Jan. 14, 2026
Stay Ahead: The Learning Designer’s Playbook
Want a smarter way to stay current without spinning your wheels? In this episode, Jackie walks through a practical playbook that helps instructional designers and learning leaders filter hype, design for real performance, and ship small wins that scale. It’s a clear path from “interesting idea” to measurable impact, built around five practice trends, a lean trend filter, and a two-week micropilot you can start right away.
We begin by shifting to skills-first, evidence-driven design: define a lightweight skills dictionary for a key role, tag existing content to three to five skills, and track time to proficiency, error rates, and on-the-job application notes. Then we move learning into the flow of work with in-tool nudges, searchable help, and quick walkthroughs, instrumenting help moments to see time-to-solve improvements and ticket deflection. Accessibility and Universal Design for Learning step out of the “bolt-on” category and into the definition of done, with captions, alt text, headings, contrast, multiple representations, and testing with assistive tech and mobile-only users.
We close with burnout guardrails to protect your energy: no weekend pilots, a “done for now” checklist to end endless tweaks, and one evidence hour each sprint dedicated to review. If you’re ready to turn ideas into impact, pick one practice trend, identify one measurable problem, and start your micropilot. Subscribe, share with a colleague, and leave a review to help more designers find this playbook—and tell us what you’ll test first.
🔗 Episode Links:
Please check out the resources mentioned in the episode. Enjoy!
- Related: Episode 44: Designing for Everyone: A Guide to Universal Design for Learning
- Related: Episode 79: Top Emerging Technologies Shaping Instructional Design
- Resource: Staying Ahead Playbook
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00:00 - Setting The Playbook Frame
01:05 - Skills First, Evidence Driven Design
02:03 - Learning in The Flow of Work
02:41 - Accessibility & UDL As Baseline
03:27 - Design Systems & Content Ops
04:17 - Co‑Creation With SMEs & Learners
05:01 - The Three‑Step Trend Filter
05:24 - Two‑Week Micropilot Plan
06:00 - Burnout Guardrails
06:20 - Call To Action & Contact
06:44 - One‑Minute On‑Air Recap
07:38 - Links, Quote, & Closing Thanks
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Hello, and welcome to the Designing with Love Podcast.
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I am your host, Jackie Pelegrin, where my goal is to bring you information, tips, and tricks as an instructional designer.
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Hello, instructional designers and educators.
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Welcome to episode 81 of the Designing with Love Podcast.
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Today, we're digging into a practical playbook for staying ahead of learning trends without burning out.
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You'll leave with a simple way to track, evaluate, and apply what's new in our field.
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So grab your notebook, a cup of coffee, and settle in as we explore this topic together.
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Before we dive into the five practice trends, here's a quick frame.
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Episode 79 covers the emerging technologies landscape, and episode 44 offers a UDL foundation to build on.
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Today is the Operational Companion, the habits, systems, and metrics that turn those ideas into results.
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Both of these are linked under the episode links section in the show notes.
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In this episode, you'll learn five practice trends that keep you current without chasing every shiny object, a mini trend filter to separate signal from hype, and a two-week pilot plan you can start this week.
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Let's start with the mindset shift that powers all the others.
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Trend one skills first and evidence driven design.
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Why it matters?
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Move beyond completions to skills, performance, and mobility.
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What to track?
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Create a lightweight skills dictionary for one role.
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Tag one existing module to three to five skills.
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What to evaluate?
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Watch time to proficiency, error rates, and on the job application notes.
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How you can apply it next week.
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Add three X API events, practice attempt, reflection note, and a real world application.
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Once you know which skills matter, the next question is where learning happens.
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Trend two learning in the flow of work.
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Why it matters.
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Shift the center of gravity from courses to in tool resources and nudges.
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What to track?
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Instrument help moments, which are search items, hint opens and job aid clicks.
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What to evaluate?
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Look for time to solve reductions and ticket deflection.
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How to apply it next week.
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Turn one frequent support ticket into a two-step in app tip plus a 60 second walkthrough.
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Great.
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Now let's make sure everyone can benefit from these improvements.
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Trend three Accessibility by Design with UDL.
