The ID/LX Framework

A tiered approach to learning experience design that helps experts create programs which consistently produce results

The Gap I Kept Seeing

After 20 years in higher education and professional development, I kept seeing the same problem: experts who knew their subject matter deeply but struggled to create learning experiences that actually transferred skill.

The gap was between knowing and teaching. Not a lack of intelligence -- the experts often could demonstrate their skill flawlessly. But they couldn't make it transferable to someone else, because the expertise lived in a space they couldn't articulate. This is the curse of knowledge in its purest form: expertise becomes invisible to the expert, and what's invisible can't be taught.

Many experts believe they can transfer knowledge by writing it down, making a video, and handing it over. They can't. The gap between performing a skill and being able to model it for someone else is almost always wider than experts think -- and the curse of knowledge makes it nearly invisible to them.

And that isn't even taking into account that most people have expertise in their core competency, not in creating learning environments. Too many folks subscribe to the course saying "if you can't do, teach" without ever recognizing the very different skill sets required to actually facilitate skill transfer.

"You just stand up front and tell folks what they need to know" didn't really work when they leaned into it during the Industrial Revolution. What makes us think it will work now as the Information Age slides into the Age of AI?

The Tiered Approach

The ID/LX Framework addresses this through a tiered approach to learning experience design. The core idea: not every transfer of expertise deserves the same level of design. Different tiers of program design serve different audiences, different price points, and different levels of skill transfer -- and that's by design.

The framework builds richer and richer experiences as we progress through each level:

  • Level 0: show up and throw up content
  • Level 0.5: organize content for consumption
  • Level 1: skill development (latter half of 4MAT wheel)
  • Level 2: experience design (first half of 4MAT wheel)
  • Level 3: activity sequence (detailed work to iterate a rpoven design)
  • Level 4+: enrichment and empowerment "add-ons"; additional areas that might be focused on once the core skills+experiences have been developed and proven

Each level is designed to support specific, measurable results. Investing the significant energy that goes into a well-designed Level 3 experience isn't justified if there is not a proven audience for that type of experience.

Why It Matters

// This whole section was written from the wrong angle // It needs to be reframed around "ratcheting up" through proving demand and providing richer skill development experiences, not just sharing info

Most learning design starts from one of two wrong assumptions:

  1. Everything needs to be comprehensive. Which leads to overwhelming, bloated programs that nobody finishes.
  2. Everything should be lightweight. Which leads to "content" that doesn't actually change behavior or produce results.

The ID/LX Framework says: different tiers for different outcomes. You can start with overview, validate that the learner finds value, and then offer progressively deeper tiers. The learner raises their hand for more -- guided decision making, not a funnel.

Integration With Other Models

The framework naturally integrates with:

  • GeniusMapping -- for capturing the implicit expertise that the ID/LX tiers are designed to transfer. GeniusMapping does the hard work of making the invisible visible; ID/LX structures how that visibility gets delivered to learners in ways that lead to actual skill development.
  • Productive Tension -- for managing learner engagement at each tier. A learner in Apathy needs a different experience than one in Power-Stress. The tier structure creates natural tension-management opportunities.
  • ChangeGrid -- for understanding learner states more broadly. Engagement and activation interact with the tier structure in predictable ways.
  • Experiential Learning Theory/4MAT -- the cycle of concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation and answering the questions "Why?", "What?", "How?", and "Where else?" along the way is the engine that drives effective learning.

The Business Case

One thing I want to address directly: the ID/LX Framework integrates business viability with proven learning principles. A program that only helps learners but bankrupts the expert isn't sustainable. A program that generates revenue but doesn't produce results destroys reputation.

The ID/LX structure addresses both by validating the business assumptions with early Level experiences and know what to do to take our learners to the next Level when it makes sense to do so. We justify the investment in developing richer experiences by ensuring the demand as we Level up the learning experiences.

The ID/LX Framework is my own creation. It grew out of 20 years in higher education, 28+ years as an entrepreneur, and decades of applying learning theory frameworks in practice.