Design fresh learning experiences with relevant insight and ideas

Learning experiences that have the best impact in this fast-changing world, are engaging, collective, blended/mixed modalities including hands-on and experimental.

We help you give effective shape to better learning experiences through iterative development and a true design sensibility. The shape of a useful learning experience can be determined by a complex mix of learner need, organisational capability, business strategic intentions and product development. We have real-world experience in addressing these aspects with the learning experiences we designed, created and deliver.

Designers are the alchemists of the future.
~ Richard Koshalek

The ways we help you

You are:

• business/product owner who offers learning (aka training) as part of what you offer clients
• service owner/rep in a medium-large organisation with a learning need to address for your colleagues

You either want to create something new or have an existing learning program that needs an uplift.

1. Collaborative design and development process applied to a curriculum (of courses/programs); a single course/program; or a learning activity and tool (e.g. Change Design Principle Cards)
2. Design advice and uplift applied to a single course/program; a learning activity (e.g. Team Activities Collection); or a learning activity tool

1. Collaborative design and development process

We work with you in the hands-on exploratory work to shape the form of the new learning experience. We provide ideas and advice from a fresh external perspective, to stretch imaginations about what’s possible. We collaborate in workshopping sessions that can be onsite, remote or hybrid.

Our Learning Design and Development process has three key phases (and you might only need us for Phase 1). Note: While we have presented the phases as simple blocks in a line in the image below – in reality there is much blurring of the phase boundaries, as well as cycles of work-and-rework within and across phases.

For a deeper dive into our approach, view this graphic (PDF).

Phase 1: Scope the intention
Determine the scope of the potential learning opportunity so you can wisely invest limited resources for effective design and development work.

• In just a few hours, transform your idea into clear broad strokes of what might be created. There’s a few factors to consider, check out our list.
• Produce one or more conceptual prototypes to use in decision-making and approval conversations with important stakeholders. (Conceptual prototypes can be documented with our own tools the Learning Event Canvas or Macro-Design spreadsheet.) Such output puts you in a great place to estimate realistic costs and timeframes of future phases.

Phase 2: Design the learning experience 
Shape the learning experience through detailed design, working from an agreed conceptual prototype.

• This involves consulting with subject matter experts; mapping out learning outcomes; mapping out content to cover, within a defined style and structure; and identifying resources to be created.
• Produce a Design Specification (for a program, or a curriculum of programs) or a working prototype (for a learning activity tool). There may be multiple iterations of these as you seek detailed input and approval from important stakeholders. With finalised versions, you can refine cost estimates, and plan the work of Phase 3.

Phase 3: Develop (aka build) the learning experience
Create the collection of ready-to-use resources to deliver the learning experience.

We don’t do the bulk of the development work – that’s for those who will own and/or deliver the learning experience. We provide a meaningful handover with the artefacts created in Phase 2 and associated rich knowledge. We stay connected to check-in on progress, and offer advice and ideas as your creation comes to life and gets real-world testing through actually delivering the experience.

What one client said
Helen, you’re an absolute legend! I am incredibly impressed with the outcome of our work together! You changed the game for me as you helped me to create some beautiful programs that were able to connect with the groups and really resonated with them.

I have used some of the ideas we talked about and brought them into other programs I deliver, and it’s really improved the dynamics of the groups. Every person now finds their way to participate and engage in the learning, and even the most naturally quiet ones are finding their voice and being heard. It’s like watching magic happen.
~ Julie Gillespie, Mental Wellbeing Trainer

2. Design advice and uplift

For learning programs that already exist, we bring new life and energy to what is offered and ensure you’re at the leading edge of contemporary teaching practice. From advising a few tweaks on how you teach or adding in an engaging learning activity, to revamping the program into modules or mixed formats. With our fresh set of eyes, a small suggestion can make a game-changing difference to what your learners experience.

We’ll ask a lot of questions (a few factors to consider) to better understand what you are doing and hope to achieve, as well as stimulating new possibilities.

• It can be as simple and complete as a 2-3 hour session – that can be recorded for you to revisit at a later date – where you walk through the existing program or learning activity and get contextual suggestions (and sometimes actual examples) for making change.
• It can be as involved as working through a full design process over a couple of months that engages past, present and future learners, instructors/facilitators and business operational stakeholders for important insights. Read about a Case Study where Helen applied a full design process (PDF) to the redesign and redevelopment (over 3-months) of an existing 4-day premium course.

What one client said
The high quality guidance and expertise provided by Helen has been far reaching and integral to our organisation building its product coaching function. Helen was engaged to guide us through a learning design exercise and she did so with commitment, expert advice, patience and good humour. Given that our organisation was going through a transformative period of change, she also helped us build the skills and knowledge to begin developing organisational capabilities around learning and presentation. The value that Helen added to our development was significant and is still being realised.
~ Rachelle Gold, Head of Product Coaching, Capsifi

To explore how we can help you with learning design, contact us.