Some people stumble into instructional design.
I walked straight toward it.

Early in my career, I discovered something that has guided every project since: the difference between information that gets delivered and learning that actually changes people. One is a transaction. The other is a transformation. I’ve spent more than 26 years chasing the second one.

At Harvard University, I directed a university-wide training program for advancement staff and learned what it means to design learning at scale. Not just a course or a curriculum, but an ecosystem. A living system of experiences, relationships, and structures that helps people grow in ways that matter to them and to the organizations they’re part of.

Central to that work — and to everything I design — is a deep respect for the adult learner. People don’t come to training to learn. They come because they need to do something: perform better at work, build new expertise, navigate change. Learning is the means, not the end. And they’re doing it while balancing the full weight of their professional and personal lives. That reality shapes every design decision I make.

It also means honoring what people already bring. Adult learners arrive with experience, judgment, and context. The best learning doesn’t talk past that — it builds from it. I design experiences that invite learners to bring their whole selves, that connect new knowledge to what they already know, and that stay useful long after the formal learning is over — present in their day-to-day work, not just in the moment of training.

KEN Learning Design grew out of that conviction — that every organization, regardless of size or sector, deserves learning that is thoughtfully designed, strategically grounded, and genuinely human.

The name says it plainly: Knowledge, Engagement, Narrative. Because the best learning experiences don’t just transfer information — they engage people where they are, and they tell a story worth following.

I work with higher education institutions, nonprofits, and organizations who have something important to teach their staff or their volunteers and want to make sure it lands. If that’s you, I’d love to hear what you’re building.

— Karen Fahey, Founder, KEN Learning Design