Empowering learning designers through design thinking

The COVID-19 crisis has compelled universities world-wide to make urgent and unexpected changes in the delivery of education. Transitioning from face-to-face to online teaching has presented a major challenge for some. Given the content is provided by the content experts (university teachers), a question arises whether the learning designers are ready for this challenge and can align their expertise to the requirements triggered by the pandemic. Learning designers need to have skills that can connect learning objectives and activities to changing contexts and changing stakeholder needs. Design thinking is proposed as a useful strategy which learning designers can use to address these challenges. This session will use action research and involve attendees in questioning how design thinking may support academics and learning designers in providing better experiences for learners.