A Learning Design System is a unified platform that manages the entire lifecycle of learning content. From conception and design through delivery, updates, and continuous improvement, an LDS integrates design, collaboration, compliance, and platform compatibility into a single environment. Unlike traditional instructional design approaches that rely on fragmented tools, an LDS provides a unified workspace for all learning design work.
eClarity, KnowledgeNow's proprietary Learning Design System, powers everything from custom course development to accessibility compliance to large-scale course transformations. It makes it possible for organizations to design better learning experiences faster.
Why Learning Design Systems Matter
The traditional approach to instructional design creates unnecessary friction. Your team uses spreadsheets to track requirements. Email chains are used to collaborate with SMEs. Multiple authoring tools are needed for different course types. Separate systems manage accessibility and compliance. When you need to modernize legacy content or migrate between LMS platforms, the fragmentation becomes a crisis.
A Learning Design System solves this by creating a unified environment where instructional designers, subject matter experts, multimedia developers, and compliance reviewers work within a single system. Instead of managing scattered tools and processes, everyone works from one source of truth.
Core Features of a Learning Design System
1. Centralized Content Management
An LDS enables teams to store all learning materials in a single, accessible, and secure location. This centralization reduces errors. No more version control nightmares where you're unsure which document is current. Every change is tracked. Every revision is accessible. All stakeholders see the same version at the same time.
Why it matters: For organizations with 50+ courses, centralized management means less time spent hunting for files and more time spent improving content quality.
2. Built-In Compliance and Accessibility
Rather than treating accessibility and compliance as something to bolt on after course creation, an LDS makes it foundational. WCAG 2.1 checks and AODA compliance flags happen during the design process. Standards alignment occurs throughout. Accessibility and compliance are not addressed in a separate audit months later.
eClarity, for example, flags accessibility issues in real-time, incorporates Quality Matters frameworks into design templates, and supports multi-standard assessment (FAA, Transport Canada, ICAO) for safety-critical industries.
Why it matters: Compliance becomes automatic, not manual. Regulatory requirements are met by design, not discovered in errors.
3. Collaboration Without Version Chaos
Instructional design almost always involves multiple stakeholders—subject matter experts, writers, developers, accessibility specialists, compliance reviewers. An LDS provides structured workflows where each team member contributes without creating version conflicts or losing changes.
Rather than emailing files back and forth, teams work in real-time. SME feedback is captured. Design decisions are documented. Revision history is transparent.
Why it matters: Faster course development. Fewer revision cycles. Departments aligned around a single version of the truth.
4. Platform Independence
Most course development platforms lock you into a single delivery system. Build in Articulate Rise? You're committed to Rise's export limitations. Design in Canvas? Your courses live in Canvas.
A Learning Design System is platform-agnostic. It exports to any LMS (Brightspace, Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard), any format (SCORM, xAPI, HTML5), and any proprietary system. You design once. You deploy everywhere.
Why it matters: Your courses aren't hostage to a single vendor. You control where your training lives.
5. Data-Driven Design Insights
An LDS tracks learner interactions and outcomes, providing insights that guide course improvements. Which modules have high completion rates? Which assessment items trip up learners? Where do people abandon courses? These insights inform iterative design improvements.
Why it matters: You're not guessing about course effectiveness. You're designing based on evidence.
How Organizations Use Learning Design Systems
A Learning Design System is flexible enough to support multiple workflows. Here's how different types of organizations leverage eClarity:
Custom Course Development
Instructional design teams use eClarity to create courses from scratch. Rather than starting with a blank canvas, designers work from industry-specific templates (higher ed, corporate training, associations, regulated industries). Templates incorporate best practices in pedagogy, accessibility, and engagement—so each course starts from a foundation of proven design.
Real example: George Brown College partnered with KnowledgeNow to create "Black Experiences in Canada: Narratives of Resilience and Resistance"—a full-semester course using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles and anti-oppressive pedagogy. The course is now available across Ontario's secondary institutions via the eCampus database.
Accessibility-First Training Programs
Organizations serving populations with disabilities, or those bound by AODA/WCAG compliance, use an LDS to ensure accessibility is built in from day one. Rather than designing courses and then remediating for accessibility, the system guides accessible design from the start.
Real example: Inclusion NB launched 15+ disability support training courses over three years using eClarity's accessibility-first templates. The result is training that genuinely serves intervenors, case managers, and support workers with zero accessibility complaints and full organizational adoption.
Scenario-Based and Micro-Learning Programs
Safety-critical and decision-critical training demands interactive, realistic scenarios. An LDS supports structured micro-learning. Short, targeted modules build skills through practice, not passive content consumption.
