From "Design for" to "Design with": The move toward Participatory Instructional Design.
The upcoming 2026 Designs for Learning Conference focuses on "Designing for participation and engagement" by treating students as co-designers. This challenges the traditional ID workflow where a designer and SME build a "finished product" before the first student ever logs in. Based on the work of Nina Bonderup Dohn from University of Southern Denmark, she looks to interrogate the following: "Designing for participation and engagement is elusive – and theorizing it even more so. Who or what is participation and engagement a requirement of? The individual? The group? The disciplinary subject? The learning environment in which learners work? The educator? All of these – or none of them? (Who and what is to blame when our designs for participation and engagement fail?)"
For Discussion:
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How can IDs leave "blank spaces" in course templates for students to help define the learning activities?
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What are the ethical dilemmas of asking students to help design the very assessments that will grade them?
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Share an example of a time a student's feedback fundamentally changed a course's structure—how can IDs make that feedback loop proactive instead of reactive?
