Coursensu

“Guaranteed human” is a powerful phrase, one you'll see more of. I caught it from iHeartMedia who are cutting back on AI-assisted content. Being 'made entirely by human' is a reminder of where ideas come from. However, as digital digs deeper into daily lives, almost nothing is entirely human. This post is a collaboration. I write the words you read, but it's only visible thanks to digital technology. It's still my ideas, my arguments, my examples. It's digital distribution, digital filtering, digital presentation. Without it, you would not be reading this. But we think of digital as servers, cables, screens. Within that is also a growing mass of AI, not just for content generation. So when we say guaranteed human, do we mean 'made entirely by human' or that the source is human? What should matter is the origin of the thinking, the intent, the voice. Digital cant replicate that, but it does facilitate. The same applies to learning design. Digital can support, refine and accelerate, but publishing AI-generated content with no human involvement is a fast route to generic, forgettable learning. Your learners need your expertise, your engagement, your ideas. Not a model’s best guess. So if you aim for the hallmark of “guaranteed human" maybe you need to adjust it for something more honest. Something that shows, yes, it was made by a human, but it was also made possible by a vast range of digital support. This ensures we remain transparent, authentic and true to ourselves - maximising what we're best at, seeking help and support for where we are weaker, and leveraging our best ideas as far as they can go. Edit: Posted by Matt Jenner. After all this, I forgot to add the author's name. How human of me 😅. #learningdesign #aied #edtech #instructionaldesign

Make content that encourages learners to do something (and no, we don't mean do more reading, do more watching or do more listening). We can produce more content than ever, especially thanks to AI. But content engagement isn't learning (and it never has been 🫣). Real learning happens when people do things. When they make decisions, reflect, practise, collaborate and see the consequences of their actions. This is lived learning. It is active, social and memorable. If your course, training or programme is acquisition content-heavy, it's time to start shifting elements towards experiences. If you don't know, it's time to evaluate the mix. Start with a clear set of 'whys' - to ensure alignment with outcomes, assessments and learner's needs. Then start to see where you can make active lived learning changes. For example: 🤔 Turn a page into a decision point. 🔬 Turn an explanation into a scenario. 🪜 Wrap sections with reflection, discussion or application. Small design shifts can turn passive consumption into meaningful, visibly, active learning experiences. There is a full post about this on the Coursensu blog, but the core idea is simple: Learning is something we live, not something we consume. #learningdesign #instructionaldesign #edtech #lxd #digitallearning #aied

"It's ready, put it live!" How often is this said, without having the opportunity to run it past your target audience at least once? Let's be honest, how often do you get the chance to put your learning design, course build, or learning experience refresh, in front of the target audience? Most do not get this chance. It's resource-intensive, adds to existing stressed project constraints and learners are often unavailable. So what do you do? You put it live. Then the feedback might roll in. Or, worse, you never hear anything. There is another option - you can create, and maximise the opportunity, to use simulated review persona. Review personas offer a practical way to evaluate any learning design or live course through the eyes of real stakeholders. They bring audience research back to life and, when powered by AI, they can be simulated to provide unlimited, low-cost feedback at any moment in the design and delivery process. Personas help identify issues early, strengthen alignment, and improve the learner experience before problems become expensive to fix. What can a persona evaluate, for you? A strong persona can simulate a realistic walk-through of your learning experience and comment on: 🧠 Cognitive load and pacing 😶🌫️ Activity complexity and clarity 🤸🏾♂️ Accessibility expectations 🎯 Assessment fairness and alignment 🪜 Relevance of examples 👩🏽💻 Digital skills required 🔠 Language expectations 🛟 Levels of support provided 🙋🏿♂️ Emotional demands or potential frustration points Different personae represent different types of user or stakeholder, so they highlight very different issues. For example a “first-time online learner” will see risks that a “senior compliance manager” will not. Coursensu is uniquely placed to generate persona-based reviews on your next learning design AND your live courses. You can use built-in persona, or make your own. Want to find out more? Check out our latest blog post, or start exploring it today - available on a free, 1 month trial. Search 'Coursensu persona', reply here or DM for more info / demo. #edtech #learningdesign #instructionaldesign

