Learning Design at Brown University

If you are searching for a learning designer, I will always be interested in highlighting the role in this Featured Gig series. Please get in touch. When my friend and long-time colleague, Melissa Kane, Director of Online Program Development at Brown, shared that she is searching for a learning designer, it was a total no-brainer to feature the role here.

Q1: What is the university’s mandate behind this role? How does it help align with and advance the university’s strategic priorities?

A1: Brown’s online graduate degree programs advance the university’s teaching mission by reaching learners who cannot pursue a residential degree in Providence, R.I. The learning designer joins the Digital Learning & Design (DLD) Online team, which partners with academic leadership and Brown faculty across many academic departments on high-touch, end-to-end course design and faculty development.

The unit was established five years ago and now supports six programs with more on the way. As the portfolio has matured, DLD Online’s work has expanded beyond simply launching programs to now building, sustaining and refining them, and this position contributes to that next phase of redefining our service models and developing new approaches to online instruction.

The learning designer role sits within Brown’s framework of Building on Distinction and aligns with several of the Provost’s articulated priorities. Brown has committed to a distinctive and responsible approach to generative AI in teaching and learning, and the learning designer role reflects that commitment by helping faculty think critically about discipline-specific AI literacy and ways in which to amplify human-centered learning experiences in an online setting.

Q2: Where does the role sit within the university structure? How will the person in this role engage with other units and leaders across campus? Is the role in-person, hybrid or remote-eligible?

A2: The learning designer is a member of DLD Online, a cross-functional team of nearly twenty learning designers, learning technologists, and media producers within the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning. Learning designers work in project-based groups alongside media editors, videographers and learning technologists.

The role is engaged across academic departments and disciplines. A learning designer is likely to work concurrently with faculty in the School of Public Health, the Thomas J. Watson Jr. School of International and Public Affairs, and the Data Science Institute, as well as program staff and academic directors. The learning designer also engages with campus partners from the Brown Library, the School of Professional Studies and the Office of Information Technology as course projects require.

This position is hybrid, requiring at least one day on campus per week, with Tuesdays serving as our team-wide in-person day.

Q3: What would success look like in one year? Three years? Beyond?

A3: In one year, the learning designer has completed course development in more than one program, established productive working relationships with faculty, and demonstrated fluency in the team’s tools and standards, including WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility and technical remediation.

Within three years, the learning designer contributes to the unit’s innovation and its response to emerging trends in online teaching and learning, consistent with our core values. They have developed a recognized area of expertise, shaped by their interests and institutional need, for which they are known within the team and across the university.

Beyond year three, the learning designer has contributed significantly to articulating what sustainable, responsible innovation in online learning looks like at Brown, in ways that persist beyond individual courses and contribute to the online graduate programs as a whole.

Q4: What kinds of future roles would someone who took this position be prepared for?

A4: Because the learning designer position combines pedagogical expertise and consultation with hands-on technical development, it develops a set of capacities that are rare in more conventional instructional design roles.

We’ve already had folks advance into director and associate director roles in teaching and learning centers, and, more broadly, the same profile prepares learning designers for roles in faculty development, educational technology, and learning experience design roles in industry and nonprofit organizations.