A Personal Story of How I Became a Learning Designer
From Primary School Teacher to Teaching Learners Around the World
I always ask myself, “How did I end up becoming a learning designer?”
I never imagined e-learning as a career. I always wanted to become a lawyer, but somehow spent a few years working as a night shift import officer for DHL at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, instead.
Everything started to change when a good friend of mine offered me a part-time position, teaching computer classes at a Tamil school. Again, I had never considered teaching — but when the opportunity presented itself, I decided to give it a try. I figured it was extra income, anyway.
I began learning more about basic computer stuff and even learned from other teachers about how to develop lesson plans. But there was always something missing—I just couldn’t work out what it was. Facing my students each day, it was clear to me that the curriculum couldn’t cater to the different levels of technological exposure in the class. On top of that, teaching software applications like MS Word and PowerPoint to primary school kids made me think,
“What’s the point of teaching them something that will probably become obsolete in the future?”
It was a waste of lesson time. These kids deserved better.
In my search for “better”, I found code.org: a platform where you can learn and teach computer science to kids. Slowly, I was able to convince the school board to adopt this new approach to computer education which could replace the old Microsoft Word and Powerpoint curriculum.
But first, I needed to teach myself these skills. That’s when I realized that I have a knack for both learning and teaching, though I was completely unaware of this talent. It soon became clear that I was playing a game of catch-up: completing the code.org lessons, while at the same time, creating lesson plans for the following week’s lesson.
Something was still missing, but by now I had an idea of what it could be. I knew that in code.org I had found the learning material, but that alone was not enough. I figured: there had to be a theory, a method—or even just a mindset—so I could provide a fun and effective learning experience to all my students.
A few Google searches later, the idea had a name: ‘learning design’.
At this point, teaching stopped being “just a part-time job”. Looking back, I can tell you that when you become an educator at any level, you start to take your students’ achievements personally. All you want is to give them the best learning experience so they can, well, achieve.
And that’s it. That was the spark that drove me to teach myself about learning design — had it not, I’d probably still be an import officer at DHL.
Working and teaching, teaching and learning.
In 2013, the then-new concept of MOOCs (Massive, Open, Online Courses) started to kick off and platforms like edX started offering courses from reputable universities, for free. This changed everything — I realised I could learn anything at my own pace. That’s when I threw myself into learning to code, and learning about educational theories and methods.
Over the course of four years, I worked as an import officer by night, and a computer teacher by morning. I taught computer science using code.org and Scratch, while relying on the teaching skills that I was still developing through taking courses on edX, Coursera, and OpenLearning.
Every day, school would end at 1pm. I would stay in the computer lab until 4pm to take online courses on education, teaching and instructional design. At 8pm, I’d head off to the airport for my full-time job, then repeat the cycle the next day, every day, for four years. In 2016, I decided to turn my new-found passion into my career:
Today, I am a learning designer at OpenLearning. So how did I go from ‘import officer and part-time teacher’ to ‘learning designer’?
Becoming a learning designer — what should you do?
First: It’s a cliché, but only because it’s true: make sure you have the passion to teach.
The most important component of becoming a learning designer is a desire to learn and to teach.
If you don’t have this passion, it will be difficult to progress in this profession. I was completely unaware that I had a talent for teaching, but I did recognize that I enjoyed sharing the things I have learned with my students and teachers.
Second: Get a formal education. I’ve had a unique experience because I learned how to teach the hard way: by actually teaching. I made mistakes, things didn’t work out well, I took ideas and applied them to see if they worked. However, if you’re just starting out, I would recommend getting a formal education in teaching.
Why?
Because of time. It will save you the time that I spent learning on the job. Things like having a solid foundation in instructional design theory and methodologies, like Bloom’s taxonomy and social learning theory. Yet, this comes secondary to passion — a formal education is meaningless if you’re not passionate about learning.
Third: The ability to adapt quickly to changes in technology is vital — yet, no university can teach you this skillset. You need to think critically and stay on top of the current practices while adopting new trends and ideas.
In other words, you need a working knowledge of authoring tools. Some of the teachers I used to work with hesitated to use computers in the classroom because they were worried about mastery. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve never faced a problem with mastering new software. This is because the computer and the Internet were always a part of my life; I learned by reading blogs, watching YouTube videos and practicing what I had learned in a real-world environment. This method has worked for me until this day, and it can work for you too—it just takes time.
Finally: As with any job, you need to have basic skills such as people skills, time management and research. These are some of the skills that I’ve had to build up along the way and would highly recommend building these up for yourself.
Being a learning designer is like you’re on a learning journey that never ends.
There is always new technology to master or a new authoring software; new instructional theories of learning; the latest scientific findings about learning… and I believe, beyond what I’ve just mentioned, that a learning designer is also a lifelong learner and a good storyteller. That’s because online learning is constantly evolving. It is a dynamic field, and you have to stay on top of trends.
But that’s not to say that Learning Design is only for learning designers—I would encourage all teachers, trainers, and lecturers to start thinking like learning designers. If you’re considering it, you can start by enrolling in a free online course. There are many out there, but here are a few that I started with:
- Learning Design Basics: Pedagogy into Practice (start here!)
- Design a World-Class Course
- Facilitating for Success
I guarantee that whatever your field or reason may be, you will become a better learning designer as a result.
Keep learning, keep growing!
