CSHPE graduate student Katherine Mercieca speaks with Inside Higher Ed about the complementary intersections of learning design and student affairs

Katherine Mercieca became passionate about the field of higher education while working in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions at U-M. She decided to pursue her interest and advance her career by enrolling as a graduate student in the Center for the Study of Higher Education (CSHPE). While there, she learned about the learning experience design (LXD) graduate certificate offered by the Center for Academic Innovation (CAI). Reflecting on her professional background in student affairs, and what she came to understand about learning design, Mercieca began to draw connections between the two fields. 

Both professions put learners first, Mercieca told Inside Higher Ed in a recent interview. Furthermore, she notes that both types of professionals are educators, though maybe not in a traditional sense. 

“The deeper I’ve gotten into my coursework, the more I’ve realized that our frameworks of practice are very similar, particularly between advising and learning experience design,” says Mercieca. “For example, there’s a framework called appreciative advising that draws on social constructivist traditions, which involves academic advisors asking “positive, open-ended questions” to help students work toward their goals and get the most out of their educational experiences (Bloom et al., 2013, p. 83). Learning experience designers also borrow from social constructivist practices when they create learning activities such as peer-review assignments or other discussion opportunities.”

Mercieca’s hope is that professionals from these two distinct fields will learn from each other.

“In my personal observations, student affairs and academic affairs professionals very rarely, if ever, work together, even in areas where there’s clear overlap. I think we could both learn from one another in surprising ways.”