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The Information Exists. But Does the Learner Have a Pathway to It?

The idea that perceivable information is not necessarily accessible information. It asks how instructional designers can create multiple pathways to the same meaning...

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  5. The Information Exists. But Does the Learner Have a Pathway to It?
Animated demo titled "Bad Practice for Colour Coding." Two identical drag-and-match quizzes sort the terms Non-reliance, Additional cue, Clarity, Detectable and Control into "With Limitations" and "Without Limitations" boxes. When Check is clicked, one quiz turns entirely green and the other entirely red, with no icon or text, so the result is shown by colour alone.

Imagine designing a learning experience where the information is perfectly clear…
…but one of your learners has no way to access it.

The colour tells everyone else the answer.

They can't distinguish the colours.

The audio explains the concept.

They can't hear it.

The chart communicates the trend.

But the information isn't available in another usable form.

The information exists.
The learner doesn't have a pathway to it.
That, to me, is a sensory gap.

And I think this is where accessibility becomes much more interesting for instructional designers.

The question isn't only:

“How do I make this information perceivable?”

It's also:

“How many pathways have I given the learner to reach the same information?”
👁️ → 👂
👂 → 👁️
Colour → Text
Image → Alt text
Chart → Data/Table

One sensory pathway becomes limited?
Call another pathway into the picture.

I explored this idea much deeper in Quinn seed 2.
Click on link below.

Day 40 of Instructional Design

#InstructionalDesign#InstructionalDesigner#LearningAndDevelopment#LearningDesign#LearningExperienceDesign#LXD#Elearning#ELearningDesign#CurriculumDesign#CurriculumDeveloper#LearningJourney#Day1#Day2#LearningInPublic#BuildInPublic#SenseMakingNotes#MentalModels#TAWIQM#QuinnSeeds

In case you missed the Quinn Seed articles 👇

Quinn Seed #1- CLICK ME

Quinn Seed #2- CLICK ME

Where this comes from

  1. Check out "Learning Science" by Clark Quinn — If you design learning, teach, or train people, you need to understand what is actually happening when someone learns. Learning happens at the neural level, but we design for it at the cognitive level. There’s a lot more in Clark Quinn’s book that I can’t share because of **intellectual property**. Get the book and experience the learning yourself. 📚You Would Love It!
  2. Check out "40 L&D Stakeholder Challenges: Of L&D Leaders, Practitioners, Clients, and Learners" by Guy W. Wallace — This book shares the answers I got from my EPPI-PACT Guidance Bot. The free EPPI-PACT Guidance Bot is a digital, interactive knowledge-transfer resource designed to help Learning and Development (L&D) practitioners, performance consultants, and business leaders master and apply Guy W. Wallace’s Performance Improvement and Performance Based L&D methodologies.
  3. To Learn More Join the "Learning Development Accelerator" — Click the link to join the Amazing Learning Development Accelerator Group Where practice meets evidence