The Integrative Learning Design (ILD) Framework (Bannan-Ritland, 2003) has informed and supported a quarter-century of design research methodology in education. This paper is authored by the framework's original architect, drawing on more than thirty years in the instructional design field and more than twenty years of design research practice to propose a reconceptualization that the AI era now requires. AI fundamentally changes the conditions under which design research is conducted — and demands a third iteration of the framework to address those changes. This white paper proposes ILDF 2.0: a reconceptualization of the ILDF for the AI era that identifies eight AI affordances for learning design research, ten risks to design research integrity that AI introduces, phase-specific guardrails that protect methodological quality when AI is engaged, and a fifth phase — Continuous Adaptation — that AI-enabled learning systems make necessary and possible. The core argument: AI changes the pace and scale of design research. It does not change its fundamental epistemology. Starting from how people learn — not from available tools — remains the non-negotiable foundation of rigorous learning design practice. The practical contribution: ILDF 2.0 introduces a twenty-one-agent practitioner performance support architecture, mapped to five ILD phases, that operationalizes the framework's guardrails as tools LXDs and IDs can use in the flow of real design work. Eight core practitioner tools — from Phase 1's Performance & Instructional Diagnosis Tool through Phase 5's Theory Integrity Checker — are specified, with sub-phase tools planned as progressive extensions. Who this is for: Learning experience designers and instructional designers in corporate and organizational contexts who are designing AI-enabled learning interventions and need a theoretically grounded methodology for doing so responsibly. What ILDF 2.0 does not claim: That AI improves design research — only that it changes the conditions under which it is conducted. That the risk framework is exhaustive — new risks will emerge as Phase 5 experience accumulates. That the agent architecture is complete — several agents are planned rather than built but more are being completed as feedback and evaluation continue. How to engage: ILDF 2.0 is an evolving framework — one being actively shaped by feedback from both practitioners and design researchers, and refined through iterative cycles of use, observation, and revision that mirror the framework's own Phase 5 commitments. The ILDF 2.0 Agentic Ecosystem is under active development at AI4LD. The ILDF 2.0 Practitioner Stack — including Phase 1 performance & instructional diagnosis, needs assessment, and problem framing through Phase 5 — is available for testing upon request from info@ai4ld.com. The LXD Evidence Assistant is available at ai4ld.com. Reader feedback — from practitioners applying the tools in real design contexts and from design researchers testing the framework's theoretical claims — is actively sought and directly shapes the framework's ongoing development.
Brenda Bannan (Fri,) studied this question.