Ask anyone in learning and development (L&D) where they believe learning is heading and you’ll find that many of us want to bring learning and work closer together and to create more learning in the flow of work. One great way to accomplish this is to design blended learning journeys that reflect the way people actually work — spaced over time, collaborative and in many integrated modes and channels.

So, how do we achieve this? Let’s explore the four foundational steps to great blended and journey-based learning design — the critical elements that make your learning engaging and strategies for measuring success.

1. Work Your Existing Ecosystem

Your learning ecosystem is the set of learning tools, content, event channels and modes you have in place. If you don’t have a mature learning ecosystem, you have an opportunity to build the exact architecture and tools you need from the ground up. Be sure to include the core functions for effective learning: motivation; access and acquisition; collaboration; assessment; practice and application; reflection; and support.

With your systems for these in place, take the time to consider designing potential learn-and-work touchpoints into your journey. Are there any non-learning systems and interactions that play an important role in your business that you should consider? How can you involve managers or other stakeholders in support or mentoring roles during the journey? Finally, consider external content, channels and networks that your learners may be using during and outside of work that could be integrated into the journey you are building.

2. Gather Insights and Metrics

As with any piece of learning design, you should start with a set of insights that will enable you to create the solution and the results you need. Understanding your audience and their learning environment is key to this.

You should also consider key performance indicators (KPIs) and behaviors you need to see. Ask yourself questions like:

• What success measures do we need from the learner? What does good look like?
• What KPIs do we want to shift in the business?
• How would a shift in learner performance behaviors manifest itself in our workplace?
• What other contextual considerations could affect the learning journey? Could the industry, culture or even the personal career paths of learners impact the learning experience?

3. Design the Journey

With the core components of the ecosystem and an understanding of your goals in place, the next step is to design the headline journey arc that’ll take your learners from where they are now to where you need them to be. There are many approaches to this, and they are all based on building a structured practical growth journey that puts the key enabling skills, knowledge and attitudes in place for success.

The journey arc needs to deliver foundational information to learners, let them consider it, have them use it and have them engage in hands-on practice. A designer will often develop a learning experience by layering, building complexity and challenge to promote a learner’s confidence as they move through each learning touchpoint.

4. Map the Learning Touchpoints

This is where you connect your existing learning ecosystem to your emerging journey map. Each engagement, event and task that learners experience is a touchpoint. These touchpoints could be any learning component: a live workshop, a digital microlearning moment, an on-the-job assignment, a cohort tutorial or a journaling exercise. Each touchpoint should bring specific value to your learner by delivering context, introducing new skills or putting knowledge into practice.

As you develop learner touchpoints, your original journey arc may take a new direction. Be careful to keep your initial insights and goals in mind, keep your design pragmatic and ruthlessly relevant and be careful not to overcomplicate it. Test and iterate as often as you can and be ready and willing to change your ideas based on feedback.

Key Themes for an Exceptional Learning Journey

A key risk in the delivery of learning journeys is losing your learners’ engagement over time. As you develop your journey and touchpoint maps, consider the following themes. They can take you from a solution that broadly meets your needs to one that endures and sets new standards for learning in your organization.

• Meaning and mission: Understanding the meaning and mission of their learning deepens learners’ engagement. Define the golden thread that links learning experiences together, present it clearly to your learner at the start and always keep it at the heart of your journey.
• Context: To ensure continued commitment, your learners should understand how each component, activity and touchpoint contributes to the overall goal whole journey. Make sure the value of each task is made clear to them.
• Layering: Think about how your content and experience will be layered. What is the core goal of the learning journey? What components could be elective or additional? For continued commitment from your learners, it’s important to give them a degree of choice and agency.
• Scaffolding: This term describes how an instructor gradually removes guidance so that learners eventually work on their own. This structured and intentional handholding is the glue of the learning journey.
• Pace: Think about how you build out the flow of high-energy or high-emotion experiences (such as collaborative workshops or video scenarios) alongside lower-intensity or more practical learning events (such as report writing or journaling). Developing a regular pace and depth of these learning experiences is key to maintaining engagement.
• Narrative and perspectives: As with all learning design, consider how you can use the power of storytelling to expose perspectives and support your learning experience.
• Action: Every touchpoint should involve action from your learners. The action can be a specific deliverable (like participating in a discussion post) or a transition to the next event (like considering a question before the next module begins).
• Collaboration: Shared or social learning experiences are powerful engagement and performance-building opportunities. Consider how your learners can develop in collaborative cohorts. Working together and sharing their journeys can create a sense of community and positive social pressure.
• Personalization: Think through how to develop journeys that can flex to fit an individual’s specific needs. Many platforms and tools can deliver adaptive and personalized. But even without these, you can personalize coaching moments for individual learners.
• Support: How will you support your learners on their journey? From a list of frequently asked questions to a chatbot or even a live tutor, effective support is critical to keeping your learners committed.

Drive Long-Term Success With Measurement

As with all learning, measurement drives long-term success. However, in the context of learning journeys, we can use this fundamental design tool to create an ever more effective blended solution. You should evaluate individual touchpoints and develop a view of their success as single events. Also, be sure to maintain an understanding of how each touchpoint contributes to the success of the learning journey.

Most importantly, look at ways you can measure your learners’ performance behaviors in practice — the specific behaviors that you identified when you began designing the journey. Evaluating the extent to which your learners are practicing their new skills provides the key evidence you need to show the journey’s success.

The Power of a Journey-Based Learning Design

In a world where continuous learning and adaptation are crucial, this blueprint for journey-based learning design offers a strategic approach to integrate learning seamlessly into the flow of work. Keep reviewing how your learners are working, how they connect with one another and how they develop their own skills on a day-to-day basis. By following these steps and embracing these elements, organizations can continue to bring the experience of learning and working closer together. Doing so results in a more effective and relevant learning experience for all.