital learning process. Most education is design as a “follow the instructor” pathway, where the learner follows a pre-set path through content (or chooses between a multitude of preset choices to create a “personalized” path). The Customizable Pathway design (FKA dual-layer) is a design approach that lets learners choose from the instructor content or their own content at any given point in the course. It’s a very learner-centered design that allows people to take control of their learning process. The video above is me talking with Andy Berning (also at the LINK Lab) about the basic idea. We have been tinkering with it for well over a year now, so I wrote a blog post about where my current thinking on the concept is. The past has been mostly focused on the instructional design side, but it seems to be clear that the future needs to be focused on helping the learner create their individualized pathway.