Learning Experience Design (LXD)

A year ago I shared a framework called GROWTH™. It didn’t perform particularly well. Which is funny, because over time it’s become one of the models I rely on most when designing learning experiences. Most training programs are built as courses. But the way people actually develop capability looks very different. Progress happens across a series of experiences—practice, feedback, reflection, and iteration. In other words, it happens through a learning journey, not a single event. The GROWTH framework is a way to design those journeys more intentionally. It breaks the process into six stages: G — Goal Setting R — Research & Empathy O — Outline the Experience W — Work in Layers T — Test & Adapt H — Highlight Progress Over the past year, I revisited the framework, expanded it, and turned it into a practical guide with examples, worksheets, and a full case study on redesigning onboarding as a learning journey. I also realized something interesting. GROWTH is actually one of the foundational pieces behind another model I’ve been developing called The Academy Engine™, which focuses on building scalable learning ecosystems. If the Academy Engine explains how education systems operate, GROWTH focuses on how the learning journey itself should be designed. If you’d like the full guide and templates, you can download it below. Curious how others think about this. When you design learning, do you think in terms of courses or journeys?

Do Learners Really Want More Content—Or Just One Moment That Sticks? 🤔 At first glance, it’s a casual question—about chips, maybe even vacation days. But in the world of corporate learning, this question reflects a deeper tension between scarcity and abundance—and our strange relationship with both. Let me explain. As Learning Experience Designers, we often work in high-pressure environments. Business stakeholders want high adoption, frequent touchpoints, and rapid capability building. That often translates into more learning content, faster delivery cycles, and multiple campaigns running in parallel. But here’s what I’ve noticed: the more we fill the bag, the less each item is appreciated. 🛍️ A colleague once told me: “Learners don’t need a playlist—they need a moment.” That changed my design philosophy. I began creating learning experiences that didn’t just “add more,” but instead made each interaction matter more. It’s the difference between handing someone a bag of chips and inviting them to a food tasting. One is fast, forgettable. The other is mindful and memorable. 🍟✨ Here’s how I did that in practice: I use a simple framework called S.E.A.M. 🧵 | Scarcity. Emotion. Attention. Meaning. One of our most successful learning activations had just one artifact—a personal story from a peer, captured in a raw, 2-minute video. No click-throughs. No quiz. No gamification. But it was shared 5x more than any other asset. 🎯Why? Because it was human, limited, and real. Abundance gives us breadth. Scarcity gives us depth. We don’t have to pick sides. We just have to decide what the moment calls for. ⏳ So, how many more are in the bag? Maybe enough. Maybe not. But this one—right here, right now—is the only one of its kind. Let’s make it matter. 💡 #learningwithhiral #learningeveryday #microlearning #LearningExperienceDesign #CorporateLearning #ScarcityInDesign #LearningThatSticks #LXDesign #SEAMFramework

The Inconvenient Truth About Learning Design: From Content to Context As we delve deeper into the realms of education and professional development, there is an undeniable shift taking place. Many organizations still cling to the age-old idea that providing an abundance of content equates to effective learning. However, the inconvenient truth is that this approach is no longer sufficient. It’s time to move from content saturation to context-driven learning! The crux of effective learning design lies not just in the "what" but in the "how" and "why." Here are a few key insights on how this paradigm shift can redefine our strategies: 1. Understanding the Learner's Journey: Contextual learning begins with understanding the backgrounds, experiences, and challenges learners face. Tailoring content to real-world scenarios allows for a deeper connection and better retention. 2. Emphasizing Application Over Memorization: In a world filled with information, the capacity to apply knowledge in practical ways is paramount. When learning experiences are grounded in relevant contexts, they become not just theoretical but transferrable to real-life situations. 3. Creating Collaborative Environments: A learning design focused on context encourages interaction and collaboration. By facilitating a space where learners can share experiences and insights, we promote a richer, more diverse learning ecosystem. 4. Measuring Impact, Not Just Engagement: It's not enough to just collect data on how many people viewed your content. The real metric of success is the transformation that occurs— how the knowledge is applied and what changes result from it. 5. Iterative Learning Experiences: The journey of context-driven learning should be continuous. Regular feedback and refinement help ensure that learning experiences constantly evolve to meet the dynamic needs of learners. The future of learning design isn’t just about filling minds with information; it’s about creating meaningful, contextual experiences that inspire change. As we embrace this shift, let us challenge ourselves: how can we design learning experiences that go beyond content and truly resonate with our audiences? I invite you to share your thoughts below on how we can move from content to context in our learning approaches. Your insights could be the catalyst for someone else's journey! #LearningDesign #ContextOverContent #Education #ProfessionalDevelopment #LifelongLearning #LearningStrategies

