Foundations focuses on the foundational principles and practices of learning experience design across face-to-face, blended, and online environments. Offers students an opportunity to explore the relationship between learning theory and design practice, to examine contemporary instructional design approaches, and to apply evidence-based strategies to real-world learning challenges. Emphasizes intentional, iterative design processes, including analysis, development, implementation, and evaluation. As part of this course, students develop a course blueprint and design a functional learning experience within a learning management system.
Signature Assignments
Course
Reflection
Developing a More Intentional Approach to Learning Design
Foundations of Learning Experience Design inspired me to rethink how I approach design work. I came into this course with a tendency to jump straight into building, relying on instinct and experience. That approach worked, but it wasn’t always intentional. This course pushed me to slow down and actually think through the decisions behind the work. Concepts like alignment, design models, and structured analysis made it clear that good design is not just creative, it is deliberate.
One of the biggest shifts for me was how I think about objectives. Writing clear, measurable objectives is harder than it looks, and I realized how often I had been designing without that level of clarity. Once I got it right, everything else became easier to justify. Activities, assessments, and content started to feel connected instead of assembled. The process of building a course blueprint and translating it into Canvas made that especially visible. It moved the work from abstract ideas into something functional and real.
I also started to see design as part of a larger system. Projects are shaped by constraints, timelines, stakeholders, and tools, not just good intentions. That perspective made the work feel more grounded and more honest. It also shifted how I think about tradeoffs. Not every good idea belongs in the final design, and being able to decide what matters most is part of the job.
Looking ahead, my focus is on designing with more intention from the start. I want to be more disciplined about alignment, more precise in how I define outcomes, and more thoughtful about how designs function in real environments. This course gave me a stronger foundation and a clearer standard for what good design actually looks like.