Five ways to increase learner motivation - and for those who want more - five additional approaches to increase motivation even further... Learner motivation and engagement are what turn participation into real learning. Motivation gives direction and drive, while engagement keeps learners active, connected, and purposeful. So here's five easy-to-adopt methods you can employ in your next learning design, to dial up learner motivation: 🎯 Set clear learning goals - visible pathways for measuring success / direction. 🤸🏾♂️ Provide flexible access - widen access for time, location and devices. 🪜 Use relevant and meaningful content - make real and relevant connections. 💎 Show the purpose behind each activity - link each part to the bigger picture. 💬 Keep communication open & constructive - responsive, dialogic, feedback. Doing all of the above already? GREAT. This isn't a post to catch you out, obviously, it's a post to help highlight proven, reliable strategies. Five more, slightly advanced, strategies for increasing learner motivation and engagement: 🔥 Address fears and uncertainties about learning 🙋🏿♂️ Encourage active and collaborative learning 🛟 Design activities that provide variety and challenge ⏳ Encourage reflection and self-assessment 🌐 Reinforce course objectives and relevance By investing deeper with these approaches, you can then measure the difference in learner motivation and engagement. When these increase, learners take greater responsibility for their own progress. They move from compliance to commitment, and from surface learning to real understanding. There's few risks, or drawbacks to using these approaches - so give them a try in your next learning design. Want to dig deeper into this topic? We cover it in more detail in our latest blog post - just search 'Five key ways to drive learner engagement and motivation' to find it via the Coursensu blog. Or sign up to our Weekly Newsletter. #edtech #learningdesign #instructionaldesign

We can all produce learning content faster than ever. We can summarise, explain and present facts beautifully, and instantly. We also know this is a problem, it’s not learning. Ask any AI to teach you any topic, see what it produces: ℹ️ Information 👉 Facts 📝 Lists 📑 Details 📈 Tables 📦 Data But you won't push you for engagement. It won’t challenge you. It won't ask you to reflect. It won't encourage discussion. It’s pumping out and amping up content delivery, not learning. Learning happens when we do something. When we, at some level, collaborate, discuss, investigate, practice and produce. That’s why Coursensu uses the six learning types framework, encouraging everyone to go past content production and into learning experience design. Our goal isn’t more content. It’s more active learning experiences. Try it yourself: Review your latest learning design / course: ❓ What’s the balance between acquisition (reading, watching, listening) and the other learning types? 🕺🏼 Where could you make it more active? 💬 How does this help drive the co-design conversation? We cover this in more detail in our latest blog post, which is easily discoverable 👩🏽💻 #learningdesign #instructionaldesign #AIEd #elearning #edtech

Larisa Grice and Tim Hall recently shared how Coursensu puts learning design theory, and AI developments, into practice with a demo to colleagues. Larisa shared how Coursensu helps "teams co-create modules with a clear structure from the start, reducing back-and-forth later and making key pedagogical decisions visible early on." Tim added a demo of the AI course generator, to help shift you off that 'blank page problem' and help you to "drastically reduce the time it takes to get from “course idea” to a structured draft, helping teams accelerate design work while still leaving room for academic input and refinement." A final note from the team "AI is changing not only how we design courses, but also how we design assessment" hints at one of our next areas of focus: Assessment. As we combine the Learning Designer's visual storyboard platform with Course Companion for instant advice and guidance for any course educator, including how to design and improve meaningful and engaging assessments. Thank you to Larisa and Tim for being great partners to work with, and Centre for Online and Distance Education, University of London for sharing the write-up of your session. We love to hear, and share, how Coursensu is being used. #learningdesign #instructionaldesign #edtech

