D291: Learning Experience Design Foundations I

Learning Experience Design Foundations I opens the program by introducing the LxD field itself — a genuine blend of instructional design and user experience design, aimed at human-centered, goal-oriented learning.

What D291 covers

The course provides an introduction to the field of learning experience design (LxD) and the role of the learning experience designer, which combines best practices from instructional design and user experience design, with the goal of creating human centered, goal-oriented learning experiences. This first of two foundational courses introduces Design Thinking and instructional design models, processes, and approaches.

The course demonstrates how learning theories and instructional frameworks can be applied to facilitate deep learning, motivation, and engagement, and teaches the process for analyzing learners and their needs, as well as defining the instructional problem and goals. There are no prerequisites for this course.

The D291 performance assessment

Expect a performance assessment requiring you to analyze a learner population and define an instructional problem and goals using Design Thinking principles.

Key topics in D291

• Design Thinking process
• Instructional design models
• Learner and needs analysis
• Defining instructional problems and goals

Writing tips for D291

Follow the task instructions and rubric line by line

WGU performance assessments for D291 are graded against a fixed rubric — every rubric line has to be visibly addressed, usually with a labeled heading that mirrors the rubric language. Skipping a rubric point because it seems minor is the single most common reason a competent submission comes back "Not Yet Competent" for revision.

Ground design decisions in a specific learner population and instructional problem

Learning Experience Design courses like D291 typically ask you to apply Design Thinking or instructional design models to a specific learner population and problem, not design in the abstract. Evaluators are checking whether your reasoning fits that concrete audience and problem, not a generic e-learning module.

Because WGU is self-paced, don't let "no deadline pressure" become no submission

There's no weekly due date forcing progress, which means procrastination costs more at WGU than at a traditional term-based school — a stalled task can quietly eat weeks of a term. Treat your own target date for each D291 assessment as a real deadline.

Why students seek help with D291

Candidates sometimes jump to a solution before genuinely completing the learner-analysis and problem-definition steps the course specifically requires first — the rubric typically wants that foundational analysis shown, not skipped in favor of a quick solution.

How GradeEssays helps with D291

Share your learner population and rubric, and your writer will build a genuine learner analysis and problem definition before any solution is proposed, as Design Thinking requires.

Prerequisites and program context

D291 has no prerequisites and opens the LXD foundations sequence.

• Master of Education, Education Technology and Instructional Design

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