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Why it matters?
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Accessibility and UDL aren't boltons, they're baseline quality for every learner.
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What to track?
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Add an accessibility or UDL checklist to your definition of done, which includes captions, alt text, headings, contrast, and multiple representations.
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What to evaluate?
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Test with assistive technology and mobile only users.
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Then compare completion and task success to legacy content.
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How to apply it next week.
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Pick one high traffic asset and add transcripts, chunked headings, alt text, and a second modality such as audio or interactive.
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With inclusive foundations in place, let's scale your capacity.
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Trend four Content operations and reuse design systems for LND.
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Why it matters.
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A design system turns one win into many without reinventing the wheel.
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What to track?
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Stand up a pattern library, which can include objectives blocks, interaction templates, feedback styles, micro nudge cards, and accessibility snippets.
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Make sure to tag assets by topic, audience, and format.
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What to evaluate?
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Measure build time saved and rework rate sprint to sprint.
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How to apply it next week.
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Convert one successful interaction into a reusable template, then write a five-step how we built this guide.
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Systems help, but people make it real.
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Bring your partners closer.
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Trend five.
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Co-creation with SMEs and learners.
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Why it matters?
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Early feedback reduces cycle time and catches blind spots fast.
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What to track?
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Set SME studio hours.
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Run five quick user tests per release, and keep a one page decision log.
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What to evaluate?
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Monitor request to release time and post launch issues.
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How to apply it next week.
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Book a 30-minute code design session to storyboard one microflow with your SME and two learners.
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We've got five ways to operate.
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Now how do you decide what to act on first?
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Here's the three-step trend filter that you can use anytime a new tool or technique pops up.
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Signal, do three or more independent sources show measurable use cases?
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Scope, can we pilot in less than two weeks with one success metric?
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Sustain.
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Do we have privacy, accessibility, and maintenance covered?
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Filter past?
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Great.
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Here's your next two weeks.
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Your two week micropilot.
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Week one, days one and two, baseline and metric, such as rework rate and time to solve.
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Days three through five.
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Build the smallest possible version.
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One scenario, one pattern, and one nudge.
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Week two.
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Days six through nine.
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Release to a small cohort.
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Collect data and quotes.
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Day ten.
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After action review, fifteen minutes.
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Keep, fix, or park.
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And because staying ahead shouldn't cost your well being, here's some burnout guardrails that you should keep in mind.
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Set a no weekend pilots rule.
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Use a done for now checklist to avoid endless tweaks.
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Reserve one evidence hour each sprint for review.
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No new building.
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Alright, let's get you moving this week.
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Here's your call to action.
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Pick one practice trend to find one measurable problem it will solve.
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Run a two-week pilot, then tell me how it went.
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You can reach me on LinkedIn or you can send a voice note on the podcast site.
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I'd love to cheer you on and feature wins in a future episode.
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Before we wrap with today's quote, here's your quick on air recap.
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Here's today's playbook in one minute.
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Skills first and evidence driven.
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Track real skills and measure time to proficiency, not just completions.
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Learning and the flow of work.
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Move help into the tools people already use.
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Watch time to solve and ticket deflection.
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Accessibility by design with UDL.
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Baking captions, alt text, and multiple representations.
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See episode forty four for the deep dive.
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Content operations and reuse.
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Build a simple design system, patterns, templates, and versioning to save time and cut rework.
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Co-creation with SMEs and learners.
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Test early with five users, keep studio hours and log decisions.
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Make sure to use the trend filter, signal, scope, sustain, and run your two-week micropilot to turn ideas into impact.
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For links to episode 79 and episode 44, plus today's templates, make sure to check out the episode links in the show notes.
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Before I conclude this episode, here's an inspiring quote from Alan Watts, a British writer and speaker.
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The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.
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Thanks for being here with me today, wishing you clarity, calm, and momentum as you put this playbook to work.
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Thank you for taking some time to listen to this podcast episode today.
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Your support means the world to me.
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If you'd like to help keep the podcast going, you can share it with a friend or colleague, leave a heartfelt review, or offer a monetary contribution.
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Every act of support, big or small, makes a difference, and I'm truly thankful for you.
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