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Doorways to learning: where will design take you this year? - LX at UTS

2022 was the year of “Inclusivity in learning and teaching” for the Learning Design Meetup. The team created four online events looking at inclusive learning design practices from diverse perspectives, with nearly 300 participants joining from many different faculties, specialisms and institutions. In addition to this, blog posts shared before and after events generated over 2,300 page views, sparking ideas and keeping the conversation going long after the Zoom room doors were closed!

Speaking of doors, as we start a new year, we take inspiration from the Roman god Janus, spirit of doorways and archways, who looks back to the past and ahead to new beginnings. If you attended any of these online Meetups, please take 2 minutes to let us know what you thought, and share your ideas for 2023 formats and themes via this form: Learning Design Meetup 2022 Feedback

For a refresher on 2022 events, take a look at the summaries below!

Meetup 1: The ABCD of Inclusive Learning Design

In the first Meetup of 2022, we invited staff from UTS to discuss inclusive learning design. We began by discussing Accessibility, Belonging, Compliance, and Diversity (ABCDs) and invited a panel of speakers with experience in various aspects of inclusive learning to share their insights. The panel consisted of Ashley Willcox, Katie Duncan, Franziska Trede, and Melinda Lewis, all of whom have worked extensively in the field of inclusivity. We asked them to introduce themselves and share their personal experiences with the topic.

Read more on the topic:

Meetup 2: Universal Design for Learning

In May 2022, the LX.lab Learning Design Meetup welcomed scholar and UDL specialist Dr Frederic Fovet to explore some of the opportunities and hurdles in implementing this framework in Higher Education settings. This meetup was popular among the community as more than 100 participants joined the session from UTS and other institutions.

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Meetup 3: Learning design stories – Pecha Kucha

The spring meetup took a different format in which we introduced the Pecha Kucha presentation style to the meetup community and invited learning designers to share their own stories following one of the inclusive practices themes. Five presenters nominated themselves to the challenge and delivered their stories with the constraints of the Pecha Kucha format. The five presentations include: 

  1. “How learning designers can support hybrid learning & teaching” by Elizabeth Smith, LX.lab, IML
  2. “Designing learning for Enterprise” by Rory Green, Postgraduate Learning Design Team
  3. “Zooming in and out on learning design”, Jacqui MacManus, IML
  4. “Embedding the UN’s Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) in a postgraduate subject” by Ariane Wicks and Glendon Gardner, Postgraduate Learning Design Team
  5. “My learning design journey so far” by Helen Benson, Graduate School of Health

At the end of the event attendees voted for five different awards categories. The meetup allowed presenters to share their stories and sparked conversations in different areas that attracted interest and influenced the topic of November 2022 meetup.

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Meetup 4: Celebrating sustainability in Learning Design

The final meetup of 2022 addressed sustainability with a focus on embedding SDGs in learning and teaching. The event started with a presentation by Christina Brauer, introducing the topic and running a collaborative activity using Miro. Following the activity, A/Prof Melissa Edwards (UTS Business School) and Professor Sara Wilkinson (School of Built Environment/ DAB) shared their extensive experience working with sustainability and university curricula. The session was informative and encouraged learning designers to have an experimental mindset and be open to learning about the sustainability principles. Opportunities included working with subject coordinators across programs and courses, and looking for opportunities for learners to take sustainability with them through the subject, not just in a single module or activity.

Read more on the topic:

Help us design your Meetup for 2023!

Our UTS Learning Design meetup community continues to grow and gather like-minded professionals and academics both at UTS and from institutions around the world. Your feedback helps us to include relevant topics and formats that are useful, informative and interesting. Please give us a hand in planning for 2023 by answering these quick questions.

Finally, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of Lucy Blakemore from LX.lab and Christina Brauer from the Postgraduate Learning Design team during the Learning Design Meetup in 2022. Both Lucy and Christina consistently went above and beyond in their efforts to ensure the success of the meetup, and their contributions were invaluable. From organising and managing events to providing support and guidance to attendees, they played an integral role in creating a successful and meaningful experience for all involved. Thank you, Lucy and Christina, for your hard work and commitment to excellence. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed and are greatly appreciated.

We look forward to seeing you at a Learning Design Meetup event soon. Until then, if you have any questions about the Meetup, please email Mais.Fatayer@uts.edu.au or join us on Teams!

Feature image by Ricardo Gomez Angel

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