Learning Engineering (LE) Spotlight: Your Weekly Dive into LE Research & Practice (Sept. 8-14)

Streamlining Learning Design with the LEED Tracker

As learning practitioners, we constantly find ourselves navigating complex challenges when designing effective learning experiences. How do we ensure that our decisions are informed by evidence, cater to the diverse needs of learners, and remain adaptable to ongoing feedback? The LEED (Learning Engineering Evidence and Decision) tracker, developed by the Residential Education team at MIT, provides a solution to these questions, offering a systematic way to document, revisit, and iterate on key design decisions.

The Challenge of Complexity in Learning Design

In today’s world, learning experiences are designed in increasingly complex contexts. Defining challenges, understanding stakeholders, and staying rooted in pedagogy are no easy tasks. Historically, practitioners have made decisions in a linear fashion, but this approach often overlooks the layers of influence at play in real-world learning environments.

The LEED tracker changes this by acknowledging the multiple streams of information that inform design decisions—whether from learning sciences, stakeholder feedback, or contextual factors. It offers a systematic method for documenting the reasoning behind each decision, ensuring that all aspects of the learning design process are transparent and traceable.

How the LEED Tracker Works

At its core, the LEED tracker is a low-tech, easy-to-use tool. Imagine a simple table where you track decisions, evidence, justifications, and feedback. These recorded choices make the process of designing and iterating much more concrete. For instance, when designing a resource for instructors, decisions about content, tools, and learner needs are logged alongside the reasoning behind those decisions. This creates a valuable resource for teams as they move through different stages of design and iteration.

By continually revisiting these decisions, teams can ensure they stay aligned with the project’s goals while remaining open to improvements informed by new evidence and learner feedback.

Three Key Benefits of the LEED Tracker:

1. Concrete Decisions and Justifications: The tracker formalizes the thought process behind design choices, making it easier to justify each action based on evidence. Whether you're pulling from research, data, or personal observations, every decision is tied to a clear rationale.
2. Facilitating Iteration: As teams collect feedback and data from the learning experience, the tracker becomes a living document. This allows for easy adjustments and improvements based on real-time information, making it a flexible tool in dynamic learning environments.
3. Clear Communication with Stakeholders: One of the biggest challenges in large projects is ensuring that everyone is on the same page. The LEED tracker provides a clear “what” and “why” for each design decision, making it easier to communicate with team members, subject matter experts, and other stakeholders.

Conclusion

The LEED tracker is a vital tool for modern learning designers who operate in complex environments. By making design decisions explicit and grounded in evidence, it facilitates better communication, iterative improvement, and alignment with learner needs. Whether you're designing for a classroom or a corporate training, the LEED tracker helps ensure that every decision is purposeful and adaptable.

The LEED tracker’s simplicity and power make it a must-have for anyone serious about improving their learning design processes. If you want to dive deeper, the tracker can be adapted for different contexts, offering a valuable structure for anyone looking to make data-driven, iterative improvements in their design work.

Read more: Totino, L., & Kessler, A. (2024). “Why did we do that?” A Systematic Approach to Tracking Decisions in the Design and Iteration of Learning Experiences. The Journal of Applied Instructional Design: May 2024, 13(2). https://doi.org/10.59668/1269.15630

Get Started with the LEED Tracker Today!

Acknowledgements: Many thanks to Lauren Totino and Aaron Kessler from the MIT Residential Education team for providing this open resource to the world! ??

*This newsletter was generated with the help of ChatGPT 4o (Sept 8 version).