Cover of Ep86: Shaheen, Learning Designer

Ep86: Shaheen, Learning Designer

Ep86: Shaheen, Learning Designer

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Today, my guest is Shaheen, a learning designer and learning and development specialist whose career journey has taken her from studying international trade in India, through the corporate world and Google, to learning design, social impact and disability advocacy. Shaheen offers a straightforward way of thinking about inclusive design. In this episode, Shaheen reflects on growing up in India and her early fascination with different cultures, people and the human stories behind them. She shares how an unexpected career in online marketing eventually revealed a passion for training and learning, and how a master's degree in learning sciences led her into learning design and an increasing focus on social impact and inclusion. We explore Shaheen's work leading a learning and development function within a disability advocacy organisation, where she encountered neurodivergence in a way that challenged some of her assumptions about what engagement in learning looks like. Shaheen wondered how learning designers and facilitators can better understand and design for neurodivergent brains and bodies. Our conversation takes a close look at inclusive learning design and the distinction between making individual adjustments and designing inclusively from the beginning. Shaheen explains why she believes that designing "for the margins" can create learning experiences that work better for everyone—and why inclusive design is ultimately just good design. We discuss some practical strategies for reducing sensory overwhelm and cognitive load, from providing agendas and materials in advance, to creating consistent structures and making expectations about participation clear. Shaheen also shares her approach to human-centred design, including the simple but powerful practice of asking learners what they need and involving them in the design process. We also explore why inclusion matters beyond compliance or what might sometimes be dismissed as a "soft" issue. Shaheen discusses the relationship between belonging, engagement, lived experience and learning outcomes, and makes the case for using both data and stories to help organisations understand the diversity that already exists within their classrooms and workplaces. Throughout our conversation is a recurring idea: inclusion is a design choice. It isn't necessarily about adding more time, more resources or more complexity. It's about the decisions we make when we design learning in the first place. Ideally, those decisions allow everyone in the room to participate, contribute and learn. Links: https://www.taleemconsulting.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/hajiras/
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