What does a learning designer do?
It’s never been easier to publish your own online course. There is a multitude of learning platforms, software and tools out there to help you get your course up and running. You have the knowledge. How hard could it be?
Sarah’s putting her training online!
Sarah’s been running her own business for a few years now and face-2-face training is an important part of the services she offers. She loves sharing her knowledge and expertise with other people and helping them to be great by learning from her experience.
Sarah’s decided to adapt her face-2-face course into an online course. Seeing as she already has the course materials ready to go, Sarah jumps in and starts uploading her content to the learning platform she’s chosen. But it just doesn’t look right – there’s way too much text, the written words don’t speak the way she would if she was standing in the training room, the layout is inconsistent, the learning objectives seem vague, there are different colours and fonts on each screen, there are no graphics or media yet = it just doesn’t flow.
Whether you have a new course in mind, want to review/update an existing course, or maybe, like Sarah, you need to adapt a face-2-face course to the online environment, learning design is the key.
What is learning design?
Learning design supports people and organisations to perform and continuously improve. It is the creation of learning experiences that result in the acquisition and application of knowledge, skills, and behaviours.
The quality of any learning experience is a direct result of the quality of the learning design, whether we’re talking about
big or small learning programs,
online, face-to-face, virtual or eLearning,
organisational, workforce, team, or individual learning,
public, private, profit or not-for-profit organisations.
Learning design is a systematic, iterative and creative process that considers and plans for all of the elements needed to create that quality learning experience.
Instructional design vs. learning design vs. learning experience design vs. learner-centred design
These terms that are often used interchangeably, but there are differences:
Learning design
A learner-centred design approach that enables 'teachers/designers to make more informed decisions in how they go about designing learning activities and interventions, which is pedagogically informed and makes effective use of appropriate resources and technologies. (Designing and developing your online course).
Instructional design
The systematic development of instructional specifications using learning and instructional theory to ensure the quality of instruction. It is the entire process of analysing learning needs and goals and developing a delivery system to meet those needs. It includes the development of instructional materials and activities and tryout and evaluation of all instruction and learner activities. (Definitions of Instructional Design)
Learning experience design
The process of creating learning experiences that enable the learner to achieve the desired learning outcome in a human-centred and goal-oriented way. (What is learning experience design?)
Learner-centred design
A learner-centered approach views learners as active agents. They bring their own knowledge, past experiences, education, and ideas – and this impacts how they take on board new information and learn.’ (Learner-Centered Approaches: Why They Matter and How to Implement Them)
In this blog, I've used the term 'learning design' to mean all of these: the experience will not be valuable without good content and a solid instructional approach; content and instruction alone will not create a great learning experience; focussing on the needs of the learner is important and so are the needs of the organisation. Good learning design is an iterative dance between all of these elements and approaches.
What does a learning designer do?
Learning designers work with organisations and people to help solve their performance problems. Performance problems such as work not being up to standard, inappropriate behaviours or interpersonal relations, a need to upskill or reskill, poor time management, an inability to prioritise, a false sense of urgency, onboarding recruits, ineffective leadership, poor work culture, or lack of succession planning. Problems that may affect the whole organisation, a team, or may sit at an individual level. Solutions can range from formal learning programs to coaching to job aids. It all depends on what the organisation and target audience need to achieve.
Learning designers…
…know how people learn and behave, they
Understand the key principles behind adult learning, memory, attention, and human behaviour to design relevant and effective learning solutions.
Use sound pedagogical strategies to help people work, learn and perform better.
Focus on the learner and the learning process, not the teacher and the instructional process.
…make deliberate and informed decisions
What, when, where, and how the learning program will take place.
Content, structure, timing, sequence of learning activities, type, and frequency of knowledge checks and assessments, the technology that will be used to support learning.
…design for
Context: a big part in learning design decisions, what works in one workplace may not work in another.
Psychological safety: to create a learning environment where people feel free to ask questions, try new skills, make mistakes, challenge assumptions – where they believe they are safe to take risks.
