Post by Melissa Milloway

Doing too little and doing too much are both the wrong answer. Here's what under-indexing, right-indexing, and over-indexing on ownership looks like as a learning designer. A learning designer is building a training and realizes the screenshots aren't accessible. The product itself has low color contrast, so the source material is the problem, not just the image in the training. Here's how three different designers handle it. ➡️ Under-indexing: They edit the screenshot contrast levels so they meet accessibility standards in the training and move on. The learner gets a better experience in that one course, but the product is still inaccessible. Anyone using the product is still running into the same accessibility barrier. The next designer who needs to update the screenshots has to re-edit them for contrast because the product itself was never fixed. The product team never knew there was a problem, so nothing gets addressed at the source. ➡️ Right-indexing: They fix the screenshots in the training and file a correction of error with the product team. A correction of error is a formal way of flagging that something in the product needs to be fixed, giving the right team the information they need to address it at the source. The product team updates the contrast. Future screenshots are accurate. The problem is fixed in the product, where it should have been fixed from the start. ➡️ Over-indexing: They do everything above and then set up monthly check-in meetings with the product team to monitor accessibility going forward. It sounds thorough, but this isn't their job. They're now managing a cross-functional relationship and a recurring process that belongs to someone else. That time and energy isn't going toward the work they're accountable for, and the product team now has a standing meeting they didn't ask for. Knowing where your ownership starts and stops is one of the most important skills you can develop as a learning designer. Some under-index because they don't see how the problem will keep coming back to them. Others over-index because they want to help. Getting it right takes knowing how to identify the root cause, understanding where your role ends and another team's begins, and knowing how to get the right information to the right people. That's what sets you, your team, and the people you work with up for success. Where do you see learning designers struggle most when it comes to ownership, under-indexing, right-indexing, or over-indexing? #eLearning #InstructionalDesign #LearningandDevelopment