My Personal Definition of Learning Design
I see instructional design as more than structure—it’s about people and stories. For almost three decades, my world revolved around teaching and raising six kids, and those experiences shaped the way I view learning: it should be human-centered and transformative. My perspective comes from classrooms, leadership roles, running businesses, writing a memoir, traveling, and managing a busy household. Those layers give me a blend of creativity, empathy, and strategy that shape how I approach design.
At its heart, learning design is about blending creativity with structure so people can really learn. I design with empathy, lead with curiosity, and look for ways to create experiences that inform, inspire, and stay with people long after the lesson or training ends. For me, empathy means starting with where the learner is, curiosity keeps me exploring and creating, and impact is making sure what I design has lasting meaning.
The Role of Technology
Technology is the bridge that makes this possible. It links ideas, people, and possibilities across classrooms, homes, and global communities. For me, technology is not an add-on—it’s the structure that helps learners move from one space to the next, the pathway that connects stories into something larger.
Connection to the Readings
Reading through this week’s material, I kept coming back to the idea that design has to live in two worlds at once. It can’t just be inspiring on paper—it also has to work when real students show up with real needs. I’ve watched creative plans collapse because there wasn’t enough structure to hold them. I’ve also seen rigid systems crush the spark out of learning. The sweet spot is somewhere in between. That’s why the part about tying technology to pedagogy stood out to me—it’s a reminder that tools only matter if they actually serve the teaching. That focus reflects my own belief that technology should do more than sit beside instruction; it should give shape and connection to the overall learning experience.
This connects to Wagner’s (2018, 2021) idea that instructional design is both a systematic process and a profession that requires continuous adaptation. It also reminds me of Martin and Ritzhaupt’s (2021) discussion of professional standards and competencies—how important it is for designers to stay grounded in best practices that ensure real results.
Visual Metaphor
This picture hangs in my home—I snapped it from a moving van in the English countryside, struck by how meaningful, simple, and beautiful it felt in my core. I took the photo in 2020 for a different metaphor about life, but it also speaks to how I see learning design. Each field has its own edge and outline, yet they create something larger side by side. It’s the same with teaching—lessons can stand alone, but they take on real power when they’re linked into an intentional whole.
The hedgerows running between the fields feel like technology to me—defining paths, linking ideas, and helping learners move from one space to the next. Just as the countryside reveals its full meaning when you step back and see the whole picture, learning design makes the most sense when structure, story, and connection are woven together into a bigger whole. Without hedgerows, the countryside looks scattered and unfinished. With them, the fields flow into one another and form a larger whole—that’s where the beauty comes through.
In the same way, technology can pull separate learning moments together, turning them into a purposeful design that helps students grow. My work as a learning designer is about seeing both the details and the whole—crafting individual experiences while never losing sight of the larger journey.
References
Wagner, E. D. (2018). What is this thing called instructional design? In R. E. West (Ed.), Foundations of learning and instructional design technology. BYU Open Learning Network. https://open.byu.edu/lidtfoundations/what_is_instructional_design
Wagner, E. D. (2021). Becoming a learning designer. In J. K. McDonald & R. E. West (Eds.), Design for learning: Principles, processes, and praxis. EdTech Books. https://edtechbooks.org/id/learning_designer
Martin, F., & Ritzhaupt, A. D. (2021). Standards and competencies for instructional design and technology professionals. In J. K. McDonald & R. E. West (Eds.), Design for learning: Principles, processes, and praxis. EdTech Books. https://edtechbooks.org/id/standards_and_competencies