Innovating Learning Design in Higher Education

We applied for this project to address gap between the increasing use of digital technologies in higher education (HE) and their effective pedagogical use, focusing on the potentials of learning design (LD) to increase the quality of teaching and learning. Previous research and Erasmus+ projects (RAPIDE, eDesk) showed a clear need for a balanced, student-centred and learning-outcome-based approach to LD, supported by practical tools and professional development. We also addressed need to further explore connection between LD and learning analytics (LA), as interest in their coordination has been growing. Research demonstrates that LD and LA can mutually reinforce each other, yet holistic frameworks and practical guidance are largely missing. In project, we focused on ensuring the soundness of LD, which is critical if we want to ensure that LA are meaningful and actionable. The project responded to limited opportunities for structured staff development in innovative pedagogies, LD, AI in education, and to EU priorities on flexible learning pathways, microcredentials and lifelong learning (LLL). The project aimed to strengthen LD, integrate LA, build HE staff competences, support curriculum innovation, and use of microcredentials.

We wanted to enhance the quality and efficiency of HE by fostering the use of learning design (LD), learning analytics (LA) and innovative pedagogies. Previous projects (Erasmus+ RAPIDE, eDesk) and research indicated a need for a concept of balanced and student-centred LD, enhanced through LA. Considering the needs expressed by HE practitioners, the Balanced Design Planning (BDP) LD concept and tool (learning-design.eu) were piloted. With iLed, we wanted to take this further, by evaluating the BDP concept and tool in different educational contexts internationally and using the feedback as the basis for further development. We aimed to make the BDP tool even more aligned with practitioner needs, user-friendly and accessible, to support them in sound pedagogical planning. We wanted to test the BDP concept and tool in authentic learning environments and use it to innovate curricula at the partner HE institutions (HEIs), emphasizing the use of innovative pedagogies, and enhance the capacities of HEIs by providing new learning opportunities – an e-course and MOOC on LD, innovative pedagogies, LA and AI in education. We wanted to promote LLL and flexible learning pathways by exploring the use of microcredentials and digital credentials.

As part of the design cycle, we evaluated the BDP tool in an international context, gathering feedback from 53 educators and researchers from the 4 partner HEIs in Croatia, Germany, Finland and the UK. Based on the feedback, we developed further functionalities aligned with educator needs, as well as direct transfer of LDs to a learning management system (LMS). We investigated the implementation of innovative pedagogies and identified 11 authentic learning scenarios, used the BDP approach to enhance 37 courses in the four HEIs, out of which 22 were delivered, and collected student feedback. We co-designed and piloted a mentored e-course on LD, LA and AI in education, enrolled by over 260 participants, over 120 having completed the intro survey and participated. We also adapted the e-course to and created a self-paced MOOC for further use by educators internationally. We examined the interoperability requirements for the BDP tool and developed a mechanism for issuing Europass-compliant microcredentials. We held a final conference “Learning Design in the AI Era” in July 2025, in synergy with the TRUELA project financed by the Croatian Science Foundation, gathering around 100 participants.

The key output of the project is internationally validated and enhanced LD tool, BDP (learning-design.eu), presenting a sustainable effort building on previous Erasmus+ projects (RAPIDE, eDesk). The tool is now available in 4 European languages (Croatian, English, German, Finnish), and used by more than 3000 users worldwide. Besides upgrades in terms of userfriendliness and other minor updates, the 2 major upgrades of the tool refer to: 1. enabling direct scaffolding of LD in an LMS; 2. possibility for issuing Europass-compliant microcredentials based on LD data. Experimenting with AI assistance in LD was done. An analysis of interoperability requirements for BDP tool was also done. Further project outputs include the 11 authentic learning scenarios for the application of the BDP approach, enhanced 37 LDs and implemented 22 enhanced LDs at iLed HEIs, followed by collection of student and teacher feedback. A major output is e-course on “Learning Design in the AI Era” and its self-paced MOOC version available to educators internationally. The project resulted in 6 research papers and 3 posters presented on internationally acclaimed research conferences, and 1 research paper published in an acclaimed international scientific journal.