Week 6 or 6 – Appreciating the Journey

Six weeks have flown by, and with them a deep dive into the foundations of learning theories and their implications for learning design. This course has been an invaluable chance to step back from the day-to-day, reflect, and connect the dots across theory, practice, and my own role as a learning designer.

What we covered

Over the six weeks, we explored four major theoretical families:

Behaviourism — learning as observable, measurable change. Reinforcement, task analysis, and clear objectives. Its legacy lives on in every rubric, competency framework, and SMART learning outcome we write.

Cognitivism — learning as information processing. Memory stages, schemas, and cognitive load. The practical takeaway: design to reduce extraneous load, and give learners the cognitive space to build genuine understanding.

Constructivism — knowledge is built, not delivered. Both Piaget's individual meaning-making and Vygotsky's social, culturally-embedded learning. Authentic tasks, facilitated discussion, scaffolding, and collaboration are the tools of the trade.

Connectivism — learning in a networked, rapidly changing world. Knowledge lives in connections between people, organisations, and technologies. The ability to find, evaluate, and link knowledge matters more than holding it.

What stayed with me

Cognitive Load Theory (Sweller, 1988) was probably the most immediately actionable insight. I came in thinking I understood it — and left realising how often I design with unnecessary extraneous load, without noticing. The infographic exercise in Week 3 was a humbling demonstration of that.

I was also struck by how constructivism and connectivism complement each other. Constructivism explains how we build meaning; connectivism explains where that meaning-making now happens — across distributed, dynamic networks.

A note on the experience

Facilitator Cameron Murray was fantastic — knowledgeable, responsive, and genuinely engaged with every cohort member's reflections. The live Zoom sessions felt collaborative rather than didactic, which was exactly the right tone for a course about learning design.

I'd strongly recommend this microcredential to anyone working in higher education who wants to strengthen their theoretical foundations. Whether you're relatively new to learning design or a seasoned practitioner, having a clear map of the major theories — and their practical implications — makes you a more deliberate, more effective designer.

A closing thought

One thing I keep coming back to: learning design is, at its core, an act of empathy. Every theory we studied is ultimately asking the same question — how does this person learn? — and asking us to build experiences that answer it well.

That question never gets old.

Thanks to the University of Adelaide for supporting this professional development, and to everyone in the cohort who shared their thinking so generously.