Vision for Learning Design

Final Global Vision

My initial vision for learning design, particularly as it relates to public education, had some great ideas about adaptive learning and community integration, but it was a vague proposal destined for failure. I checked my vision against Kotter’s 8 Steps for Leading Change to create a compelling final product.

To genuinely create a sense of urgency, I had to show that the current educational system has guaranteed failure if we do not enact change — and soon. I used the framework to build a strong guiding coalition of teacher leaders and LXD peers, and crucicially, I had to focus on enabling action by removing barriers. This means designing incentives and resources to eliminate one of our biggest issues in K-12: workload and funding strain.

My final product was created used Google Vids, a technology that I had been wanting to try out. The video serves as an artifact of the strategic vision. I used AI-generated voice overs and stock video clips, except for one very niche AI-generated clip. It also serves the purpose of mobilizing the volunteer army.

Blurry Vision

My vision is to establish equitable and high-quality instruction for every learner, from student to staff, by designing adaptive and ongoing learning experiences. 

My belief is that learning is driven by intrinsic motivation and is a social and cultural process shaped by interactions with others and our environment. Learning Experience Design (LXD) can hugely impact our futures by creating human-centered designs and powerful learning experiences for all communities. If every individual deserves access to learning that is relevant, effective, and transformative, then public education must be fully reconstructed to make high-quality learning universally accessible and free. In order to realize this vision,  we must focus on three strategic areas: personalized professional growth, iterative and learner-driven instruction, and community-integrated learning modules.

Professional Learning Growth

This theme focuses on taking adult (and more specifically, teacher) professional development from a generalized, compliance-driven activity into personalized, data-driven mastery pathways. We will use LXD to create adaptive professional development (PD) modules that are triggered by self-assessment, peer feedback, or organizational data. Professional growth is not merely a benefit, but a necessary strategy for maintaining a stable, qualified workforce. Educational systems are facing major challenges in attracting and retaining educators and IT professionals, and PD can address barriers like increasing workloads and private-sector competition  (The Consortium for School Networking). This approach aligns with the principles of Self-Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000), recognizing that adult learners require autonomy, competence, and personalized relevance to fuel intrinsic motivation. The learning experience must be immediately applicable to their professional context.

Iterative and Learner-Driven Instruction

Our iterative approach moves beyond our previous reliance on rigid content delivery and shifts to an approach where we continuously measure growth, analyze the data, and refine learning materials and instructional delivery based on feedback. This process ensures that learning experiences are always adapted to better reflect the authentic context and practice required for mastery. To achieve equitable outcomes, instructional resources must be designed to remove barriers and offer multiple means of expression, a concept central to Universal Design for Learning (UDL) (CAST, 2018). 

Community-Integrated Learning Modules

Perhaps the most ambitious theme, our learning organization must expand its boundary outward, actively integrating families and local businesses as essential community partners. We will design LXD modules that empower families to advance their own education and skills and participate as communities of learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Local businesses are able to serve as subject matter experts (SMEs), providing authentic context and ensuring learning materials align with workforce needs. This framework allows the school to become a central hub where learning is achieved through observation, mentorship, and legitimate peripheral participation in real-world contexts, such as through community-based projects.

There is a collective responsibility amongst all stakeholders in this vision. Our learners are active contributors to the design and improvement of their own learning experiences.  Our educators are co-designers of the system and our community experts. Our designers are the builders of reusable and personalized learning paths for students, staff, and family partners. Our leaders and community partners are responsible for driving this cultural shift and allocating strategic resources. 

Learning design is the catalyst for systemic equity, ensuring that curiosity, mastery, and transformative learning are accessible to all people, everywhere.

References

CAST (2024). Universal design for learning guidelines version 3.0 [graphic organizer]. Lynnfield, MA: Author.

CoSN – The Consortium for School Networking. (2025). Driving K-12 innovation: 2025: Hurdles, Accelerators, Tech enablers.

Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation.
Cambridge University Press.

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68-78.

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Reflection

I think that my Blurry Vision is strong in its unity by tying student outcomes to adult development, and ultimately making the entire learning organization a learning system. The three themes feel missional and directly actionable. However, it is the logistics that I need to work on defining.

• What is the measurement for mastery? How exactly will an educator be evaluated to trigger their next PD module without creating a culture of fear and frustration?
• What percentage of our budget will need to shift to the LXD resources?
• How do the feedback loops work during the iterative design process? Who owns the data? Who has the authority to approve a curriculum?

I also wonder how a shift as big as this one is able to take place; I can see how small changes in individual school districts can snowball into larger community changes, but the implementation of this vision feels so far from our reality in public K-12 education that it is challenging to zoom out.