Educational product
From The Learning Engineer's Knowledgebase
An educational product is anything that is produced during the instructional design process. It is anything that is intentionally designed to be used by a person to learn something. The educational product is the version of an educational design that is implemented, or what is called "in distribution."
Definition
An educational product is a complete, assembled package of all of the informational materials, technology, interfaces that will be used in one or more educational experiences.
The packaging of an educational product can exist as any media that consolidates media materials and directs participants on how to use the product, such as a digital folder, app, software download, website, printed material, or a book. The wrap-around and consolidation of an educational product is an essential component as it defines the product as a singular, unique set of experiences for achieving the learning objectives. A completed educational product is the culmination of the design and development processes.
Additional Information
When considering what consists of a completed product, designers consider what the end result of a design will look like and how it will be "packaged" as a product. Although there is often no actual packaging and it is not placed on a store shelf and might not be sold or marketed, the educational product will almost always be distributed to and implemented by people who will use it.
An educational product is when the design process is no longer an idea and becomes a thing that can be used. The product is defined by the things that people interact with once the product is distributed for people to use. Most frequently, a product is a package of things that assembles the objects, documents, technologies, and media of the product in some way.
An educational design becomes a completed product is when is in the form of a complete project package that includes everything that a person will need to use the product.
Common elements of a completed educational product
- All materials, media, software, etc. are commonly "bound" or assembled as an app, website, document, book, or software that has a common branding theme (i.e., not making people go to many places or use multiple apps to use the product)
- Well-defined scope that is communicated to participants (e.g., duration, participation expectations)
- Fully specified activities and interactions that all participants are expected to take, as well as instructions on how to perform the activities or "getting started"
- Descriptions of how to get started and what people should do specifically when they start
- Include all documents and technology that are necessary for using the product. These should all be assembled in one "package" in a way that is accessible to people (e.g., downloadable, printed, or are on storage media)
- Descriptions of the individual features of the product
- Descriptions of goals for learners, objectives to complete, and purpose of the product
- Access to technologies to be used are fully functioning and available for use or download by participants who need to use them
- Common branding and descriptive materials to help share and distinguish the product from others
Common types of educational products
Products range in their duration and overall scope of what they accomplish and how they accomplish it. They can be single lessons or activities that last just minutes or days, all the way to full courses or academic programs that span months or even years.
- A single PDF document describing a series of activities and instructions on how to perform them
- A single lesson or collection of lessons (short-duration activities on specific topics)
- An instructional unit (usually, multiple lessons/activities combined all on the same topic)
- An instructional module
- A collection of informational media and content resources (e.g., a book, a collection of videos, this wiki!)
- An educational game or simulation
- A well-defined educational activity (with assembled supporting materials on how to do the activity)
- An app (e.g., mobile app, desktop app, web app)
- A website (with clear instructions on what to do or how to use it)
- Software (downloadable and run on a computer/phone, or via the web)
- A course (K-12, college)
- A training session (business, industry)
- A professional development program (present in any industry)
- An awareness campaign (e.g., charity educational campaigns, political campaigns)
- An academic program (e.g., a college major, a master's degree, a trade apprenticeship, business certification)
An educational product is similar to an educational experience, in that all products include experiences for the learners. However, a product is the assembled finished version of the activities, documents, media, and resources that will be used, which include one or more designed experiences for learners to participate in.
Tips and Tricks
- The goal of educational design is to build something that exists in a way that people can use it or interact with it so that they can learn. To accomplish this, you will need some kind of completed product that can be distributed, shared, and used by people.
- Consider what the final result of the development phase of your design will look like. What materials or content will exist, how will you describe to people what they should do, and how will you distribute your design? These are all aspects of what goes into the final educational product design.
- Think about how you will assemble all of your materials into a single "package". This can be a digital file folder with the documents and materials needed for the experience, or it can even be a single PDF document describing the activity and what people should do. It can be as extensive as a website or a software app with multiple interfaces that people use. What is important is to think about what things people will interact with - these define your product.
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