BLX Designer

Create, maintain and improve

A digital learning project often begins with an inconsistent collection of presentations, documents, websites, subject-matter concepts and existing training material. Source research is therefore a design phase in its own right. BLX Designer helps teams review and summarise this material and turn it into a reliable basis for the brief.

Research is not limited to presentations, subject-matter documents and websites. Existing SCORM packages, interactive activities, video, PDFs and LMS course structures can also provide source material. BLX Designer treats this content first as subject-matter and learning-design evidence. The priority is not technical import, but establishing what remains valid, which structure can be recovered, which learning objectives are missing, what media can be reused and where modernisation is needed.

AI can help summarise sources, identify topic clusters, surface open questions and suggest initial learning objectives, audience needs or media opportunities. The research remains traceable: later decisions in the high-level concept and storyboard can be linked back to specific sources, assumptions and summaries.

The brief brings together the topic, audience, learning objectives, capability framework, relevant content, scope, formats, media, duration, language, tone and regulatory requirements. For multilingual learning content, localisation starts here: which languages are required, which terminology is mandatory, and which examples, media or legal information need local adaptation? Multilingual delivery becomes part of the learning design rather than a translation task at the end.

BLX Designer can use this foundation to propose a high-level concept and outline. AI assists with structure, consolidation, variants and quality checks, while editors and project managers retain responsibility for approval.

The value lies in the connection between each step and its output. The high-level concept, outline, storyboard and blueprint are related artefacts in one process, not separate documents. Teams can see why a section exists, which learning objective it supports, what activity it uses and how achievement can later be evidenced.

From learning theory to learning experience

In BLX Designer, learning design is not a quality layer added at the end. It is a reviewable part of production. Learning objectives, capability references, activities, evidence and media decisions are recorded so that the relationships between them remain visible.

The framework combines capability-based design, measurable learning objectives, Understanding by Design, Cognitive Load Theory and Bloom’s taxonomy. These are not abstract references: objectives are checked for measurability, activities for alignment with the target level, evidence for completeness and complex sections for their cognitive load.

The resulting learning structure supports not only initial production, but also review, translation, updates, re-releases and evaluation.

Built into every stage of production

The BLX Designer works with clear transitions:

Quality is built throughout production rather than assessed only at final acceptance. Each gate confirms that the content has a sound subject-matter basis, coherent learning design, reviewable editorial copy and a technically viable implementation.

Components as the smallest learning-design unit

The storyboard is a critical point of transition: the design becomes tangible pages, media, questions and activities. To maintain coherence, every component retains an explicit link to its learning objectives, activities and evidence.

BLX Designer brings together the storyboard, media requirements and interaction logic. Each section can record its objective, narrative, activity, format, duration, Bloom level, UbD stage, CLT strategy and evidence reference. Media are described and selected within the section rather than managed separately.

This is particularly important for multilingual or audience-specific learning content. Localisation may affect examples, screenshots, voice-over scripts, imagery, legal notices, terminology and interactions as well as text. BLX Designer keeps these requirements visible in the storyboard so that localisation does not become disconnected rework on a finished package.

Media requirements are specific to each section; choices of images, video and interactive activities remain traceable; and licence and source details stay in context. Media become purposeful components of the learning activity rather than decoration added later.

Quality is visible

BLX Designer makes storyboard quality visible. Its analysis dashboard assesses whether sections are sufficiently defined and whether duration, activity types, formats and learning-design references are complete. It highlights the distribution of learning time, incomplete sections, coverage and readiness, and whether format, activity and target level are aligned.

The dashboard is an active part of the workflow rather than a separate reporting tool. It highlights and prioritises open issues, with corrections made directly in the relevant storyboard field.

For complex modules, this can reduce coordination substantially. Teams can review gaps, time budgets and learning-design coverage together instead of relying on subjective impressions alone.

A structured handover for digital learning content

After subject-matter and learning-design approval, BLX Designer generates a blueprint as the structured basis for implementation. It describes the planned module in a form that can be processed and implemented in the LXMS.

The blueprint contains more than a page structure. It carries forward the relevant learning-design references from the high-level concept, outline and storyboard, preserving the link between planning and implementation.

During implementation, BLX Designer creates module structures in the LXMS, selectively adds to or replaces existing structures, and turns storyboard decisions into editable components. The blueprint describes a defined content version, including its structure, media and learning-design references, review state, language and variant logic, and the information needed for delivery and evaluation.

For existing content, the blueprint also supports informed decisions. An old SCORM or Storyline course need not be reproduced blindly: teams can identify what to retain, which structure to rethink, what media to reuse and which sections to rebuild natively in the LXMS.

This reduces the familiar disconnect between the design document and the production system. Teams no longer need to interpret changes manually from spreadsheets or presentations; a structured design process carries them through to implementation.

