--- title: "7 ways to learn: Exploratory Interfaces" description: Explore exploratory interfaces that encourage self-driven, interactive learning experiences. image: https://desq.co.uk/hubfs/post%203%20header.jpg --- × ![Newsletter](https://desq.co.uk/hubfs/newsletter.png) ## Sign up to our newsletter [![Desq logo](https://desq.co.uk/hubfs/logo-white.svg "Desq logo")](https://desq.co.uk/) [![Desq logo](https://desq.co.uk/hubfs/logo-col.svg "Desq logo")](https://desq.co.uk/) - [What we offer](https://desq.co.uk/what-we-offer) - [What we do](https://desq.co.uk/what-we-do) - [About us](https://desq.co.uk/about-us) - [Work](https://desq.co.uk/work) - [News](https://desq.co.uk/news) - [Contact](https://desq.co.uk/contact) # 7 ways to learn online For Learning at Work Week 2026, we're exploring seven ways digital learning can go beyond the traditional course. Each day this week, we'll share a different approach. Today we're looking at exploratory interfaces. Learn More ![7waystolearn](https://desq.co.uk/hubfs/7waystolearn.jpg) # 7 ways to learn: Exploratory Interfaces [Laura Giles](https://desq.co.uk/news/author/laura-giles) May 20, 2026 ![post 3 header](https://desq.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/post%203%20header.jpg?width=960&height=389&name=post%203%20header.jpg) ## **Many ways to learn No.3:** Exploratory Interfaces An exploratory interface is an interactive system designed for investigation and discovery; a non-linear, clickable environment where learners can navigate freely. Think hotspots, expanding panels, animated transitions between sections and embedded multimedia. A branching visual interface where every choice opens up new material. There's no prescribed path, no next button to click. Instead, learners are free to follow their curiosity, dig into what interests them, and construct understanding at their own pace. The learning emerges from the experience of navigating, noticing, and making sense of things for ourselves. prove. The game becomes a system of cause and effect, and the learner is embedded inside it. ## ![Asset 4](https://desq.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/Asset%204.png?width=239&height=97&name=Asset%204.png) Jean Piaget and his theory of constructivism is a foundational figure here. When a learner encounters something unexpected, it creates what Piaget called "disequilibrium" — a cognitive tension that drives them to adapt their understanding. Jerome Bruner built on this with a pedagogical approach he called discovery learning — the idea that learners should be encouraged to discover principles for themselves rather than having them explained. He argued this leads to deeper understanding and better retention, because the learner has done the cognitive work of arriving there. Bruner, J. S. (1961). The act of discovery. Harvard Educational Review, 31(1), 21–32. Piaget, J. (1952). The Origins of Intelligence in Children. International Universities Press.  ## **Project profile:  **Red Bull Wingfinder — Strengths Explorer  Red Bull's Wingfinder is a personality assessment that offers insight into your strengths at work. But having your results is only the beginning. Understanding them is another thing entirely. We designed the Strengths Explorer as an interface for that deeper understanding. ![redbull ipad 1](https://desq.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/redbull%20ipad%201.webp?width=960&height=552&name=redbull%20ipad%201.webp) Users move freely across the four areas and 24 personality traits, choosing what to investigate and in what order. They can discover what each characteristic means in practice, hear directly from Red Bull athletes who share those traits, and explore the full spectrum of each dimension — understanding not just where they sit, but what the extremes look like and why it matters. ![redbull ipad 2](https://desq.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/redbull%20ipad%202.webp?width=960&height=552&name=redbull%20ipad%202.webp) Every user takes a different path through the same material, guided by their own curiosity and the areas of their personality they are most interested in addressing. ![](https://desq.co.uk/hubfs/newsletter.png) Sign up to our newsletter **Like to hear more bite-sized L&D news and views from Desq?** Subscribe to our quarterly newsletter – **Story Board**. 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