My Unexpected Journey into LxD 🛸
My friend Anamaria wrote a post recently about how she got into facilitation, so this post is inspired from that!
Just like her, one of the most common questions someone asks me is how I got into Learning Experience Design. So this is an attempt to capture the last 10+ years of my life -
1️⃣ Discovery 🔎
My entry point into the world of designing for learning was through a project I did while I was at design school. I was in my 2nd year of college and I loved working on it!
Speaking to kids, parents and teachers, deep-diving into pedagogical principles and seeing kids use what I build gave me so much joy!
2️⃣ Structured Learning 🧠
I decided to explore the learning space a little more & took 2 MOOCs:
💻 NovoEd’s Foundations of Learning Experience Design
💻 Coursera’s Learning How to Learn
Both helped me learn a bit more about this space & see if I was interested in it or not.
3️⃣ Explore Phase 🛠️
Building on what I was learning, I did a few projects to apply my learnings:
🔮 A college project exploring the future of learning
🏫 Did an internship with Quest Alliance to scale their school drop-out prevention program in Bihar
🧸 Worked with an early-stage start-up to beta test a learning subscription box for kids
🎓 Worked with an upcoming university Avantika University to build a series of design thinking workshops for school students
4️⃣ (Lateral) Explore Phase 🛠️
At this point, I was not familiar with ‘Learning Experience Design’ as a profession (Not sure if it existed even!) so I decided to take a break and go deep into User Research.
I did find my way back to learning at this point as well:
🕵🏻 Set-up the User Research Practice at Embibe, an ed-tech start-up in India
📖 Was part of a research project on understanding factors driving a child’s reading and learning abilities
📚 Codifying learnings around whole school transformation based on Quest Alliance’s experience
5️⃣ Structured Learning 🧠
I continued honing my LxD chops at this point. I took this amazing course:
6️⃣ Explore Phase 🛠️
I decided to jump back into the world of Learning Experience Design - formally for the first time. I dabbled with different stakeholders and different context:
👶🏻 I helped Openhouse transition their after-school learning experience to online learning at the beginning of the pandemic
✍🏻 I started writing online and started my first series - 💭 Learning About Learning:
👩🏻💻 I led a learning design team alongside Harsh Doshi at NextLeap and built online cohort-based courses for professionals
👯 I also joined a bunch of online communities like L&D Shakers and Offbeat - met so many interesting people and learned so much in the process!
7️⃣ Structured Learning 🧠
Having worked a bit in this space now, I continued to hone my practice and go deep in certain places. I did 3 amazing courses at this point:
👯 Huddlecraft’s Huddlecraft 101 to explore the power of collective learning
🧪 Dr Philippa Hardman’s Course Design Accelerator on how to use learning science to build courses
8️⃣ Continued Learning 💡
As I worked more in this space, I continued to learn through different types of projects:
🗺️ Build the L&D Shakers Strategic Blueprint with a group of stellar L&Ds from all over the world
👾 I have been writing the Learnings Nerd’s Diary - a newsletter on how to design & learn better. Writing is my form of reflection and in turn learning
📒 Launched LxD Lab, a community of LxDs building projects together to learn. Last year we launched our first handbook - Motivation Matters unpacking the role of motivation in learning through case studies & tools
🛣️ Launched my own business with Harsh Doshi - Field last year. Taking a big (entrepreneurial) step into the world of LxD
I hope my story resonates with you and inspires you on your own LxD journey. Feel free to reach out and connect – I'm always eager to chat with fellow learning enthusiasts!