Learning-design feedback during production

BLX Designer does not treat its design phases as a one-way sequence. Research, briefing, high-level concept, outline, storyboard, analysis and blueprint each produce a distinct output while remaining connected. If a later phase reveals an unclear objective, an overlong section, an unreliable source or an unsuitable interaction, the issue can be taken back to the relevant earlier phase.

This iteration is not an export mechanism; it is learning-design feedback within production. Every phase produces a reviewable result and tests whether earlier assumptions still hold.

BLX Designer’s efficiency does not come simply from faster writing. Its greater value lies in fewer system breaks, less duplicate maintenance and clearer handovers between subject-matter design, storyboarding, media production, technical implementation and review.

A shared structure makes briefs easier to compare. Sources and existing content remain traceable, objectives become measurable earlier, and storyboards retain their connection to the concept because they belong to the same artefact chain. Media decisions are made in context, while review gates reveal gaps before they become costly to fix.

This matters particularly to organisations with a large learning portfolio that requires regular updates or multilingual delivery. BLX Designer can reduce production time as well as the effort involved in coordination, translation, version queries and re-releases.

The result is an iterative process: research informs the brief; the high-level concept shapes the outline; the outline shapes the storyboard; and storyboard data feeds the analysis. The analysis can send work back to any earlier phase. The blueprint is therefore both the final step before implementation and a practical check that the proposed learning architecture can be delivered consistently.

In practice, changes return to the right place: source gaps go back to research, storyboard gaps to the structure, and blueprint issues reveal where the concept or storyboard needs refinement. The process remains traceable through multiple iterations.

BLX Designer replaces a rigid waterfall with connected, reviewable phases. Each result can be tested, revised and fed back into the wider process, improving quality, speed and traceability.

Assistance within the editorial workflow

BLX Designer uses AI as an assistant within the editorial workflow, not as a black box. It can summarise research, propose briefing content, structure high-level concepts, generate outlines, prepare storyboard sections, support review questions and classify evaluation results.

In existing projects, AI can also help analyse learning content by clustering topics, identifying duplication, suggesting learning objectives, flagging outdated passages and comparing language versions. For translation, it can produce initial drafts, check terminology and propose variants. Responsibility for subject-matter accuracy, legal acceptability and learning-design quality remains with the designated reviewers.

The controlled workflow is critical. Existing content remains reviewable and editable; generated outputs are stored as working artefacts; designated people retain responsibility for reviews and releases; and gates prevent premature handover to implementation. Prompts and templates follow the learning-design framework.

This allows productive use of AI without blurring professional responsibility. BLX Designer is particularly useful where structure, variant creation and consistency checks consume significant editorial and learning-design time.

Learning journey and design intent

Unlike a conventional authoring tool, BLX Designer considers the entire lifecycle from the outset. Its work does not end when a module is created. It establishes the subject-matter and learning-design structure needed for version-controlled learning content that can be reviewed, translated, released and evaluated.

Evaluation is designed in from the start. Outcomes, evidence, activities, Bloom levels and CLT strategies can be referenced as context in xAPI/cmi5 data. AI can then interpret usage data against the original learning-design intent rather than in isolation.

Versioning means more than creating a technical copy. A new content version may result from a technical update, another language, replacement media, a regulatory change, a learning-design revision or technical modernisation. BLX Designer relates each change back to the original structure, affected objectives, media and intended evidence.

Runtime evaluation focuses on two questions: does the defined objective achieve the intended effect through the planned evidence, and does the chosen CLT strategy support learning or coincide with drop-outs, repetition and clusters of errors?

This creates a continuous improvement cycle. The concept defines the intended learning structure through the high-level concept, objectives, storyboard and CLT/UbD references. During delivery, xAPI/cmi5 statements, interaction events, video data and navigation show actual learner behaviour. Evaluation compares intent with runtime data to reveal gaps, overload, drop-off points and effective patterns. The findings then feed back into research, briefing, storyboard or blueprint.

This is particularly valuable for the AI-assisted Learning Companion. With access to the learning-design context and current learning history, it can provide specific support instead of generic messages such as “Repeat Chapter 2”: an explanation of the precise concept or objective causing difficulty, a relevant example, a simpler intermediate activity or a reflection question related to the current evidence.

This also gives stakeholders a different perspective:

• Authors see which sections need stronger learning design.
• Content owners see reach, effectiveness and priorities for improvement.
• Course leaders see where groups need support, further depth or an alternative explanation.
• Project managers can decide whether a revision should begin in research, the high-level concept, the storyboard or implementation.

BLX Designer closes the gap between learning design, support during the learning process and data-informed improvement in the LXMS. Evaluation becomes an active part of the digital learning lifecycle rather than a retrospective review exercise.