Real example: Air Tindi uses eClarity for pilot recurrent ground school training. Rather than simply reviewing procedures, pilots engage in scenario-driven exercises where they identify in-flight system warnings, determine which system is affected, and follow emergency procedures step-by-step. The interactive structure ensures real-world readiness.
Compliance and Regulatory Training
Highly regulated industries (aviation, nuclear, mining, pharmaceutical, defense) require training that meets specific compliance standards and is auditable. An LDS supports multi-standard assessment, creates audit trails, and generates compliance reports.
Real example: KnowledgeNow's Flight-Ready Training Audit uses eClarity to assess aviation training against FAA, Transport Canada, and ICAO requirements. It delivers a prioritized roadmap for compliance improvements.
Large-Scale Content Transformation
When organizations need to modernize legacy courses or migrate between LMS platforms at scale, an LDS automates what would otherwise be months of manual work.
Real example: Western University Continuing Education needed to migrate nearly 100 courses from Sakai to Brightspace before the fall semester. eClarity's intelligent automation completed the migration in 4 months. Without automation, this would have taken 12-18 months manually or required 6+ months of post-migration cleanup using a data dump approach. The courses weren't just moved; they were modernized with contemporary design and full accessibility compliance.
"The automation didn't just save us time. It unlocked strategic possibilities we couldn't consider before. We can now tackle our entire course catalog systematically, making improvements at scale that would have been physically impossible with manual migration."
— Karen De Heus, Program Operations Manager
Learning Design System vs. LMS vs. Authoring Tools
It's easy to confuse these categories. Here's what distinguishes a Learning Design System:
- An LMS (Brightspace, Moodle, Canvas) delivers and manages courses for learners. It's the frontend where learners access training.
- Authoring tools (Articulate, Rise, Captivate) create individual course modules but don't manage the full design lifecycle or collaboration.
- A Learning Design System manages the entire lifecycle—design, collaboration, compliance, platform export—in a single unified environment.
Who Needs a Learning Design System
A Learning Design System makes sense if your organization meets any of these criteria:
- You're scaling learning programs. Whether you're growing from 10 courses to 100, or from one department's training to enterprise-wide programs, an LDS ensures consistent quality, design, and accessibility across your entire portfolio.
- Compliance and accessibility are non-negotiable. If your industry requires regulatory compliance (aviation, nuclear, pharma, defense, mining), if you serve populations with disabilities, or if you're committed to AODA/WCAG standards, an LDS makes compliance systematic, not reactive.
- You need to work cross-functionally on courses. If instructional designers, SMEs, compliance reviewers, and accessibility specialists all contribute to course development, an LDS provides the collaboration structure that prevents chaos.
- You want independence from vendor lock-in. If you're tired of being locked into proprietary tools or single LMS platforms, an LDS gives you control. Design once, deploy to any platform.
- You need to modernize legacy content. Whether you're updating SCORM packages, migrating between LMS platforms, or refreshing courses to meet current standards, an LDS automates work that would otherwise consume months of manual labor.
eClarity: A Learning Design System Built for Impact
eClarity is designed to support the full range of learning design work. From building custom courses to modernizing large content portfolios, eClarity offers capabilities tailored to different organizational needs. Here's what makes it different:
For Higher Education Institutions
- Industry-leading templates based on Quality Matters standards
- Mass course migration support (100+ courses in months)
- Multi-LMS export (Brightspace, Canvas, Moodle)
- Accessibility-first design ensuring WCAG 2.1 compliance
For Corporate L&D Teams
- Role-specific course templates (onboarding, compliance, product training, leadership development)
- Microlearning and scenario-based design capabilities
- Tracking and reporting for compliance-heavy industries
- LMS-agnostic output (SCORM, xAPI, or native formats)
For Associations and Nonprofits
- Member engagement and professional development courses
- Accessible design supporting diverse learner populations
- Certification and credentialing support
- Sustainable maintenance workflows
For Regulated Industries (Defense, Aviation, Nuclear, Pharma, Mining)
- Multi-standard compliance assessment (FAA, Transport Canada, ICAO, ISO)
- Safety-critical and decision-critical training design
- Real-time compliance tracking and audit trails
- Scenario-based and micro-learning for skill reinforcement
How eClarity Transforms Content at Scale
One key capability of a Learning Design System is the ability to take existing content. Whether outdated courses, legacy SCORM packages, or content in a different LMS, an LDS can transform it into modern, accessible, standardized training.
