From Instruction to Interaction: Reflexive Learning Design for Cross-Generational Engagement at the Workplace

Gita Aulia Nurani, Ya-Hui Lee

As workforces grow increasingly age-diverse, designing learning environments that foster meaningful engagement across generations has become a practical necessity and a conceptual challenge. This paper argues for a shift from traditional, hierarchical models of instruction toward reflexive, interaction-driven approaches to learning design. The study repositions intergenerational learning as a relational and communicative process, where learners are not passive recipients of knowledge but active participants in co-constructing meaning. Reflexivity, understood as a continuous, critical awareness of one's position, assumptions, and influence within the learning system. It is presented as a core methodological and pedagogical tool for designing inclusive, adaptive, and reciprocal learning experiences. Rather than viewing generational differences as barriers, this perspective embraces them as sources of diversity that enrich collaborative inquiry and innovation. The paper explores key design principles such as dialogic learning, emotional safety, shared agency, and mutual respect, emphasizing the importance of feedback loops and non-linear knowledge exchange. By moving beyond age-based stereotypes and fixed instructional models, reflexive learning design opens possibilities for sustaining lifelong learning and fostering more human-centered organizational cultures. Ultimately, this work advocates for intergenerational learning environments that are educational and transformative.

Full Text