Learning designers play a pivotal role in supporting technological innovations in higher education institutions, and their work can inform policy and practice on a wide scale. They often act as the last line of defense between EdTech and learners—attempting to model pragmatic applications of EdTech while navigating broader pedagogical, social, technical, political, economic and cultural conditions within the postdigital landscape. However, their positionality in the Irish context is under-researched (Concannon et al., 2021).

Learning designers often exist in liminal spaces between academic and professional services in higher education, which can blur and undermine their status within the institution. This can be further compounded by the “disembodied skills-based constructions of learning designers” in job descriptions (Costello et. al., 2022, p. 460). Research and publication duties are most often related to the research of technology enhanced learning relevant to daily practice, not professional identity. Drawing on extensive experience as a critical EdTech practitioner, I embarked on my research journey as a part-time PhD student with cautious hope to amplify the voice and agency of learning designers, while endeavouring to create a generative model for postdigital learning design.

This paper outlines the journey so far, including lessons learned early in the PhD by publication route. It highlights plans for paper two, which explores the professional identity of learning designers within a corpus of Irish Learning Technology Association EdTech conference abstracts using critical discourse analysis. It is my hope to analyse the positionality of authors, revealing any presence of power imbalances in the literature and provide useful insights into representational gaps. The intention is to analyse what is being said, by whom, and how the rhetoric is shaping current discourse on the professional identity of learning designers. My PhD journey via publication in postdigital learning design has revealed how scholarly writing creates space to expand ideas, test emerging concepts, and develop critical perspectives. The publication journey has proved a vital site for networking and dissemination.

Concannon, F., Farrelly, T., Costello, E., & Welsh, S. (2021). Editorial: Ireland’s online learning call. Irish Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning, 5(1), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.22554/ijtel.v5i1.93

Costello, E., Welsh, S., Girme, P., Concannon, F., Farrelly, T., & Thompson, C. (2023). Who cares about learning design? Near future superheroes and villains of an educational ethics of care. Learning, Media and Technology, 48(3), 460–475. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2022.2074452

Molloy, K., Costello, E., Brunton, J,. & Thomson, C. (2025). Critical and Creative Methods: From Learning Design Practice to Research. TechTrends, 69(6), 1134–1140. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-025-01154-1