The Learning Designer Playbook

Because what the f@&k is the point, otherwise? Whether you got into course creation because you thought teaching was a good gig, or you saw course creation as a fast way to make money, or you wanted to transform someone’s life by sharing what you know through courses, or you own a business and you need to train folks who work for you or who are using your product, the learner experience matters. The better the experience the more likely you are to get good reviews, return learners, and actually make an impact (really why you started down the path right?).  That doesn’t mean that we’re solely responsible for the learner’s experience. Sh*t happens; life gets in the way, they don't actually have the time to take the course, etc. etc. BUT, we do need to take some responsibility because it impacts their engagement with us, with the content, and with what we want them to learn. A good learner experience is also not just about the content, but also the context, activities, and persona...

What is Learning Design? That depends on who you ask, but I’ll tell you why I landed on Learning Designer as the bucket I’m throwing my skills in.  Before I start, I want to point out that I'm shortening Learning Experience Design (LXD) to Learning Design here. It's just my personal preference. In all my 16 years of teaching, 15 of those being online, I’ve always made a distinction between design and delivery of a course.  I initially made this distinction because the very first course I taught, a “developmental” writing course at the local community college, counted as an internship during my last semester of my Master’s degree. So I was expected to design first as part of my portfolio.  The design is what happens before you have learning active in a learning space. It’s the planning, the creation, the outlined detailed steps to get from point A to point B (often referred to as Instructional Design, or ID). I walked into class every day with lesson plans (ok, they were l...