June: Favorites for the Month
We asked our Learning Experience Designers to list their favorite books, articles, podcasts, and music for June.
Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love by Marty Cagan
This book has redefined the role that product management plays in the creation of good tech products. A great read if you are interested in understanding how successful tech companies organize their design teams to create fast, effective products. — Brian Tillman
Dare to Lead Podcast
I’ve been loving this podcast by Brené Brown. It’s heartfelt, honest, and truly inspiring to hear from leaders in various industries. Be sure to check out the episode with Aiko Bethea on Creating Transformative Cultures — it’s such a good one! — Amanda Johnson
Mood Booster playlist in Spotify
Lately, I have been obsessed with this playlist and use it to wake up and focus first thing in the morning. The beats are very uplifting and it has helped me to be in a better mood, which translates into more creativity! — Agueda Mija Chavez
Science of Well Being (Coursera)
This course digs into questions of how to reduce stress and live a happier life, all backed through science! I’ve found it especially insightful as the course directly addresses mitigating some of the realities we all face living in our modern world (think social media and advertising) and the influence that has on our well-being and the well-being of those around us. It’s Yale’s most popular course ever, and it’s being offered for free on Coursera! — Dawna Kelley
Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts
I adore these videos — I just pull up the YouTube playlist and hit “Play All”. Always chill, always good, and often amazing. Plus I get introduced to a lot of new music this way. — Dawna Kelley
Theme: All about Learning Personas
Our design team is taking a professional learning course together about the design process. Last week we talked about the impact of conducting user research in different manners, which reminded me of the continuous debate of creating learner personas. But…is it even necessary? Does it work under the learning design context? What is the difference between a UX persona and a Learner persona? If you also have those questions like me, check out these articles and start using personas to facilitate your design smartly! — Hankun He
Article: Learner Personas for Instructional Design
Are your findings ‘WEIRD’? by B. Azar
This month my personal learning topic is: External Validity
This article from the American Psychological Association is short and old but it was interesting to learn about the acronym WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic). The article shares findings from researchers from the University of British Columbia. They found that people who fall under the WEIRD background represent as much as 80% of most studies participants, but they are only 12% of the world’s population. I am always wondering about how to accurately represent the voice of different users and their communities. Has anyone else found interesting articles on this topic?
Research is a critical step in product design. The type of data we choose to use and how we interpret that data can have a huge impact on the final product — these are two factors that separate a viable product from a product that excels. — Karen Vazquez
How East and West think in profoundly different ways by David Robson
This month my personal learning topic is: External Validity
This BBC article talks about the bias of only using WEIRD population in research. The article suggested that different populations have different psychologies. For example, studies have shown western countries tend to embrace “individualism” more while eastern countries tend to have the concept of “collectivism”. Test subjects from different countries would have different perspectives and therefore the answers would be altered affecting the validity of the experiment. The article also suggests that other factors like environment, culture, and age, can affect people’s opinions.
I think the concept of external validity is important because certain populations can be hard to access due to time or monetary constraints. If under constraints, it’s important to examine the sample population group to ensure proper representation of the target group. — Karen Vazquez
Article: How East and West think in profoundly different ways
Viny DJ Session Mixes
June was a fairly busy month for me that required a lot of heads-down time. Getting into a good work flow can be a bit difficult for me, especially if I have a lot of tasks to get through. Luckily, a number of talented DJ’s have been uploading at-home vinyl mixes on YouTube that quickly get me into a productive rhythm. Some day I’ll be able to mix as good as these lads, some day… — Luis Ramirez
Visual Notes for Architects and Designers by Norman Crowe and Paul Laseau
I’ve been bullet journaling since the beginning of 2020 and have found my own set up that allows to me use it as a productive tool to get me organized. I’ve been wanting to explore ways to improve how I translate thoughts and ideas into visual notes. This book covers many strategies that help introduce and establish rapid visualization into a work flow. While the book is more geared toward architects and designers, the concepts apply for any designer who may need to break concepts and processes into more tangible stages. — Luis Ramirez
Have you read or listening to any of our picks for the month? Do you have any recommendations for us? Let us know, we’d love to hear from you!
Check out our wgu blog to learn more about the projects our full wgu labs team is working on, and to hear from our amazing researchers and interviews with our leadership.
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