Develop a learning science laboratory to understand learning mechanisms and to invent learning and educational tools, practices, and spaces for the future of teaching and learning across disciplines and professions. 
Visioning Future Excellence at Illinois: Outcomes Report (July 2013, p. 11)

The Illinois Learning Sciences Design Initiative (ILSDI) is a campus-wide effort led by the College of Education to break ground with one of the New Strategic Investment Initiatives outlined in the Visioning Future Excellence at Illinois Outcomes Report (2013).

At the direction of campus leadership, a steering committee of deans and faculty from across campus has been working to realize the ILSDI. The initiative aims to build, synthesize, translate, and apply theories of learning to guide designing, building, trialing, assessing, scaling, disseminating, and commercializing evidence-based, replicable, cutting-edge, and transformational technological tools, solutions, and platforms in support of learning environments and practices.  

See ILSDI Concept Paper.

Seeding the ILSDI

Toward realizing the initiative, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and five units across campus have already partnered and committed funds toward a seed-funding program.  These units are: College of Education, College of Engineering, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Beckman Institute, and National Center for Supercomputing Applications.

Our efforts continue to engage more campus units with the ILSDI and increase the funds available for the seed-funding program.

Governance Structure

• The Deans and Directors of units contributing to the seed-funding program serve as the Advisory Board for the ILDSI.
• A Steering Committee comprising faculty members nominated by their Deans and Directors engages with operational aspects of the initiative.
• The Associate Dean for Research in the College of Education chairs the Steering Committee.
• The Bureau of Educational Research in the College of Education provides operational support to the Chair and Steering Committee.
• The Chair of the Steering Committee will report to the Advisory Board and Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research.