Designing learning that works for every mind. In preparation for our session at World of Learning in October, Emma Hutchins and I are asking neurodivergent learners to share the 'one thing' above all others that would improve their digital learning experience. Thanks so much to everyone who engaged with and contributed to our last LI post. The list below is what we have so far. But are we missing anything? We'd love to hear from you in the comments if your 'one thing' doesn't appear on our list. Content design and structure - Provide clear and consistent instructions throughout all learning materials. - Ensure a clear and logical content structure so information fits neatly into well-defined categories. - Avoid poor colour contrast and other design issues that contribute to sensory overload. - Avoid locked navigation controls (like 'Continue' buttons) unless it is obvious what needs to be completed to progress. Control over media and sensory input - If possible, avoid linking to external video sites (such as YouTube) unless the learner’s return path is clear and accessible. - Do not include moving or animated content unless learners can pause or stop it. - Allow learners to change the speed of video content (both slower and faster) to suit their processing needs. - Always provide transcripts for video and audio to offer choice in how content is accessed. - Give learners control over narration and audio - allow them to start, stop, or bypass it entirely. - Keep multimedia experiences manageable to avoid overstimulation from multi-sensory overload. Assessment and feedback design - Write unambiguous questions and instructions and test them for clarity. - Provide clear, direct feedback for knowledge checks - explicitly state the correct answer and explain why it is correct. - Avoid double negatives in both questions and feedback, as they slow comprehension and retention. #WOL25 #Neurodiversity #Inclusion #Accessibility  (Five outlined human profiles, each with different colourful brain representations, including connected nodes, flowers, gears, puzzle pieces, and hearts, symbolising diverse thinking styles.)

Most learning experiences fail. Not because they lack content. Not because they aren’t engaging. But because they confuse motion with action. - Learners finish an interactive course—but can’t apply a single concept. - Employees earn certifications—but their performance stays the same. - Teams attend workshops—but nothing changes in how they work. Your beautifully designed courses might be keeping learners busy without moving them forward. The difference between motion and action explains why so many well-designed learning experiences fail to create real change. Motion 🔄 vs. Action 🛠️ in Learning Design Motion is consuming information—watching videos, reading content, clicking through slides. Action is applying knowledge—practicing skills, making decisions, solving problems. Motion FEELS productive. Action IS productive. ❌ What doesn’t work: - Content-heavy modules with no real-world application - Knowledge checks that test memory, not mastery - Gamification that rewards progress, not proficiency - Beautiful interfaces that prioritize scrolling over doing ✅ What works instead: - Micro-challenges that force immediate application - Project-based assessments with real-world constraints - Deliberate practice with quick feedback loops - "Demo days" where learners publish/present their work 3 Common Motion Traps 🪤 1️⃣ The Endless Content Cycle Overloading learners with information but giving them no space to apply it. A 40-page module doesn’t drive change—practice does. 2️⃣ The Engagement Illusion Designing for clicks, badges, and completion rates instead of real skill-building. Just because learners show up doesn’t mean they’re growing. 3️⃣ The Passive Learning Trap Building "Netflix for learning" experiences that entertain but don’t transform. Learning feels good—but does it change behavior? What to Do Next? 💡 - Audit your learning experience. Calculate the ratio of consumption time vs. creation time for your learners. - If learners spend more than 50% consuming, redesign for action. The best learning designers don’t create the most content. They create the most transformation. Are you designing for motion or action?