This isn't a simple data migration. eClarity's intelligent automation:
- Preserves instructional intent while modernizing design
- Applies accessibility standards automatically
- Ensures courses meet current pedagogical frameworks
- Exports to any LMS platform without vendor lock-in
What this enables: Organizations can tackle large-scale modernization projects that would otherwise be impossible. Western University's 100-course migration, completed in 4 months, is a perfect example. Without intelligent automation, the same project would require either 12-18 months of manual work or 6+ months of post-migration cleanup.
For organizations with 50+ courses, 100+ courses, or entire training libraries that need updating, this capability transforms a problem that feels impossible into a manageable project.
The Learning Design System Advantage
Traditional course development is slow because tools are fragmented. Instructional designers work in one system. Compliance gets checked separately. Accessibility gets bolted on afterward. Then everything gets exported to the LMS, often with broken formatting or missing functionality.
A Learning Design System consolidates this into a unified workflow. The result includes:
- Faster design cycles. Templates and collaboration tools reduce time-to-delivery. What takes other teams months takes weeks.
- Better quality. Standardized design principles, built-in accessibility, and compliance frameworks mean courses meet higher standards from the start.
- Lower total cost. By streamlining design, eliminating post-production fixes, and enabling sustainable maintenance, an LDS reduces the true cost of course development and updates.
- Sustainable scaling. Organizations can grow their learning portfolios without proportionally growing their teams or budgets.
Getting Started with a Learning Design System
If you're building courses from scratch, modernizing legacy content, or scaling your training programs, a Learning Design System can help you do it faster, better, and more sustainably.
KnowledgeNow's Learning Design Services leverage eClarity across multiple engagement models. From custom course development to accessibility audits to large-scale content modernization, we offer comprehensive support. Regardless of your specific need, the underlying approach is the same: intelligent design plus powerful technology plus expert instruction.
Ready to see how a Learning Design System can transform your learning programs?
Explore Our Learning Design Services to learn how eClarity supports custom development, accessibility compliance, course modernization, and more.
Or book a discovery call to discuss your specific learning design challenges.
FAQ: Common Questions About Learning Design Systems
What's the difference between a Learning Design System and an LMS?
An LMS delivers and manages courses for learners. A Learning Design System is where instructional designers, SMEs, and developers create and manage courses before they go into an LMS. Think of the LDS as the backend authoring and design environment, and the LMS as the frontend delivery platform.
Is eClarity an LMS?
No. eClarity is a Learning Design System. It's where you design, collaborate, and manage course content. The courses you build in eClarity can be exported to any LMS (Brightspace, Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard, etc.) for delivery to learners.
Can you use a Learning Design System without an LMS?
Not practically. An LDS is where content gets created and managed. An LMS is where learners access and take courses. You need both. The advantage of an LDS is that it's not locked to a single LMS. Design once and deploy to any platform.
How long does it take to design a course in a Learning Design System?
Timeline depends on course complexity, SME availability, and team capacity. A simple compliance course might take 4-6 weeks. A more complex, interactive course with multimedia might take 8-12 weeks. An LDS can't speed up the thinking and design work, but it can eliminate technical friction. No more jumping between tools, no more manual formatting, no more post-production fixes.
Do I need to hire an instructional designer to use a Learning Design System?
Having an instructional designer on your team is valuable for course quality, but not strictly necessary. Many organizations use eClarity with SME-led course development. That said, good instructional design (whether from your team or external consultants) makes courses more effective, engaging, and accessible. It's worth the investment.
Can you migrate courses from one LMS to another using a Learning Design System?
Yes. That's one of eClarity's key capabilities. Rather than manually copying content or using a data dump approach that leaves courses broken, intelligent automation can migrate courses between platforms while modernizing design and ensuring accessibility compliance.
How do you ensure courses are accessible in a Learning Design System?
eClarity has built-in WCAG 2.1 and AODA compliance checking. As designers create courses, the system flags accessibility issues in real-time. Alt text is checked on images. Contrast ratios are validated. Keyboard navigation is tested. This prevents accessibility problems from making it into production in the first place.
What formats does a Learning Design System export to?
eClarity exports to SCORM packages, xAPI formats, and native LMS formats (Brightspace, Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard). This means you're not locked into a single LMS. You can move your courses between platforms as your organization's needs change.
About KnowledgeNow eLearning Solutions
KnowledgeNow is a Canadian EdTech company delivering high-quality learning experiences through a combination of intelligent design systems and expert instructional design services. Our proprietary Learning Design System, eClarity, enables organizations to design better courses faster. Whether building from scratch, modernizing legacy content, or scaling training programs, eClarity provides the foundation for all learning design work.