Activity Theory as a Lens for Developing and Applying Personas and Scenarios in Learning Experience Design

• In Event: Learning Experience Design and Design Thinking

Abstract

As the field of LIDT shifts towards more human-centered design practice, the phenomenon of learning experience design (LXD) has emerged as a novel, multidisciplinary focus area. LXD equips designers with a range of useful methods for explicitly considering the learner within the learning context. Two methods that we argue are particularly well-suited for this are personas and scenarios. The development of personas and scenarios can be informed by activity theory, which provides a lens for holistically considering the technology usage context and the learner’s role therein. This work discusses the interplay of activity theory, personas, and scenarios, and illustrates how this can be potentially useful in learning experience design practice in two separate case examples. Implications are discussed.

Authors

• Matthew Schmidt, University of Florida

• Andrew Tawfik, University of Memphis