In education, great ideas often start as a spark, a new way to connect students, a more meaningful way to assess learning, or a fresh approach to collaboration. The Learning Design Community (LDC) was created to share those sparks.

It’s a global space where educators, designers, and researchers exchange ideas, learn from one another, and celebrate the craft of designing learning. From peer feedback activities to problem-based learning, the LDC has become a meeting point for inspiration and innovation.

This year, that spirit of collaboration came to life in a new way: through the first-ever Learning Design Community Awards (LDC Awards).

These awards recognize the educators who go beyond “good practice”  those who design moments that truly transform learning.

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A celebration of innovation in Learning Design

The LDC Awards categories highlight the diversity of ways educators inspire students and foster growth. Each category represents a pillar of meaningful learning design:

• Innovative Assessment Design
  Recognizing creative approaches to measuring learning that go beyond conventional formats and spark deeper student insight.
• Collaborative Learning Excellence
  Highlighting designs that effectively foster meaningful peer interaction and teamwork through feedback and reflection.
• Outstanding Engagement Experience
  Celebrating learning experiences that ignite curiosity, sustain motivation, and connect students with real-world challenges.

Each submission tells its own story of curiosity, experimentation, and a desire to make learning more engaging and human.

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Meet the jury of experts

Selecting the finalists meant bringing together a jury that reflects the spirit of the LDC Awards. To guide the process, we invited a group of education leaders whose work spans teaching, research, technology, and learning innovation around the world. Each juror offered their own lens, from digital learning and assessment design to pedagogy, academic leadership, and student experience.

Together, they brought a balanced mix of expertise and real-world insight, helping ensure the shortlisted designs stood out not only for their creativity, but for the genuine impact they can have on learners.

Gilly Salmon
Professor, board member, advisor, speaker
Education Alchemists

Michael Sankey
Professor of technology enhanced learning and teaching
Charles Darwin University

John Liu
Principal Research Scientist & Director
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Neil Greenley
MBA Director and Principal Lecturer
University of Hertfordshire Business School (HBS)

From digital learning pioneers to innovators in assessment and pedagogy, the jury reflected the global reach of the community. Their task? To look not only for creativity, but for designs that genuinely improve how students learn.
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The shortlited learning activities

Each shortlisted activity reflects an educator’s effort to improve how students learn, whether by strengthening feedback, supporting reflection, or creating more meaningful opportunities for engagement. These designs show the many ways educators experiment with new approaches and adapt their teaching to meet the needs of their learners.

Discover all the shortlisted learning activities in the LDC Awards website.

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Innovative Assessment Design

Mary Curtin
University College Dublin

Developing critical writing skills through peer review and reflection
Description: Template designed to help students develop critical writing and argumentation skills through peer review, encouraging evidence-based reasoning and professional, reflective feedback.

Fanny Tsai
University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine)

Clarity through feedback: A physics peer review workshop
Description: Guide students through structured peer feedback to build feedback literacy and efficiently produce clear, evidence-based team deliverables.

Dr. Rachel Faerber-Ovaska
Youngstown State University

Exploring real-world teaching scenarios through social annotation
Description: Use social annotation to engage with real classroom scenarios, discuss challenges, and reflect critically on effective teaching to support professional development.

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Collaborative Learning Excellence

Claudia Carrone
EDHEC Business School

Interactive case study discussion around an ethical dilemma
Description: Template for students to examine a case, respond to guided questions, analyze diverse perspectives, and engage with peers to build a foundation for deeper inquiry.

Peggy Odom-Reed, Ph.D., SPHR
Cornell University

Enhancing leadership storytelling through peer review
Description: Template to improve students’ leadership storytelling skills by engaging them in giving and receiving peer feedback on video presentations.

Marion Marx
ESSEC Business School

Transformative learning: group discussion and self-reflection
Description: Template designed to support students with analyzing and engaging with alternative perspectives through discussion.

Outstanding Engagement Experience

Jeffrey T. Coldren
Youngstown State University

Examining challenging topics through podcast and discussion
Description: Engage students in exploring complex educational topics through podcast listening, discussion, and reflective writing.

Sebastian Pahs
Hong Kong Baptist University

Using team-based learning to inform project planning
Description: Guide students in applying insights from a field trip through individual and team assessments, peer feedback, and reflective writing to inform future project work.

Kevin Ngui
Ngee Ann Polytechnic

Group feedback: Let’s keep it fair and fun
Description: Template to conduct an anonymous group member evaluation for fair, constructive team feedback that promotes accountability and growth.

The power of sharing

Each finalist’s design represents more than an innovative idea, it’s a contribution to a growing library of shared learning design templates that educators around the world can adapt and make their own.

That’s what makes the Learning Design Community special: it’s not just about recognition, it’s about collaboration. Each shared design is a small step toward better teaching and learning everywhere.

This first edition of the LDC Awards is more than an event, it’s the start of a tradition. A celebration of educators who bring creativity, courage, and community spirit into their classrooms every day.

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Join us on the 11th of December

On 11 December, we’ll bring the community together for the first-ever LDC Awards online ceremony, a live event that celebrates the people and ideas behind this year’s shortlist.

You can expect a mix of community highlights, a conversation with members of the jury about the future of learning design, and of course, the reveal of the three award winners. We’ll also hear directly from the educators whose designs made this year’s list so inspiring.

It’s an open, welcoming event  and a chance to connect with others who care about thoughtful, creative learning design. We hope you’ll join us!

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Cast your vote!

Now it’s your turn to take part in this story.

The LDC Awards are powered by the community and your voice matters. Help decide which of these outstanding learning designs will take home the award back home by casting your vote before the deadline.

👉 Visit the LDC Awards website to explore the finalists in detail and vote for your favorites while voting is still open.