Expanding a Temporal Vocabulary Towards Designing for “Undiscoverable Learning”

Narratives of learning often implicitly rely on linear temporalities, such as understanding time through a clock or positioning learning as a trajectory. When designing technology-rich learning environments, we need attention to the multiple times and temporalities that exist. In this paper, we expand on a temporal vocabulary [27] to conceptualize how we may attend to and design for alternative temporalities for understanding learning in technology-rich learning environments. We conceptualize undiscoverable learning [39] as a generative orientation for configuring non-linear time(s). To develop this combination, we first describe a 3-year partnership for the design of technology-rich learning environments with a public library in the southwestern US through encounters and other-time. We then offer three original terms that help expand our understanding of temporality in design for learning: traces, stamps, and renderings. The implications of this work can be seen across the intersections of learning, HCI, and design.