Experience Design

Abstract

It is essential to think about education online as comprehensively as possible. Experience design offers designers of online courses a comprehensive model informed by research and development in a number of areas that can provide a foundation for the effective design of online experiences that are functional and purposeful—and also engaging, compelling, memorable, and enjoyable. Experience design is an ancient practice, going back to the earliest human impulse to develop rituals, ceremonies, drama, and even architecture. But the design of experiences has become much more pervasive during the twentieth century. Media has played a central role, including radio, television, multimedia, and virtual reality. But experience design is also informed by new ideas in economics, especially Pine and Gilmore's notion of the emerging experience economy. And it draws upon ideas from artificial intelligence, the psychology of optimal experiences, sociology, and other areas, including electronic commerce, persuasive, human-computer interface design, drama, and digital storytelling. This article discusses key concepts and theories from all of these areas and explains how they can be adapted to the design of online learning experiences.