You’ve probably heard the old adage, ‘less is more’. But how does this apply to learning design and content development? How might we go against our instinct to keep adding? Subtracting seems at odds with the world today and our inclination to add; especially where year-on-year growth is the aim of most organisations. There is often a feeling that the more we add, the more we are seen as having contributed. Subtraction generally takes more thought but is less tangible and harder to measure. Although society tends to overlook subtractive changes, subtraction can be a clever way to innovate. For ..read more

How might we best leverage video to create an active learning experience? In this post, we combine our learning design experience and expertise with Creative Listening’s, a video production company with more than 12 years’ experience. It’s not uncommon for clients to come to us with a series of videos that they want to turn into a learning experience. Whilst this can work out, thanks to some (expensive) video editing and structure imposed around the videos to turn what would otherwise be a very passive experience into an active one, it does feel akin to adding the windows to a house that hasn ..read more

To create learning experiences that work, we need to think beyond content creation. Learning experiences cannot be separated from the systems in which they are created – they are informed by the individuals that create them, the learning design principles and processes they apply, wider organisational ways of working, organisational purpose; and society as a whole. We describe these as your ‘learning design foundations’. Learning design foundations inform product and content development within an organisation. Strong foundations ensure a consistent level of quality and ensure that organisation ..read more

Last year, we wrote about the LearnJam team’s experience of transitioning to a 4-day working week. We restructured our time so that everyone could have Fridays off, allowing for rest, exercise, family time – whatever we needed to refresh, recover and avoid burnout. So far, we’ve been really pleased with the positive impacts of this move towards better work-life balance, as well as with the support and encouragement we’ve felt from so many people we know and work with. Cutting our hours was a huge part of us getting through 2021 and emerging healthier, more connected and more energised. But we ..read more

An effective learning journey needs to have a clear destination and a clear origin. Without these, it’s more or less impossible to make decisions about the sequence of learning interactions, modes and experiences a learner needs to move through in order to reach their goals.  Storyboarding is a great way to plot out that journey, and it helps uncover some other aspects of the course design that need to be taken into account early on, like the type of content that’s required, how learners are going to be expected to demonstrate their newly acquired knowledge or skills, how and when coach o ..read more

Why it’s something you need to be thinking about if you’re designing learning experiences The last year has seen an unprecedented rush to teaching, learning, and working online. This has highlighted – and also worsened – problems of access and inclusion for many learners worldwide.  The phrase “build back better” has frequently been used in reference to the global lockdown as a golden opportunity to reflect and improve on the way that various social and educational systems work. We can do better than just returning to how things were before.  But we think we should be aiming for more ..read more

3 key principles from learning research What really works in learning? To find the answers to this we carried out a massive research project to seek out the evidence from learning research, cognitive psychology and neuroscience. We’ve turned that research into a set of practical learning design principles to support anyone designing online courses – and that includes us, in our work as a learning agency. To find out what we discovered, read on. If you want to go straight to the research whitepaper, you can get it here. Why we need research-informed learning design principles Too many online co ..read more

The future of humanity depends on how well we can move towards more sustainable, equitable and healthy ways of living. A reworked education system to serve this purpose can drive the changes we need. We hear people talk about fixing ‘broken systems’ of education. In reality, the systems are working well but in pursuit of the wrong things. They do not serve the needs of humanity and must be repurposed and shifted in order to do so. This urgently requires the design and implementation of a new vision for education, both inside and outside of the classroom, and practical steps that we must all ..read more

LearnJam now operates a 4-day work week. This means we’re away from our desks on Fridays, spending time resting, learning, being with friends and family and doing the things that energise and inspire us.  To make this change work, we’ve completely restructured our working week to allow for more dedicated, creative and focused time on our projects.  The 4-day work week is part of a range of changes happening at LearnJam as we become a more purpose-driven organisation that brings positive change to the worlds of education and work.  Where did it all begin? In 2020, LearnJam began ..read more

This is a guest post by Michelle Mangal, an educational consultant, creative and teacher with over ten years’ experience in the not-for-profit sector. Her teaching context – and that of this post – is the UK. Michelle brings with her specialised expertise of working with young people, BAME community groups, Black History and poetry. You can contact her at mmangal.educator@gmail.com  EDI in the UK school system EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) is defined as ensuring ‘fair treatment and opportunity for all. It aims to eradicate prejudice and discrimination on the basis of an individ ..read more