In the Hub
Learning design for adults should be grounded in how adults actually learn. This space connects the research to the practice, topic by topic, in four layers: Research: Establish Evidence, Meaning: Practical Interpretation, Pattern: Environmental Recognition, and Practice: Design Consideration.
Adult learning has a real research base. The problem is that most of it never makes it into the hands of the people who need it, and professional learning keeps getting designed the same way because the research gets overlooked.
This hub is built to offer resources specific to adult learning design. Every topic is built in layers so you can go as deep as the work requires. Research anchors each topic in evidence. Meaning translates it into something recognizable. Pattern helps you see what's already happening in the environments you work in. Practice gives you a place to start thinking about what to do differently.
Not every topic will have all four layers, and that's by design. Each set is built around the layers that actually serve the idea, so nothing here is padding. If a layer isn't present, it wasn't the right tool for that topic.
This is a living resource, and it grows as the work does.
Hub Set 1
Relevance in Adult Learning
Relevance Isn't a Warm-Up: Research It's a design prerequisite. The evidence for why it has to come first.
We Keep Treating Relevance Like a Nice-to-Have Meaning: Why professional learning keeps treating relevance as optional, and what that costs.
Is Your Design Built for Relevance? Practice: A diagnostic walk-through for evaluating whether your current design is actually built for relevance.
Hub Set 2
Experience Value in Adult Learning
Adult Experience is the Richest Resource in the Room. Why Does it Get Ignored? Research: What andragogy establishes about adult experience as a learning resource, and why ignoring it isn't neutral.
Why We Keep Walking Past the Richest Resource in the Room Meaning: A closer look at why experience keeps getting sidelined in professional learning design despite being the most valuable thing in the room.
Is Experience Actually Being Used Here? Pattern: A guided reflection for recognizing where experience is being bypassed in the environments you work in.
Hub Set 3
Transfer and Sustainability in Adult Learning
What Makes Learning Transfer Research: The Baldwin and Ford transfer model, adapted for professional learning contexts.
Did Your Session Work? Meaning: What the research actually means when you're the one who ran the session and still aren’t sure anything changed.
Is Transfer Possible Here? Practice: A starting point for thinking about what your design needs to account for before the room clears.
More topics are in development. If you want to know when something new is added, the newsletter is the best way to stay current.
If you want to go deeper into how these ideas translate into structured learning design, the BrightBow Studio courses are built on the same foundation. They're not required reading for this hub but they're here when you're ready.