Why do you Still Need a Learning Experience Designer when Using AI?
As leader of your department, you’ve been tasked with creating a learning module to teach employees how to submit a claim on the expense management system. You don’t have the bandwidth to add this task to your already-long list, unless you have more resources.
You approach several vendors for a quote, explaining that your budget and timeline are tight and you have little time to act as the SME. One vendor proposes using AI-powered software to turn your existing user guides into learning, fill content gaps, and minimize the time they need from you.
This sounds like a perfect solution to a problem that’s been weighing on you. You just need to email the existing user guides, meet once or twice, and they’ll do the rest. You give approval to the vendor to start the project and 10 days later they deliver an elearning module. Success!
But is it?
You have your learning - is it good?
The vendor delivers what they said they will deliver. You do a quick scan through the content (they had the user guides, so everything should be correct, right?) and send it off to the IT department to deploy to your own department for a pilot, before releasing it to the whole company.
Did you, as the SME, check the learning content for accuracy and ensure that the gaps filled in by AI are relevant, recent and right?
Have you ever taken a course and found mistakes? Maybe it was a factual error, or outdated information, or even a spelling mistake. How did that make you feel about the learning? Maybe you lost a little trust that what you’re learning is correct, and lost motivation to continue.
Your learners feel the same. If the learning they receive is factually inaccurate, poorly edited, or badly formatted, they’re not going to be invested in it. It’s crucial that all content, whether supplied by a human or provided by AI is checked for correctness and relevance.
Does the final course meet the learning and performance outcomes you set at the start of the project?
Effective learning is guided by learning (knowledge) and performance (action) outcomes. These outcomes, or goals, let the learner know why they are taking the training and what they’re going to get out of it. (An important principle in adult learning is telling the learner what’s in it for them). Learning and performance outcomes give your learning direction: they provide a roadmap for the course. If you don’t have a roadmap or a plan for your course, how will you know it’s successful?
Is the learning experience intuitive and user friendly?
Effective learning has a clear and logical flow, leading learners comfortably on a journey of exploration, and discovery. At all points in the course, learners know where they’ve been, where they are and what is expected of them. This minimizes the cognitive load around non-learning aspects of the course, allowing learners to focus their energy on understanding and assimilating what they have learned instead of using their cognitive energy to figure out and follow the navigation and flow of learning.
Do the assessments check learners’ understanding and ability to meet the outcomes of the module?
Effective learning assesses the learner’s understanding of the content at a knowledge level (knowledge assessment) and/or the learner’s ability to apply what they have learned in the course to their behaviour in order to meet the performance outcomes (performance assessment).
How Learning Experience Designers Make Learning that Works
A Learning Experience Designer (LXD) creates learning that is clear, engaging, and easy to apply to real life situations. They take complex information and turn it into meaningful learning experiences that help people build knowledge and skills. LXDs work with subject matter experts (SMEs) to understand what learners need, identify the best way to teach it, and design activities, resources, and content that support real-world learning and performance.
How do they do that? Let’s take a look.
LXDs use AI tools to support learning creation (not drive it)
Learning Experience Designers use AI to accelerate tasks such as organizing source content, identifying gaps, drafting materials, and creating assessment options. While AI helps improve efficiency, it supports the process rather than directing it. LXDs apply professional judgment to verify accuracy, align content with learner and business needs, choose effective learning methods, and ensure the final experience is relevant, accessible, and focused on real-world performance.
LXDs understand what learners need
The most effective training puts the learner and their needs at the center of the learning design, making it focused, impactful and desirable. Creating learner-centred training requires an understanding of who the learning audience is (the learner persona) and what their specific needs are. It requires empathy. LXDs talk with stakeholders, subject matter experts, facilitators, trainers, and the learners themselves. They identify what learners already know, where they may be struggling, and what they need to be able to do differently after the learning.
LXDs define clear learning goals
LXDs turn business and performance needs into specific learning outcomes. They ensure the learning focuses on practical skills and knowledge rather than simply covering information. The goal is to deliver - in an engaging and interesting way - only need-to-know information (what they need to know to meet the outcomes of the course) and resist the urge to include nice-to-know content.
LXDs simplify complex information
Have you ever had a teacher or been to a training session facilitated by someone who knows their stuff deeply, but is not very skilled in delivering the information? Not everyone can be an expert in everything. LXDs rely on SMEs to be the experts in their subject - the content of the learning. And LXDs are experts in learning and learning delivery. While many SMEs are also excellent teachers, effective delivery requires additional skills to ensure strong content becomes a learner-centred experience.
LXDs choose the best way to teach the content
LXDs are experts in deciding which format will work best for the learner and the information, such as eLearning, video, scenarios, live training, job aids, or a blended approach. They consider how and when learners will use the information day-to-day, and deliver it in a way that it makes sense to apply to their work.
LXDs help learners apply what they learn
LXDs build in practice and reflection so learners can connect new knowledge to their work. They create tools like checklists, templates, guides, and job aids that support learners after the training is finished. The aim to create learning that can be applied to real-life work.
Good Learning Doesn’t Happen by Accident
AI and rapid development tools can make creating online learning and training faster and more affordable. They can help organize content, generate ideas, draft materials, and speed up production. But producing a course quickly isn’t the same as creating effective learning.
That’s where a Learning Experience Designer adds value.
An LXD brings the learner, the business need, and the desired performance outcomes together. They ask the questions technology can’t answer on its own: What do these learners actually need to know? What do they need to be able to do? What might get in their way? How should they practise? And how will we know the learning worked?
The goal shouldn’t simply be to create training. The goal should be to create learning that is accurate, relevant, and capable of changing what people know and do. AI can be a valuable part of that process. But it’s a tool. Learning Experience Designers provide the strategy, judgment, and learner-centred thinking that turns content into learning that actually works.
Whether you need to capture valuable expertise, improve employee onboarding, or support an overstretched team, Enable Education can help create engaging, scalable learning experiences. By combining your organizational knowledge with our expertise in learning experience design and learning technology, we help your employees build the skills and confidence they need to succeed.
Schedule a call and let’s talk about how a thoughtful training strategy can support your people and move your business forward.