What makes learning sticky? (🧹vs 🪄?) It’s not about cramming facts. It’s about creating experiences learners remember and can apply. Sticky learning comes from: 🧠 Explaining how learning works. 🎓 Teaching learners how to learn. 💥 Adding 'desirable difficulty' into active tasks. 🎬 Using storytelling to make concepts memorable. 🛑 Avoiding illusions of knowing with peer learning and deliberate practice. 💭 Building in rest and reflection. Sticky learning takes effort to design, but the payoff is lasting knowledge, real-world application, and better outcomes for learners and organisations. Keen to find out more? Discover how to create sticky learning in our latest blog post which unpacks sticky learning in more detail. LinkedIn 💔 links so search 'Coursensu Blog' for more. #learningdesign #instructionaldesign #elearning #coursensu #edtech #sticky

Accessibility across all of your learning content within a powerful tool for learning design? This is our focus and one we're driven towards. Why? Because in spaces like the LMS it's still too easy for inaccessible content to prevail - especially from file uploads. That's why Course Companion now includes the built-in ability for course editors to create accessible versions of any course upload. This forms one of the available Course Companion tools to help any educator, learning designer, course editor or content creator: 💎 Review course quality, baseline alignment and actionable next steps. 👩🏽💻 Receive personalised, tailored or just automatic improvements suggestions. 💚 Convert resources (or files) into more accessible content. ⬅️ this post. 💬 Discuss your course structure, and get advice, from Coursensu AI. ✅ Structure and composition feedback of quizzes and assignments. 🎓 Constructive alignment check, and suggestions. 🎉 Automatically add activities / resources from AI suggestions, or your Coursensu templates. Currently for Moodle - but the other major LMSs are, of course, on our radar 😁 See for yourself - in the image - any uploaded file can be converted into a range of formats, and instantly available to learners (or added to a hidden folder, for your review). There may be other content accessibility options, but there's no other that wraps so puts so much into one simple, powerful toolkit. Keen to know more, get a demo or add Course Companion to your Moodle? Please get in touch via chat, or email (hello@) Coursensu #accessibility #learningdesign #instructionaldesign #moodle

Why does storytelling work so well for learning? From cave fires to TikToks, stories have always drawn attention. They make facts relatable, connect to our own experiences, and help us remember what matters. In learning design, stories can: 📚 Ground abstract concepts in something real 💡 Build emotional connections that stick 🌍 Invite learners to share their perspectives One example: a GDPR course that was originally packed full of regulations and tests became far more effective when reframed with a story. Learners followed data controllers who didn’t understand the risks of mishandling information, and the implications of their decisions. Instead of memorising rules, learners connected as the consequences unfolded. Storytelling is a timeless, universal, and powerful tool for learning. Used well, they transform content into experiences learners carry with them. Keen to know more? Search: Coursensu blog This will help you find the latest blog post which covers the topic and offers useful guidance and next steps. #learningdesign #instructionaldesign #edtech #elearning #coursensu

Collaboration is essential when creating learning experiences. But too often, it means passing drafts around, waiting on feedback, and stitching changes back together. Real time collaboration changes this. It’s not about seeing who is working where, it’s about making contributions actually visible 👀 - so how do you actually do it? We think it's still difficult - if you're passing docs around or building in a live LMS, to 'save time'. But it also means you're missing opportunities for: 👩🏻🏫 Educators / SMEs to see the flow of the course and add ideas in context. 🎨 Designers aligning with SME input, as it’s created. 🤝 Teams sharing ownership instead of handing work back and forth. Real time collaboration results in fewer crossed wires, reduced duplication, and more robust courses, delivered faster. We’ve just launched real time collaboration in Coursensu, making it easy to see where your teammates are working in a shared design. It’s simple, transparent, and built to strengthen co-design. We built real time collaboration on top of the same kind of technology that powers live editing in the world’s leading productivity tools. Every click, every update, every contribution is shared instantly, so your team can work together without waiting or refreshing. It is the kind of investment that means you can trust Coursensu to deliver the same smooth, responsive collaboration you’d expect from the very best tools you already use every day. Find out more on our website or just search → 'Coursensu collaboration' #learningdesign #instructionaldesign #edtech #collaboration #coursensu