What is Learning Experience Design?

Learning experience design (LXD) aims to create interactive and engaging learning experiences that deliver the desired outcomes for your audience.

It combines instructional design (ID) with information architecture (IA), interface design, interaction design, visual design, and usability principles.

Good eLearning course design is about creativity and developing the best possible training or edutainment experience for your learners.

But it’s also about knowing how to make your course engaging, effective, and easy to use from start to finish.  

The article takes an in-depth look at what learning experience design is and the principles that will guide you in creating engaging and effective eLearning courses that leave your learners fully satisfied with their learning experience, whether they are training on the job or just looking to learn something new in their free time.

What is Learning Experience Design in eLearning Course Creation?

What is learning experience design?

Often referred to as user experience in digital spaces, learning experience design is essentially an extension of instructional design that focuses on how people learn within a given context.

It is concerned with creating experiences for learners that keep them engaged, help them meet their goals, and allow them to improve over time. 

Elements of learners' experience design

Experience

Experience is often ranked at the top of the list when it comes to elements of learners' experience design. The more engaging your learning experience is, the more likely your learners are to stay focused on the content. 

They'll be more likely to retain that information, as well, since they’ll be engaged in what they're doing. If you can find a way to make your e-Learning course funny or interesting—or even both—that’s always an added bonus! 

On the other hand, if you want to ensure a smooth learning experience for your learners, it's important not to overwhelm them with too much information.

Keep in mind that each learner's path will be different and you shouldn't assume everyone will absorb everything equally.

E-Learning Design

e-Learning Design is one of the most important elements of learners' experience design. Design refers to the way information is structured.

It starts with learning objectives, desired outcomes, or competencies that you want to achieve at the end of the training course. 

The e-Learning design should be appropriate for your target audience, consistent with company culture and legal requirements, as well as aligned with a broader learning experience strategy and vision.

To design effective instruction you need to identify who the audience is for whom the content is e-Learning designed. Be clear about your learning objectives before you start designing content.

What do you want your learners to know or be able to do after they have completed your e-Learning course?

e-Learning Human-centered

Another principle of learning experience design is all about human-centered e-Learning design, more specifically user-centered design. Much like good writing, you can make it crystal clear who your target audience is going to be. 

You’ll also want to start looking at what sort of environment your elearners are going to be in when they use your course (e.g., web-based? mobile? standalone app?). What makes a good eLearning course isn’t just how it looks but how it actually feels. 

This helps ensure that your users will feel comfortable interacting with your content—not a good feeling for them, which means not a good experience for you.

E-Learners

It’s easy to overlook how learners' experience design affects learning. It is important to remember that while these two elements are quite different, they are connected. Although they may not seem related at first glance, learners' experience design greatly impacts what people learn. 

You can create an engaging eLearning course by focusing on its learning aspects. To do so, you must first develop a clear understanding of what constitutes effective online training.

e-Learning Goal-oriented

Ensuring that your content is aligned with these principles will ensure your learner's experience design is goal-oriented.

This is important because if you’re attempting to teach users how to use a piece of software, for example, it’s important to set their learning goals and make sure your course does just that.

 The only way to do that is by going through each principle one by one, making sure you have a clear picture of what it takes to create an effective learning experience design.

Here are eight tips on how to make sure that’s exactly what you’re doing.