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2026-09-23

Learning reflection

2026-09-23 - Ontario Institute for Studies in Education - University of Toronto

Reflection #1: Writing Compelling Content

Get started making your learning content compelling and engaging with design thinking. With these methods, you can ensure that the content is relatable, uses the appropriate voice and style, helps the reader understand the value of what they are reading, and uses effective story telling techniques.

5 to 7 minute read

Design Thinking for Learning Experience Design

This week I am going to share with you some of the exciting take-aways from my first week of the Writing for Learner Engagement course which is part of the Learning Experience Design program I am taking through the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education (OISE) department at the University of Toronto.

One of the biggest learnings I had this week was how similar Learning Experience Design is to User Experience Design, which I studied previously through Algonquin College of Applied Arts and Technology.

Some of the best practice activities for writing compelling content for Learning Experience Design happen to be part of the Enterprise Design Thinking Toolkit which I had the privilege of teaching while working at IBM. You will find these Design Thinking activities referenced below along with some of the supporting content provided in this week's training program from the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education (OISE.)

In the article the Short Guide to Writing Good Copy, there was a helpful reminder to create an outline for your writing. Writing outlines to build your written document around serves as an excellent foundation for keeping it tracking toward a goal and keeps it concise.

Contents

The ask

What does compelling and engaging content look like?

Here are some examples of compelling and engaging content that I found memorable and serve as great examples for this week's class discussion on "What Makes Writing Compelling?"

  1. 1. Ensures that the content is relatable
    Nielsen Norman's 10 Usability heuristics is engaging because you can use these rules of thumb as a guide in your UX work to ensure your designs are usable.

  2. 2. Applies voice and style according to the context of the content
    Mailchimp's library of marketing guidance uses a practical, easy-to-read voice and style. This helps reduce adoption barriers that could otherwise make potentially complex user guidance insurmountable.

  3. 3. Helps the reader understand the value of what they are reading
    This video, Why Maine's Blueberry Farmers Are Losing Millions, reported by Business Insider opens with quantifiable metrics on why the blueberry harvest in Maine is important to the blueberry industry in the USA.

  4. 4. Uses effective story telling technique
    The Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism ad The Secret Language of Clotheslines is a great example of effective storytelling because it captures you with a great headline, invites you in to understand the culturally significant topic of doing the laundry in NFLD, and it weaves in old fashion Newfie humour at every turn.

What does compelling and engaging learning content look like?

  1. 1. It is tailored to your audience
  2. 2. It has a clear “What's in it for me?” statement
  3. 3. It meets the audience where they are today with their learning journey
  4. 4. It uses appropriate tone and voice
  5. 5. It communicates using best writing practices

The outcomes

How to get there using Design Thinking

Design Thinking activities help root our designs and writing in best practices for creating compelling, and engaging content. By gathering information, analyzing our data, empathizing with our audience, anchoring our decisions in user needs, executing toward user goals, and iterating through user feedback, we ensure that our work is relevant, compelling, engaging, and evolves toward a better learning experience for all.

To get started here are some practical steps you can take to apply Design Thinking activities in your learning experiences.

Steps:

  1. 1. Gather information: User interviews help gather data about our learners. This data informs the what, when, how, and why for our learner's experience.
  2. 2. Information analysis: Whiteboarding is used to analyze and cluster the data we gathered in step one. This data is then used to inform our learner personas in step three.
  3. 3. Write the persona: Empathy mapping and persona templates anchor our understanding of our users and learner archetypes.
  4. 4. Use the persona: User needs statements are based on real user needs and pain points discovered in steps one to three. User stories help us build content that addresses real learner needs.

Image source: The ultimate cheat sheet for creating learner personas

Supporting resources from OISE

The learnings

Try it yourself

Are you ready to get started building compelling and engaging content for your learning audience? Here are some helpful activities and templates that you can use in each phase of your work building design journeys for your learners.

  1. 1. Gather information

  2. 2. Information analysis

    • Template: Whiteboarding (template link coming soon)

  3. 3. Write the persona

    • Activity: Empathy maps
    • Template: Persona templates (template link coming soon)

  4. 4. Use the persona

Connect

Interested in connecting with me regarding opportunities to work together? Have a quick question only a designer can answer? Connect with me on LinkedIn or send me a quick email.

LinkedIn: /smudgeandcompany

Email: artistjenna@gmail.com