Some institutions are ready to change how they design learning. This page is for them.
The Problem Most Institutions Share
Higher education is under pressure from every direction — AI, changing student expectations, workforce transformation, financial constraint. Most institutions respond to this pressure at the edges: a new policy here, a digital initiative there, a staff development programme that reaches the willing but not the resistant. What rarely changes is the underlying capability. The ability of an institution to design learning well, systematically, at scale, across disciplines, remains underdeveloped in most universities, regardless of their reputation or resources. That gap is expensive. It shows up in student outcomes, in staff frustration, in curriculum reviews that produce documents rather than change, and in eLearning investments that never deliver what was promised.
What I Do
I work with a small number of institutions each year on engagements that address that capability gap directly, at the level where it matters, which is strategy, culture, and practice together, not any one of those in isolation. Engagements typically involve one or more of the following:
- Strategic review of curriculum or learning design capability, with clear recommendations for institutional leadership
- Design and facilitation of academic professional development programmes that build lasting internal expertise
- Advisory participation in curriculum transformation projects, quality reviews, or eLearning strategy development
- Workshop series for academic staff, academic developers, and learning designers working at institutional scale.
I work primarily with Deputy Vice-Chancellors and Pro Vice-Chancellors responsible for learning and teaching. I am not a keynote speaker who moves on, but a working partner who stays until something has genuinely shifted.
What I Bring
Thirty years in senior roles across New Zealand and British tertiary institutions means I have worked at both the strategic and the operational level of institutional change. My original frameworks — including the 8-Stage Learning Design Framework, the SOLE Model, and a comprehensive reworking of educational taxonomies across five domains — give engagements a theoretical rigour and practical transferability that generic advisory work rarely achieves. I hold a Principal Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA), the sector’s most senior professional recognition for educators.
An Example of What This Looks Like in Practice
In 2019, I was invited to undertake an independent strategic review of the blended provision undertaken by Arden University (UK), which had achieved university status in 2015. Over four months, working remotely from New Zealand, I analysed internal student progression data, staff performance, and relevant pedagogical literature to identify why students were progressing at the rate they were. My recommendations include shifting the institutional priority from simply adjusting the delivery pattern to implementing structured student support, including mandatory study-skills induction, refurbished interactive learning spaces, and a more sustainable, scaffolded assessment strategy. In 2021-2022, I was invited to carry out a similar exercise on Arden’s Distance Learning Provision. Some of my recommendations were implemented, and others were not, as it is entirely the client’s privilege.
Is This the Right Fit?
I work best with institutions where senior leadership is genuinely committed to change, not just commissioning a review to satisfy an external requirement, but willing to act on what they find. This is not a large consultancy. You will work with me directly.
Get in Touch
If you’d like to explore whether there is a useful fit between what your institution needs and what I do, please write to me directly: simon@simonpaulatkinson.com. There is no form to complete and no obligation. A short email describing where your institution is and what you’re grappling with is enough to start.
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