Most learning doesn’t fail because the content is wrong. It fails because the emotional experience wasn’t built into its design. We keep treating adult learning like a cognitive exercise when in reality, adults learn through emotion first, logic second. Adults don’t resist learning itself. They resist when learning makes them feel: 😡 Exposed. 😡 Unsafe. 😡 Overwhelmed. 😡 Talked at instead of designed for. That’s where emotional intelligence (EQ) stops being a “soft skill” and becomes the operating system of effective learning design. Here’s what the research and lived experience keep confirming: ✅ Emotion precedes cognition. Learners decide whether they feel safe enough to engage long before they decide whether to learn. ✅ Psychological safety predicts retention and transfer. When threat is present (judgment, pressure, fear), learning shuts down. ✅ Relevance is emotional, not logical. Adults don’t change because something is important. They change because it matters to them. ✅ Behavior change is identity work. New skills stick only when learners feel capable, supported, and seen. When we design learning with EQ at the center, everything shifts: 😊 Self‑awareness becomes reflection 😊 Self‑regulation creates psychological safety 😊 Motivation turns into meaning 😊 Empathy drives inclusion 😊 Social skills unlock connection At that point, learning stops being an event and starts becoming a human experience. Organizational learning was never meant to be simple content delivery. It was meant to change how people see themselves, what they believe they’re capable of, and new ways they can add value to the organization. When we design for the whole human, we don’t just deliver content. We unlock confidence, capability, and real behavior change. That’s where learning finally does what it was always meant to do: transform. If you design learning, save this. If you’ve ever sat through training that missed the human side, share it. If you've got a brilliant method to bring more EQ into ID, post it. ⬇️ #LearningDesign #EmotionalIntelligence #AdultLearning #TalentDevelopment #InstructionalDesign #LeadershipDevelopment #HumanCenteredDesign

First-time learners don’t need harder problems. They need better examples. In my latest blog post, I unpack why the humble “worked example” outpaces unguided practice for novices — and how this flips a lot of our L&D instincts. Picture this: Maria, three weeks into her role as a financial advisor. Her boss gives her a real client, throws a massive spreadsheet at her, and says: “Good luck.” That’s not learning. That’s drowning. Here’s the twist: We know from research that making things hard for learners can help memory and mastery. Yet, for absolute beginners, jumping straight into full solo problem‐solving often overloads working memory, wrecks schema formation, and slows learning. That’s where worked examples come in: complete models, step-by-step, with rationale. They give learners the “map” so their brain can start building the landscape before they travel it. The practical takeaway for your L&D toolkit: Start with worked examples when learners are in the novice stage: Show full solutions and explain why each step matters. Fade support gradually—as expertise builds—moving from full example → completion tasks → faded scaffolding → independent problem solving. Don’t assume “harder = better” from the start. The right difficulty at the right time is what matters. Segment your audience by prior knowledge: Novices benefit most from heavy structure; experienced learners need the reverse. If you’re designing any workplace learning—onboarding, skill drills, technical training—this means: • Let learners see the expert path first. • Let them understand it. • Then let them do it. And only crank up the complexity after their schemas are solid. That’s how you get more “Aha!” moments and fewer blank stares. Why this matters (for you as a learning designer): Our job isn’t to make everything feel hard; it’s to make things meaningfully doable—so learners stay confident, attentive, and steadily grow. Worked examples are one of our most reliable tools for that early stage. Would love to hear your thoughts: Have you used worked examples recently? What happened when you skipped them? Drop a comment & let’s swap stories. https://lnkd.in/g-N8yfPP #LearningDesign #InstructionalDesign #WorkplaceLearning #LearningScience #L&D