Brian LeDuc

Brian LeDuc helps education institutions use design to improve student experiences, align stakeholders, and move from insight to action. He has spent more than a decade working across higher education, workforce, learning innovation, and Fortune 500 environments; translating complex challenges into practical tools, sessions, sprints, and strategies teams use to drive change. Through the Learning, Designed newsletter he shares field notes, practical tools, and stories from the work of building more human, student-centered systems.

One team embracing their role as designers after a TEDx "watch party"

Aug 25, 2026

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4 min read

One team embracing their role as designers after a TEDx "watch party"

The difference between hearing "you are a designer" and practicing how to be a good one

Brian LeDuc

Aug 18, 2026

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5 min read

The Learning Roadmap Before the Metrics

How treating change as a learning journey, tracked through early signals, builds confidence before the outcomes data arrive

Brian LeDuc

"You are a designer" is landing (but it might be a distraction)

Aug 11, 2026

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6 min read

"You are a designer" is landing (but it might be a distraction)

Insights for driving change based on 5 days worth of comments since my TEDx talk launched

Brian LeDuc

Aug 6, 2026

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3 min read

My TEDx talk is live

A personal note about why it matters for edu and design (and a "pinch me" moment for launch day)

Brian LeDuc

Five Ideas Worth Bringing to Your Team Halfway through 2026

Jul 28, 2026

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7 min read

Five Ideas Worth Bringing to Your Team Halfway through 2026

Early evidence, six months in, of how teams can build new habits for driving student-centered change

Brian LeDuc

Jul 21, 2026

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8 min read

Learn Sooner, Build Closer

Notes from two days at JFF Horizons

Brian LeDuc

Moving Communities Forward by Building Understanding

Jul 14, 2026

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6 min read

Moving Communities Forward by Building Understanding

What design makes possible when people finally see the whole picture

Brian LeDuc

career center strategies

+18

What a Region Looks Like When It Listens

Jul 7, 2026

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5 min read

What a Region Looks Like When It Listens

Facilitating at Small Communities, Big Solutions in West Virginia

Brian LeDuc

The Work Between Education and Opportunity

Jun 30, 2026

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5 min read

The Work Between Education and Opportunity

Why new roles, school models, and apprenticeship degrees are pointing toward the same design challenge

Brian LeDuc

brian leduc

Jun 23, 2026

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5 min read

The Work Behind the Work

What the BBB Breakthrough Accelerator helped me clarify about Learning, Designed, growth, and the next season of design-driven change.

Brian LeDuc

student affairs

+22

Jun 16, 2026

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4 min read

Practical Hope (2/3): What's Possible

Structured problem solving gives us something to believe in together

Brian LeDuc

brian leduc

+15

Jun 9, 2026

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4 min read

Permission to Show Up Differently

Design helps campuses move through uncertainty by building the habits, trust, and connection required for real student-centered change

Brian LeDuc

brian leduc

+14

Jun 2, 2026

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4 min read

You Are a Designer

Two conversations that reflected my talk after TEDxUCSanDiego

Brian LeDuc

career center strategies

+20

May 19, 2026

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5 min read

Designing Better Career Conversations

What students learned from leaders navigating careers, uncertainty, and change

Brian LeDuc

brian leduc

+16

May 14, 2026

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1 min read

I'm giving a TEDx talk

My idea worth spreading? Using design to bring back our humanity in a world full of code

Brian LeDuc

brian leduc

+16

May 5, 2026

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6 min read

Design for Everyone (1/3): Get Curious

Tools for Curiosity: Ask and Notice, and why better questions are the starting point for better experiences

Brian LeDuc

designing for student emotions

+16

Agency isn't automatic, but future-ready students require it

Apr 28, 2026

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6 min read

Agency isn't automatic, but future-ready students require it

Preparing students to succeed "on their own" needs a different approach than "telling them how." These organizations are helping students develop it one step at a time.

Brian LeDuc

brian leduc

+22

Apr 21, 2026

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5 min read

Listening at ASU+GSV

What education, technology, and workforce leaders are sharing this year and what I'm contributing

Brian LeDuc

brian leduc

+15

3 Signals Shaping My Thinking Heading into ASU+GSV

Apr 7, 2026

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3 min read

3 Signals Shaping My Thinking Heading into ASU+GSV

Projects from Sean Hobson, Noah Pickus, and Allison Dunn Salisbury worth following and what great work is revealing about how institutions actually change (and towards what)

Brian LeDuc

brian leduc

+21

How Do You Find Your Life’s Work... When AI Can Do the Work?

Mar 31, 2026

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4 min read

How Do You Find Your Life’s Work... When AI Can Do the Work?

Notes from the field on students, AI, and the search for purpose

Brian LeDuc

brian leduc

+19

Mar 24, 2026

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7 min read

Stop Piloting and Start Testing

The difference between proving an idea and understanding it.

Brian LeDuc

designing for student emotions

+19

Learning Works Better When It Feels Human

Mar 17, 2026

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4 min read

Learning Works Better When It Feels Human

What SD Service Jam and a Faculty Journey Map workshop tell us about designing learning for humans

Brian LeDuc

career center strategies

+30

A Small Experiment in Rethinking Internships

Mar 10, 2026

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4 min read

A Small Experiment in Rethinking Internships

What happened when students designed internships inside their current jobs

Brian LeDuc

brian leduc

+22

Architecture of a Student-Centered Campus

Mar 3, 2026

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5 min read

Architecture of a Student-Centered Campus

5 Signals I Shared with a Parents Admissions Podcast On Student-Centered Colleges

Brian LeDuc

brian leduc

+19

Feb 24, 2026

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5 min read

The Real AI Risk Isn’t What You Think

AI is accelerating. The real question is what we choose not to compromise.

Brian LeDuc