From Instructional Design (ID) to Learner Experience (LX) Design
According to HolonIQ (2021), education spent $227B on digital in 2020; and this is forecast to increase to $404B by 2025. With so much money being spent on the edtech side of things; what are we doing to support educators to up-skill and integrate such technology? LX Design provides a framework and guiding principles to assist educators in the digital transformation that is happening across the education industry.
What is Learner Experience (LX) Design?
LX design is a transformational experience where you reconsider face to face or blended delivery for online experiences. It questions who your learner is; what you are asking the learner to do; what technology you are integrating and why; and how you can effectively integrate it rather than replace something that existed face to face. It merges frameworks from different disciplines to focus on the holistic experience for the learner; from educational frameworks, principles for Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and User Experience (UX) design. It is an approach that focuses on the needs of the learner and how they can be supported to achieve their goals rather than being content driven. What makes this approach unique is that it supports the integration of technology, questions the learner interactions and what you are asking them to do; rather than focussing on the content.
Why is it important?
Whilst technology has continued to evolve at a rapid pace, educational frameworks and how we design has largely remained the same over the past 20 years. COVID-19 has accelerated the shift in the reliance of technology in our world, and in particular for education. Whether that be for K-12, corporate, VET, or Higher Education we are seeing a massive shift in using different technology that was previously widely unknown. Whilst it has been rapid and exposed many educators to new ways of interacting; in talking to many educators, there has been a gap in the support of how to integrate these technologies effectively. As a result, the technology is sometimes not maximised to its full potential and therefore the usefulness of it is being questioned. So, rather than exploring the possibilities of the technology to enhance learner experience, it can sometimes become a burden to both the learner and educator. Learner experience design is learner-centered and the principles will guide you on how to effectively build learner experiences for your context. Since it focuses on the seamless interaction from the learner, content, and technology, it is more important now more than ever.
How is LX Design different to Instructional Design (ID)?
As an LX Designer you focus on how experiences ‘CAN’ be rather than how things ‘HAVE’ to be based on a linear process. There is a focus on problem solving and holistic experiences; adopting frameworks from different disciplines to effectively integrate technology rather than focus on a systematic methodology to design and develop content. There are other fundamental differences as identified by Floor (2021) as perspective, skills, methods, tools, and results.
How do you get started with LX Design?
Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither were online courses, so take your time and familiarise yourself with the principles and get started. If you aren’t familiar with any of the design principles, it's good to see what others are doing in this space. To do this you can connect with others on LinkedIn, see what others are doing in this space
When I got started, I connected with others, visited lxd.org and Stanford Design School to engage with different activities to you can do to challenge your thought process. There are so many resources out there, but here are my top 3 to get started.
Learning Experience Design - some great resources and information around LXD so be sure to check it out and if you haven’t already - join the LinkedIn community to connect with others and share your thinking.
Stanford Design School - explore the principles behind design thinking and some activities you can use to get started.
Arun Pradhan - A great blog worth following with information with so many different aspects of L&D and ways in which we learn - be sure to check it out.
There are so many resources out there to help you it can sometimes be overwhelming. Starting next week, I will share this process in a 6 part series over 2 weeks and show you how you can implement it for your context.