Psychological safety is characterised by interpersonal trust and mutual respect in which people are comfortable being themselves.’ (Psychological Safety and Learning Behaviour in Work Teams)
Different delivery methods: learning designers know which delivery method to use for maximum learning impact:
eLearning, aka online learning, using software such as Rise, Storyline, Captivate or platforms like Thinkific, Teachable, Coursera.
Virtual learning, aka live online learning, through platforms such as Zoom, MS Teams, Google Classrooms.
Face-2-face learning, aka in-person learning, group learning in a training room.
Hybrid learning, aka blended learning, a bespoke mix of delivery methods that maximise learning effectiveness.
Learning transfer: to help learners take what they’ve learnt and use it in the real world.
Learning transfer can be defined as the sustained behavioural change that happens after learning, turning a cost into an investment. Learning transfer is important because it's what helps organisations actually get real business results from training. (Why is learning transfer important?)
…use instructional design models and systematic processes
For example, ADDIE:
Analyse
What is the perceived performance issue?
What is the real performance issue?
Who is having the issue?
Why is there an issue?
What outcome is the business seeking?
For a deeper dive have a look at Needs assessment: what learning and development do you need?
Design & Develop
Start at the end - what will the learner know or be able to do at the end of the learning program that they couldn't do before? This will become the learning and performance objectives and measurements – the learning designers ‘true north’. Every learning design decision must align with the learning objective/s – content, exercises and activities, media, images, knowledge checks and assessments, delivery methods, workbooks, tools, templates, handouts, visual design, how long the course will take = everything!
Starting at the end is known as ‘backward design’ – working backwards from the objectives to design a learning program that achieves the objectives. Think of it like planning a road trip – if you don’t know your destination, how will you work out how to get there?
If you’d like to read more: Backward Design.
Implement & Evaluate
It’s Showtime! Your learning program is ready to take to the people. Now it’s time to see how it lands:
Is everything in the course working as you intended?
How are the learners experiencing the learning program?
Does the learning program fulfil its promise? Are the learners achieving the learning objectives?
What is working well? What could be done better?
What adjustments need to be made that will improve the learning program?
…design
Structure and form: creating a logical flow that enables the development of knowledge, skills and behaviours.
Storyboards and session plans: essential for effective learning design, storyboards (eLearning programs) and session plans (virtual or face-2-face learning programs) are the detailed plans that specify, describe and sequence every part of the program.
Learning exercises and activities: true learning happens when learners can use their new knowledge/skills/behaviours. Learning exercises and activities help to embed the learning by allowing learners to practice what they've learnt.
Visual style: choosing colours, fonts, graphics layout and composition that support the learning process.
Knowledge checks and quizzes (formative assessment): to enable the learning provider to evaluate, measure and document learners' development, and provide learners with constructive feedback and a sense of progress and achievement.
Assessments(summative: the methods and tools used to evaluate
…chunk and sequence
Learning designers chunk the content into meaningful pieces of information and create a logical sequence for the chunks to be delivered to the learner in a way that generates learning.
…create and curate content
Content is the foundation of any learning program, and it needs to be shaped for the learning need. It may be that the content needs to be written, curated, reviewed or re-written.
Good writing is essential to good learning so learners can digest, understand and retain the necessary knowledge.
…develop instructional materials
Student guides, workbooks, facilitator guides, presentations, handouts, templates, checklists, knowledge checks, assessment guides.
…create and innovate
Learning designers obsess over their learners and constantly look for new ways to deliver engaging, purposeful and practical learning.
…collaborate and iterate
A people-focused profession, learning designers work collaboratively with multiple stakeholders, including project owners, CEOs, senior leaders, subject matter experts, people managers, contractors, and vendors, to design the best solution to fix the problem.
Learning designers help people and organisations grow, develop and perform
They know how people learn and use systematic and creative processes that lead to the development of practical and relevant knowledge, skills, and behaviours. Quality learning design lies at the heart of every teaching effort. Whether you work in learning and development or are an expert who wants to share your knowledge and expertise, how you plan and design your course will determine its success.