The “Smart Learning Design(25)” or SLD25 instructional design aims to manage the complexity of the present context and to support an instructional design that addresses the above issues. “Smart learning” because it goes beyond the distinctions between “in person” and “online”, “physical” and “digital”: it focuses on instructional design as an active and participatory experience to support the achievement of the intended learning outcomes. Furthermore, it supports the effective design of the teaching and learning activities mix, taking into account all the didactical activities useful to support durable learning.

The number "25" refers to the hours required in terms of "student engagement" to obtain 1 ECTS (European Credit Transfers System) credit in Italy: the underlying message for all the educational contexts is the importance of taking the entire process into account.

The SLD25 model allows to deconstruct the complexity of the learning process into its constituent elements, the learning events, and then to reconnect them in a systematic way, in order to design a coherent learning and teaching interaction, which has to be strictly tailored to the context.

In SLD25 model, the "learning events” constitute recognizable units recurring in time and space. They can be traced back to events related to the acquisition of knowledge (low interactivity Content collection, high Interactivity content collection), to the application and manipulation of knowledge (Content Elaboration, Discussion, Application and practical experience, Research and production), and to the consolidation of knowledge (Retrieval, Reflection and Metacog

Base on Diane Laurillard's Learning Types (2012), Clive Young and Nataša Perović (2014) referred to learning moments seen from the perspective of the student: however, their work is characterized by a greater focus on what happens in the classroom while the SLD25 supports the design of the complex experience which happens in between several learning events acted by the students in presence, online synchronously and asynchronously).

The aim is to guide, support and inspire teaching staff in the design of learning experiences in an in-person, online and hybrid setting .