The Learning Design Cross Institutional Network (LD-CIN) aims to create a collaborative environment for sharing and improving learning design initiatives among institutions. It focuses on practical applications of learning design and includes regular meetings for members to present their work, fostering a space to try out various approaches and tools. The Open University will host the network, engaging institutions like Imperial College and Edinburgh University, while also planning future initiatives such as the development of a workload tool.

1. Learning Design Cross Institutional Network (LD-CIN);
a social place for bashing, mashing and smashing
Learning Design initiatives
Lisette Toetenel
Institute of Educational Technology (IET)

2. Outline
• Not a presentation, but a party invite!
• Party games
• What does the Learning Design team at the OU do?
• Plans for LD-CIN
• Plans for external work in the future – workload tool

3. Not a presentation, but a party invite!
• Set up of an external network - Learning Design Cross
Institutional Network (LD-CIN)
• Aim: to create a social place for bashing, mashing and
smashing Learning Design initiatives
– Bash: creative, collaborative approach
– Mash: sharing good practice and adopting new practices
– Smash: weeding out initiatives that might not work in your setting

4. Party games
Learning Design
• A field of educational research and scholarship
• Focuses on designing, describing and sharing of learning
activities
• Definitions and approaches around Learning Design vary
across institutions

5. The OU approach to Learning Design
Face-to-face, creative Learning Design workshops ensure that
the multi-disciplinary design team is given the time and resource
to engage in design for learning discussion and consultation
through the curriculum design process.

6. The OU approach to Learning Design
A set of design templates is used to capture and share the
structures and approaches of a unit of learning (rather than
unstructured text descriptions). These make the designs more
visible and explicit, and can be easily adapted or reused to suit
other learning contexts.

7. The OU approach to Learning Design
Analytics informs the design of new curriculum. Design data is
combined with student satisfaction and performance data to
identify the design features that appear to impact most
commonly on student experience across the curriculum,
including design features that impact on the outcomes of
particular student sub-groups.

8. The OU approach to Learning Design
These templates are stored in an online repository to promote
sharing and reuse.

9. Learning Design Cross Institutional Network
(LD-CIN)
• Open to all, but in particular to institutions that have
implemented practical Learning Design initiatives or about to
do so
• Main focus on practice
• Regular meetings where members present their work as well
as research
• Space for other members to try out practices developed by
other institutions (approaches, methods, tools)

10. Learning Design Cross Institutional
Network (LD-CIN)
• Agenda to be set by members collaboratively
• Open University will host the space (if required)
• Interested parties to date include Imperial College, NHS
Leadership Academy and Edinburgh University
• Jisc involvement?

11. External work
• Workload tool
• Release of Learning Design tools externally
• Workshop materials, evaluation work and consultancy

12. Any questions?
Learning Design Cross Institutional Network (LD-CIN)
Lisette Toetenel
Lisette.toetenel@open.ac.uk
Learning Design Team
Rebecca Galley, Jitse van Ameijde and Lisette Toetenel
 http://www.open.ac.uk/iet/learning-design/
IET-learningdesign@open.ac.uk
@IET_LearnDesign
Thank you for your time today.