Creating and maintaining an inclusive environment that makes anyone feel welcome requires conscious and consistent effort. Whether it’s presentation, operation, or curation—incorporating your team’s voices in a healthy and organic manner as a business practice requires thinking outside the box.

In this episode of the Rosenfeld Review, you’ll hear from Danielle Barnes, CEO of Women Talk Design, as she and Lou discuss the fundamentals of designing meetings and conference presentations that are more inclusive.

Key points Danielle and Lou address include:

• Remolding non-inclusive systems to which women and non-binary folks are forced to adapt;
• Assigning rotating facilitator roles, and how those roles can promote inclusivity;
• How truly “listening” to those who are speaking can give facilitators the insights they need to curate a fantastic meeting;
• Raising awareness for the consequences of being talked over, and how to drive safety and accessibility in meetings for team members; and
• Tips to improve your natural stage presence when giving a talk.

You’ll also hear insights in how to create more inclusive environments by empowering those whose voices are not heard—and how safe spaces, when done right, help make this happen.

Women Talk Design with Danielle Barnes

Jenae Cohn is executive director at the Center for Teaching and Learning at UC Berkeley and, along with Michael Greer, author of the new book Design for Learning: User Experience in Online Teaching and Learning. Jenae and Michael’s book helps designers create compelling educational content. Think of it as required reading for anyone designing an online course, webinar, training, or workshop. 
Designing a platform intended to educate goes beyond traditional UX design. 

Jenae’s book does the following:
• Looks at the science behind learning and articulates how to help someone be a learner
• Helps designers understand the complex array of needs that learners have and create more purposeful learning experiences 

Learning is motivated by social interactions and emotions. In fact, the learning process is typically social, and most are motivated knowing that they’re not learning in isolation but in or for community. Designers should capitalize on these motivations. 

Tips for making online learning more social:
• Take “temperature” checks throughout the course – for example, a poll or quiz 
• Allow comments on shared artifacts and shared annotation
• Prompt discussions and assign roles if needed 
• Remember that a webinar will not necessarily create a social experience

As designers get started on creating online instructional material, Jenae reminds them to be kind to themselves. After all, designing for learners is an iterative learning process. Also, it’s critical to create checkpoints and opportunities along the way to garner feedback. With the aid of Jenae and Michael’s book, we can depart from the days of dull online courses and make them truly vibrant spaces of growth.

What you’ll learn from this episode
• Why typical online learning platforms are so dull and what can be done differently to make them more engaging and compelling
• How instructional designers and UX designers can learn from one another
• How designers can make online learning more social 
• How designers can know if they’re meeting their goals

Quick Reference Guide
[0:00:21] Introduction of Jenae Cohn
[0:01:41] Design for Learning – Why we need a UX book for learning/teaching products
[0:05:17] Why UX designers may be surprised by what they didn’t know about designing with learning in mind
[0:08:58] What instructional designers can learn from UX designers
[0:12:14] Hybrid environments in learning products 
[0:15:07] DesignOps Summit – Oct 2-6, 2023 https://rosenfeldmedia.com/designopssummit2023/
[0:16:13] Learning is social – how to help online learners stay engaged 
[0:24:58] How a designer can determine if their learners have had a good outcome
[0:30:40] Advice for designers moving into the learning design space
[0:33:29] Jenae’s gift to listeners

Resources and links from today’s episode:
Design for Learning: User Experience in Online Teaching and Learning by Jenae Cohen and Michael Greer https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/design-for-learning/
The UX of Educational Technology Community https://www.uxedtech.com

Jenae Cohn on Designing for Learning

Dan Hill is the director of the Melbourne School of Design at the University of Melbourne, and author of Dark Matter and Trojan Horses: A Strategic Design Vocabulary and Designing Missions. And he’s the opening speaker at the inaugural Designing with AI conference, where he’ll be presenting “Designing for the Infrastructures of Everyday Life”. 

Like it or not, AI is a growing part of our infrastructure—not just the infrastructure of our phones, our computers, and the internet—but that of our physical world. It’s increasingly used to support the very fundamental systems that maintain our cities, hospitals, utilities, and educational systems. On some levels, this is cause for concern. After all, we’ve seen other implementations of AI (think riding-sharing services) that have not lived up to their promise but have instead aggravated some of the problems they sought to address.

Dan is a big-picture guy with an ability to draw principles from history and other sectors. He understands that utilizing AI is inevitable. The challenge is recognizing the interconnectedness of our various systems and working together to build infrastructures that truly create better life experiences for all.  

What You'll Learn from this Episode:
- The many facets of infrastructures
- How AI is currently being used and how it might be used in the future to support our infrastructures
- Why ride-sharing is not exactly an AI model worth repeating
- Why the Japanese and Finnish models work well in those environments but aren’t necessarily transferable to more diverse cultures
- Why quality of life will only improve with a more holistic, integrated design approach

Quick Reference Guide
0:37 - Introduction of Dan
3:49 - AI as infrastructure
8:30 - How AI might be used to further support infrastructure systems
12:09 - Will the impact of AI actually make life better? 
18:59 - Plug for Managing Priorities by Harry Max. Get 15% off!
20:15 - The metaphor of designing looking through a lens and technology’s impact on the material world
26:16 - Helpful models – the Japanese and Finnish cultures
31:52 - Dan’s gift to the audience

Resources and Links from Today's Episode:
Dark Matter and Trojan Horses: A Strategic Design Vocabulary by Dan Hill https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Matter-Trojan-Horses-Vocabulary/dp/0992914639/ 
Managing Priorities: How to Create Better Plans and Make Smarter Decisions by Harry Max https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/managing-priorities/ 
Designing with AI Conference, June 4-5 https://rosenfeldmedia.com/events/futures/ 
Smoke and Ashes: Opium’s Hidden Histories by Amitav Ghosh  https://www.amazon.com/Smoke-Ashes-Opiums-Hidden-Histories/dp/0374602921

AI as Infrastructure with Dan Hill

Intercom co-founder Des Traynor chats with Clearleft CEO and design thought leader Andy Budd. Andy explains why young startups tend to prioritize development over design, the role designers will play in the new world of voice and chat-based UIs, and much more.

Andy Budd, CEO At Clearleft

Lou Rosenfeld talks with a LOT of brilliant, interesting changemakers in the UX world and beyond. Subscribe to the Rosenfeld Media podcast for a bird's eye view into what shifts UX faces, and how individuals and teams can respond in ways that drive success.

AI as Infrastructure with Dan Hill

The Rosenfeld Review Podcast (Rosenfeld Media)

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