Learning Experience Designer

RESPONSIBILITIES

What Does a Learning Experience Designer Do?

No school or company is the same, and no learner is, either. With that in mind, a learning experience designer’s duties will differ depending on their place of work. Even so, some job duties may look the same regardless of the work environment. Below are common tasks that learning experience designers might perform on a day-to-day basis.

Shape the Learner Experience

A large part of creating learning experiences involves directing how learners engage with the material. Effective learning experience designers must have a deep understanding of learner expectations to forge a connection with learners. These designers also need to apply effective instructional methods and clever design thinking to help ensure the most accurate, actionable learner experience.

Work Closely with Leadership

A learning experience designer based in a school typically works as a strategic advisor to faculty members. In this capacity, the learning experience designer helps create goal-oriented learning solutions through course design and empathy-based design practices. Most of these designers in K–12 or higher education settings work with textbooks selected by faculty and then suggest learning experiences built upon that curriculum.

In a corporate setting, learning experience designers usually spend time analyzing the current learning environment for employees and then outlining and designing innovative solutions to improve learning. This process may involve coordinating with supervisors, managers, and executive leadership to set specific design goals regarding learning.

Innovate and Gamify

Eager learners demand new, personalized ways to learn. Centering the learning experience on the individual may include gamifying the experience. In this context, gamification means applying elements of games—like scoring points—to enhance learning.

For example, learning experience designers might think through innovative, bite-sized, web-based learning experience hypotheticals. Designers could ask questions like: “How does video factor in? What about adding a competitive dimension? How can education become more interactive, engaging, or fun?” These types of questions help learning experience designers consider gamified solutions to learning experiences while improving interaction design.

Where Do Learning Experience Designers Work?

Most learning experience designers work in elementary schools, high schools, universities, nonprofit educational organizations, curiculum creation companies, and government agencies. Many learning experience designers also work in home office settings.